6 Ideas on How to Reorganize and Simplify Your Home

At the start of a new year, many of us think about a fresh start. A blank slate. The opportunity to reset and, more often than not, to reorganize our homes. This often begins with daydreaming, progresses to internet idea-hunting, and ends with an enthusiastic run to the Container Store. But what if home organizing came naturally? What if, instead of rushing out to buy baskets and bins, our homes were designed from the get-go to make organizing effortless and easy? What if there really was a place for everything, so everything could be in its place? That’s what we call serenity, people! And it’s what we build into every Morgante Wilson project.

1. An orderly home that makes you feel as peaceful as this one can include any number of clever, unusual ideas. We once created a Christmas tree closet for a holiday-loving client. (I know, right?!) She was crazy about her magnificently-decorated tree – but not all the unpacking, ornament-hanging, and repacking that came along with it. And so every year, the day after Thanksgiving, she simply rolled her ready-to-go tree from its hiding place, and began her family’s holiday celebrations. That’s a lot more life-changing than a new organizer box, don’t you think?

2. A thoughtfully designed mudroom is one of the easiest routes to an organized home. Be sure to include a cubby or a shelf to stash outgoing items such as Amazon returns and library books. Other ideas: we’ve built luggage closets for families who travel a lot, so that wrestling suitcases and duffels up from the basement or down from the attic is a distant memory. We’ve also designed easy-access ski closets inside garages, outfitted to stash everything from parkas and boots to goggles and the skis themselves.

3. If spaces like these sound like a dream, the reality is that they can be pretty easy to incorporate when you think about the way your family lives, and the types of things you live with. A good residential architect, or residential interior designer, can devise storage ideas that go far beyond the limitations of baskets and bins. And they can be as simple as tucking seldom-used items out of sight beneath skirted tables.

4. If you collect wine, you can incorporate exciting, architectural bottle storage (and impressive display!) into your décor.

5. You can divide space not with walls, but with leather-padded cabinets that secret all kinds of stuff you don’t want to look at every day.

Or, if you own colorful dishware and want to enjoy the sight of it, you can hang shelves in your kitchen to keep it off the countertops. The list goes on.

Morgante Wilson Architects provides architectural and interior design services in Chicago, Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Northfield, Ravinia, Wilmette and Winnetka – along with Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin and the U.S. Virgin Islands.