This post is about how I use prototyping to organize my home. I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while. If you’ve been following me on social media, you will notice that I don’t recommend containers often. That’s because they are expensive and often don’t work better than things we have around the house.
Before I buy any expensive systems, I always prototype with what I have around the home. This often includes cardboard shipping boxes. They come in many sizes and are easy to adjust, with scissors, to any height.
Expectations:
Before I get into any of that, let’s discuss project expectations. Everyone has some idea of what they think their “perfectly organized” space will look like. Let’s start with that pesky hall closet. It was made with a purpose, based on the age of the home. However, our minds will use everything we’ve ever seen to come up with why the closet doesn’t work or what it should look like.
Usually, this is without any regard to our specific items or what the purpose of that space was designed for. We saw something someone else did and thought, “If only this closet looked like that one.” Many times we couldn’t describe what our brain is imagining in our own spaces because we aren’t storing the same things as what we saw in the image our mind is referencing, or our actual closet isn’t the same as that space.
This is why we all need to consciously scale expectations for the space. I start with where I am. My house and my stuff. Then I can pick out the elements of the design that I find appealing. My house may be able to be modified to be closer to that design but most likely I cannot make them the same. From there I will test how well that design will work for me in the actual space I have.
Organizing steps:
Using those design elements, I would zone the closet using the categories of things that I personally need in that space. In this hall closet example, that means the top shelf will be medical supplies, the next shelf down will be houseware and winter gear, the next will be home tools and cleaning supplies, the next will be donations and repairs, and the bottom will be recycling and batteries.
It doesn’t matter what goes where pick as long as it’s what you want to store in that location. It should be personal to you. Then using containers I already have, I put them in the closet in those spaces and the things in those containers. You can absolutely bet that these containers are mismatched. This is just the first round of prototyping! The first version is proof of concept.
In the first round, I’m looking for what size of container I need, if I even need one. Towels really don’t need containers to hold stacks for instance. Neither do jeans. I like to live with this version for a few weeks to see that the categories are appropriate and that the area I have them in is correct. If items keep getting left out, there may be a better place for those items.
Upgrading:
When the system has been tested using nothing more than what I had around the house or could get cheaply. Then I begin shopping for the right type of containers for the items and often I can’t find a container that works as well as the checkbox I use in my medicine cabinet. It happens a lot. Many containers are either too expensive or not the right dimensions for my space. I don’t always upgrade.
However, if I want to upgrade, I now know how big of containers and what styles I need to buy so they can all coordinate together. Often I can adjust the categories to different size containers, but the important thing is that I have the things I personally need in the space and I know that it works. Cosmetics are last.
Bedroom Closet Prototyping to Organize:
In the cover photo of this post, I’m showing the prototype version of my master closet prior to buying an Elfa closet organizer. Elfa is known to be expensive, though cheaper than many types of prefabricated systems. The main reason I needed to prototype was to know if having drawers blocking my access to the blind half of the closet would be impossible to work with.
I already owned these stand-alone ClosetMaid organizers and had been using them in many closets and even as nightstands before. The main goal was to test blocking access to the blind half of the closet. The second objective was to test fitting all my clothes into this space. Including what was in the dresser. So the system is mocked up to represent the problems I might face in the new closet design. It was my goal to fit everything into the closet.
Through testing this system I was able to confirm that I could reduce my wardrobe down to those items successfully and that while the obstruction from the blind side was a bit annoying, I was barely accessing it as is, and blocking access didn’t make it less functional. All of that testing was done for free. The bins I used as makeshift drawers I also already owned, as well as the piece of wood I used to mock up a shelf with.
I learned that bins up high were annoying and that drawers up to the top would also be annoying. This allowed me to devise a plan with Elfa that would allow me to organize all the same items looser and more functionally.
Summary:
It’s important to remember that being organized does not require expensive pretty containers. That’s just icing on top for our eyes. You can organize at no cost for yourself by decluttering and using containers or boxes that are free within your community and testing out the function.
Even micro-organizing can be replicated using plastic cups and other cheap household items. If I want to see my items then I use shallower boxes with clear plastic cups inside. It only takes a few weeks to know if the system works. Then I can upgrade. Doing this one space at a time keeps the cost lower as well!