Declutter and Conquer: 7 Genius small Home Organizing Ideas for a Tidier Space

This post is sharing with you the best 7 ideas for organizing your small home.

This month inside of my membership community, we are diving deep into the topic ‘creating calm’, so I’ve been focused on paying more attention to the things that bring me calm AND the things that don’t.

Cars, toys, soccer balls, swimming gear, games, ninja turtles, water bottles and all of the little boy accoutrements can be one of the most incredibly frustrating aspects of mom life. So, as you can imagine, it is so important for me to focus on creating calm in my space and doing my best to come up with clever solutions for storage and organizing without feeling like our home is too ‘stale’. These are 6 of my favorite organizing tips of all time.

I can remember not being able to go into certain rooms in our home as children so as to keep the home more “tidy” but like, I never wanted to be THAT mom. I want a home that feels cozy and comfortable but at the same time organized and stress free.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to document some places in my home that organizing has been helpful, easy and effective.

7 genius home organizing ideas:

01 | Color coding your books.

I have always been into color coding. I like to color code notes in my journal and color code my calendar. So, its no surprise that I also color code my bookcase.

Whenever anyone comes into my home, one of the first things they notice, besides the beautiful smell of course, is my bookcase. “Ooooh. I love the way that looks”. It ends up becoming a topic of conversation for about 15 minutes, where I thoroughly explain the calming effects of organizing anything by color.

It’s visually appealing, calm and just soothing to the soul. So, if you don’t have a bookcase and your books are just stacked up or scattered around the home, I highly recommend getting a beautiful bookshelf and putting all of your books together in a color coded system. It will force you to get rid of books you really don’t want AND create a whole little vignette in your home that just looks tidier.

Before I had a built in bookcase, I had this white and gold bookshelf in my office. It is my absolute favorite for organizing books. It fits everything and looks beautiful.

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Here’s a little peek at my cookbooks in my kitchen, also organized by color.

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02 | Matching baskets.

Now speaking of bookshelves and storage, I am absolutely obsessed with the look of matching bins and baskets for nearly every area of the home. In my own home office, I had a horizontal shelf installed up high on the wall and matching baskets line the top where I put all of my office supplies that I don’t need daily access too like stationary, camera accessories, power cords and cables, extra pens and random things.

I decided to do the baskets and shelf in black because it sits on a black accent wall and when you monocrome a dark cool color like that, it makes the room for more spacious. I love how it doesn’t feel overwhelming just a beautiful place that hides all of the things.

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For love of family

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03 | Large storage baskets.

Now another type of basket I like to use around the home are large, round baskets that hold a lot. In a small space there isn’t always enough storage for things like extra blankets or towels, toys, things that don’t really have a specific home. I even use them for laundry.

I have two of these large round baskets for my entryway and this is where soccer balls, swim toys and extra sports equipment go. It’s basically a genius catch all idea and allows my entryway to not be a total disaster.

A few baskets I really like:

Here’s a peek at the basket in my bathroom, it holds towels that won’t fit in the cabinets perfectly and hides underneath the vanity for easy access.

04 | Door hanging shoe storage.

The amount of shoes us women have sometimes it just unbelievable. Especially when in Texas, there really is not much of a need for closed toed shoes yet I have a closet full of boots. So, hanging shoe storage is literally one of the most helpful things that I have in my home. It creates so much wall space!

Plus, you can also use these door hanging shoe storage pieces for some any other things like toys, kitchen supplies and crafts. Also, belts, bras, underwear and more! I also adore the pop of pink.

05 | Use wall hooks for hanging bags.

Because we live in a townhome, sometimes we enter through the back and sometimes we enter through the front. So we placed wall hooks in the hallway so we can hang purses, backpacks, bags, keys, hats, etc. It acts as a catchall and command center for the home.

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House and home

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06 | Drawer storage organizers.

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There is nothing more annoying than opening up a drawer and feeling overwhelmed by whats in it. And in my small townhome, there isn’t even that much drawer storage. So, for the storage I do have, having drawer organizers is a god-send. It makes having things feel not so overwhelming. I am in the middle of doing this with every single drawer of mine.

HOT TIP: Be sure to measure your drawer out before you order so that what you order fits inside the drawers.

07 | Fill empty cabinets with organizers

Shop LTK

My kitchen is very small. Like, very small. It’s like one of those old British kitchens that even has the laundry units inside the kitchen. Needless to say, I don’t have a lot of space. However, where I do have space, I try to fill it with organizer units so that I can group my cleaning products and keep them looking pulled together.

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5 things every child's room needs to keep them calm and confident

This post is all about 5 things every kids room need to keep them calm and confident.

I’d like to start this blog post off by saying, I am not a parenting expert by any means. But I do absolutely LOVE being a mom and I am incredibly mindful about raising a calm, confident and happy child. I don’t listen to every experts advice, I trust my intuition and feel out what works and what doesn’t and then make adjustments along the way.

When I first bought my home, I knew that decorating Roman’s room was going to be very specific because I wanted him to be a big part of it and I wanted him to feel like his opinion and interests matter. In fact, when we were picking out the paint colors for our home, he was fully involved in the selection process.

Now, let me not act like he didn’t need some help. His first instinct was to paint his room bright red. So, I had to give him some parameters to work with but he made his selections all on his own and because of that I think he loves his room even more. With that being said, let’s dive into it…

5 things that every child’s room need to help keep them calm and confident.

1. A dedicated space for learning and creative work.

   This is something that I believe goes for every single human being. We all need a dedicated space for working. I encourage everyone to have a place to pay bills, plan your calendars, write thank you notes and work. It’s so important that we have a place that supports and encourages us to stay focused and on task.

   We set up his work space to feel like an office, just like mine. He wanted a clock and this cute little neon ‘rise and shine’ light to signal that he’s busy and working. I think a custom neon light would be a cute idea too.

   I opted for this two chair table set in white so that I could sit with him and play a game. It’s comfortable to sit in and was so easy to put together which I LOVE!

2. A toy organization system.

I want Roman to always be in the habit of understanding organization for himself. So this toy sorter has been so helpful in learning ‘cars go here’ , ‘legos go here’, ‘random things can go there’, etc has been a game changer. It helps us clean up the room in five minutes. I haven’t gotten around to actually labeling it yet but that’s on my list of things to do next.

I think when kids have a mess going on after playing with all of their toys it can feel overwhelming to them to have to pick it all up. When you have a home for each and every specific little thing, it makes for a more calm clean up session and his friends are always happy to help because it feels like a game for them.

The exact one I got is no longer available but I also like this toy sorter with a shelf on top, that would be ideal!

3. A chore chart.

Or something that helps them chart their progress. Ever since we started the chore chart, Roman gets so excited to accomplish his little tasks. We put things like brushing your teeth, cleaning up your toys, taking your vitamins, taking a bubble bath, reading a book, etc. All very simple to do things but we make it fun by adding a sense of reward and accomplishment to it. I think its so cute how he goes around telling people how he did his chores, really helping him boost his confidence. I think its also a really great reminder to get him in the habit of celebrating small wins.

This is the specific chore chart that we decided to use and we LOVE it. We got these awesome dry erase markers that have a little eraser on each marker, which makes it really easy and fun to use.

4. Their own personally selected wall decor.

As a mom and former interior designer, it is always kind of difficult for me to relinquish the decorating choices for the home. However, I have found that including Roman in his room decorating has been a really fun bonding experience for us. I always ask and encourage him to choose what he likes and show me his favorite things. I want to support him in expressing himself and have confidence expressing his interests without feeling the need to impress or please me.

One time we were shopping at a thrift shop and he spotted an ‘R’ letter and wanted to bring it home. From there we decided to go on a thrifting hunt to find all of the letters of his name. For him it was a game and scavenger hunt AND it made for really fun decor that he is proud to have collected.

I also am a huge believer in art therapy. When there are happy and fun images in a child's room, they are encouraged to be more imaginative. I have his artwork up all over the home to help inspire his creativity. I also allow him to select art for his walls. This is a collection of pieces that are special to him and I can tell how it has built his personal confidence.

5. A ton of fun books to read.

With as much as kids these days love screens, I think it’s so important to keep things all around his room that encourage my little one to actually read a book. Reading is calming and meditative for children. So, I like to have a variety of interactive and fun books available to grab and read. I also make a point to take him on afternoon trips to the bookstore so he can pick out his own and experience what books he is drawn to.

To prepare Roman for kindergarten I am starting to work with interactive readers like this LeapReader and he is also absolutely obsessed with this Marvel Me Reader he got last year for his birthday.

In order to keep all of his books, favorite photos and knick knacks together, I allow him to style his own bookshelf. I allow it to be messy and fun as long as it all fits on the bookcase. This particular white and gold bookshelf I love because it is modern and clean looking.

I hope this post was helpful for you, feel free to share with a friend it could help.

Love you, Ashlina

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