House Beautiful
The only thing more satisfying than an ultra-tidy closet, pantry, or laundry room is seeing what it looked like before it was super organized. And it does’t need to be spring for us to get overly excited about a good clean-up and organization project. If you need a little inspiration to start your own, these transformations are the perfect motivation to tidy up. (The before and after shots will make your day.)
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Before: Shelves With Loose Papers
Having built-in shelves and cabinets is a blessing. There’s so much more storage space to work with, whether you need it for essentials or as a way to display decor. The loose papers and random artwork in this sitting area aren’t helping the bookshelves live up to their full potential.
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After: Formal Home Library
Wow. Now this is how you decorate open shelves. Covered in a fresh coat of paint to blend in with the surrounding walls, the whole room feels more open and spacious. Interior designer Shaun Smith put some antique books on display and also created visual intrigue by hanging artwork over the wall between the shelves.
What you’ll need: White paint, $26, Amazon.com
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Before: Empty Garage
Spaces like garages, basements, and attics hold so much potential. Seriously, having that much extra room for storage is going to come in handy. But since they’re also not always high-traffic parts of the home (especially for guests), they can easily become rundown and messy.
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After: Bright and Well-Organized Garage
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Before: A Gross Garage Unit
Because of brutal Michigan winters, this blogger used her garage shelves as a catchall so she didn’t have to spend more time in the cold than necessary. As a result, it became piled with odds and ends quickly.
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After: A Pretty Solution
Decorative baskets, galvanized buckets that match her nearby trash cans, and spray-painted containers created a cohesive vibe that wasn’t too formal (or precious) for this working space.
What you’ll need: wicker baskets, $25 for a 2-pack, wayfair.com
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Before: Perfectly Nice Living Room
Nothing about this living room screams disorganized, but should the homeowners accumulate more items throughout the years, there isn’t really anywhere here to store them.
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After: Living Room With Clever Furniture
Interior designer Erik Kirk swapped out the old coffee table with one that includes a bottom shelf for more space to display decor and store collected items. Then, he added two shelving units against the back wall, which makes the room feel more complete while also giving them a place to stack all their books and keepsakes.
What you’ll need: Wall shelving unit, $143, Wayfair.com
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Before: Rustic Kitchen Corner
While this kitchen is already pretty clean and tidy, there are a few ways it can improve to look more up to date and elevated. The best news is that it only takes a few small updates to make a big difference.
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After: Spruced Up Kitchen Corner
Designer Kevin Isbell completely revamped this antique fishing shack to make it feel fresh and clean while still keeping it approachable and grounded. For a similar feel in your kitchen, swap out a paper towel wall dispenser with a wall hook for a prettier hand towel. Then tuck your trashcan under the sink instead of keeping in plain sight.
What you’ll need: Wall hook, $10, CB2.com
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Before: Packed Kitchen
With too much stuff and not enough cabinets for storage, this kitchen was stuck with an eyesore of a shelf smack dab in the middle of it.
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After: Clutter-Free Cooking
The biggest challenge for this homeowner was getting rid of all the non-essentials in her kitchen, then she took advantage of wasted surface space — like the side of her cabinets — to store bulky pots and pans.
See more at Good Housekeeping »
What you’ll need: Command hooks, $7, amazon.com
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Before: Nothing Special
When this blogger moved into hew new home, she knew her laundry room needed a serious storage solution and a flooring fix (because, yuck).
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After: Cute as a Button
To stay within her $100 budget, she opted for yard sale cabinets with built-in open shelving on the sides. She then used wicker baskets and glass containers to pretty-up the items that couldn’t stay concealed.
See more at View Along the Way »
What you’ll need: wallpaper, $2 per square foot, wayfair.com
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Before: A Boring Pantry
Even though this kitchen closet offered plenty of space, it was a place that the homeowner avoided at all costs due to its sheer blandness.
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After: A Bold Transformation
Mint-colored wall decals gave this room a fresh and clean look instantly. This blogger also added clear food containers to make it easier for her to eyeball items she’s running low on before heading out to the store.
What you’ll need: wallpaper, $6 per square foot, wayfair.com
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Before: Cluttered Coffee Supplies
While it’s handy that this cabinet housed all morning beverage accessories, mugs were strewn on every shelf, and random items made it hard to find the most important things, like the coffee beans!
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After: A Dark Backdrop
It’s amazing what a difference some dark paint makes when trying to find items. Plus, hooks attached to the bottom of a shelf allows mugs to hang, while dividers create shorter shelves for even more coffee cups.
See more at I Heart Organizing »
What you’ll need: shelf riser, $10 for a 2-pack, amazon.com
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Before: Chaotic Office
The disorganization and lack of style in this space made it the last place that drew inspiration for this blogger.
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After: Multifunctional Work Space
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Before: Double Closet Doozy
Even though these two closets weren’t in terrible shape before, they definitely lacked structure.
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After: Twice as Much Organization
By adding vertical organizers smack dab in the middle of each closet, every category of clothing got its own dedicated space — including shirts, dresses, and even bags. Genius.
See more at Organizing Home Life »
What you’ll need: closet system, $128, wayfair.com
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Before: Total Chaos Cabinet
With no pantry, this blogger was forced to use her largest cabinet for food storage. As a result, things often got forgotten at the top.
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After: Colorful Organization
The solution: She used the doors for storage (hello, adorable spice rack) to free up shelf space and make room for containers with labels for things like snacks, baking supplies, and teas.
See more at Jenna Burger Design »
What you’ll need: storage bins, $18 for a 6-pack, amazon.com
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Before: Packed Closet
We get it: The entire family used this closet that’s basically a small room, so of course clothes were stuffed tightly into the space.
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After: Streamlined Storage
But shelving units that take up nearly all of the wall space create dedicated areas for each family member. Meanwhile, wicker baskets on the bottom row of the cubbies create concealed storage for items you might not want on full display.
See more at The Handmade Home »
What you’ll need: bookshelves, $65, amazon.com
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Before: Under-the-Sink Mess
Baggies of random stuff, half-used bottles of beauty products, and even a fire extinguisher clutter up the valuable space under this bathroom vanity.
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After: A Tidy Get-Ready Station
But with a little attention to detail, it now serves as a linen closet and bathroom essentials storage unit. Fresh linens are tucked under a shelf that holds nail polish, while hair tools hang from the door.
What you’ll need: storage drawers, $25, amazon.com
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Before: Corner Cabinet Craziness
It’s easy to turn an awkward cabinet into a catch-all for extra Tupperware and kitchen utensils.
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After: Lazy Susan Genius
Organize seemingly random items, and you might find they all have a lot more in common than you realized (bakeware, tupperware, and condiments!). Lazy Susans make sure nothing gets pushed into the back and forgotten.
See more at I Heart Organizing »
What you’ll need: Lazy Susans, $10, amazon.com