You Down With O-R-G? Yeah You Know Me.
Yes, that’s a Naughty By Nature nod. “O-R-G” is my shorthand for organizing. Honestly, our house hasn’t been this chaotic since we moved in 16 months ago. I’m not talking about a little dust on the baseboards—I mean full-on disorder, like the sink drawer where nothing can be found:
We used to feature cleaning and organizing projects on our Projects page, but lately there’s been almost no time for that. Things started sliding during the January–February stretch when we had three weeks of book shoots in our home. A crew, lots of moving, painting and styling—our house ended up looking like this:
When you’re balancing secret book work, regular blog posts, parenting a toddler, and coordinating photo shoots with dozens of setups, it’s easy to lose track of the little things. You plan to fix everything at night, but the next morning the crew returns and the to-do list doubles. The day blurs into night and you can’t remember where the deodorant belongs, let alone find it.
We’re still finishing the book—proofing hundreds of layout pages, finalizing resources and the cover—so a deep clean hasn’t been possible. The solution: declare a week-long organizing bootcamp and make restoring order Project Number One. So we dove in. Expect it to get messy before it gets clean, and yes, there will be a big yard sale pile at the end. We’d love for you to join the spring-cleaning momentum with us.
We started with the cabinets beneath the dining room built-ins. I literally told the cabinets to “say my name” and then emptied them out. I pulled everything—books, magazines and random objects—and sorted them with some tunes playing in the background.
I made piles by magazine title (Domino, Cottage Living, House Beautiful, Blueprint, and other BHG/Meredith titles) and grouped books by topic—pregnancy/health, chick lit, decor/design and teen fiction. A lot of the old shelving that had been crammed in those cabinets was removed and stored elsewhere for too long, so we finally committed to letting it go and moved the leftover pieces to the scrap pile.
Next, a vinegar wipe-down. The shelves smelled like stale storage, so a quick cleaning with white vinegar freshened everything up and disinfected at the same time. It only took about half of a classic pop song—worth every second.
When returning items, I avoided standing everything upright in a way that would topple at the first reach. Instead I made small, visible stacks that allow easy access to the back without everything collapsing. Grouping by type and visibility makes maintenance realistic.
Order restored—ahhh. About 10% of what came out went straight into a yard sale pile in the guest room closet. It feels good to admit that I won’t read everything again and to pass it on.
Hardcover decorating books mostly live in visible stacks around the house and inside two ottomans in the hallway. They’re intentionally accessible, so for now I don’t think I have a decorating-book problem—just a curated collection.
My next target was the cabinet on the other side of the built-ins, where candlesticks, vases and decorative items had been tossed and forgotten. That overflow had even spilled into the book cabinet, which meant it was time to downsize, group, and decide what to keep, donate or sell.
Some decor had ended up in the kitchen corner cabinet as well. Since many of those items were serving pieces, I made the corner cabinet purely for food and serving ware—cake stands, bowls, trays, platters—so the decor could live with the other decorative items in one neat cabinet.
I emptied, wiped, grouped like-with-like (all vases together, all candlesticks together), and pulled anything I no longer used into the growing yard sale pile. After reorganizing, the corner cabinet fits serving items comfortably and the decorative pieces fit into the single dining-room cabinet.
The reorganized decor cabinet now has defined zones: candle holders in the top right, vases and planters in the bottom right, vase filler and smaller decor in the bottom left, and tabletop decor that rotates frequently in the top left. Everything is visible and reachable, which makes staying organized much easier.
As for candles, many used to live in our old fireplace display but with a toddler in the house I pared down to a few favorites and gave the rest away. I assigned a small drawer in a nearby cabinet specifically for candles and lined the bottom with plastic placemats to protect against wax.
Now the corner cabinet holds only kitchen items—serving dishes, bowls, plates and trays—with room to spare. With this momentum, I’m tempted to shop for a few new pieces, but mostly I’m focused on finishing our bootcamp so the house stays in order.
Want to join our organizing week? Here’s the plan—take it as inspiration for your own declutter and cleaning goals:
- Monday: Start with one or two cabinets—books and decorative accessories are an easy place to begin.
- Tuesday: Tackle kid clutter or any small-area chaos; focus on storage solutions that your household will actually use.
- Wednesday: Pare down grooming and cleaning products; keep only what you use and consolidate duplicates.
- Thursday: Organize paper and tech: sort receipts, file important documents, and streamline digital files and photos.
- Friday: Face the basement or garage—big projects require only small, steady steps to make progress.
- Bonus: We’ll also work on clothing and nightstand clutter—small shifts in the closet or dresser can make a big difference.
We’ll be blogging along the way and sharing progress. Have you already started spring cleaning or streamlining your home? Are you joining our bootcamp? Tell us what keeps you motivated—music playlists, audiobooks, podcasts or the radio—and share any organizing tips that keep you sane while you declutter and clean.