Home Organization

Organizing by Color

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June 5, 2010

There are endless ideas for organizing your home in a way that works for you, but for a decidedly creative, efficient approach, try playing with color. Code items by color or decorate with big, bold doses of it for a visually organized effect.

Color Coding 101
Forget boring labeled boxes—with a decorative palette of four or five colors in mind, you can use your different hues as labels.

Category by Color: When you have an abundance of a particular item—craft supplies, for example—it can be helpful to divide your collection into sub-categories. In the case of arts and crafts, sort your items by category or project type, then house them in different colored bins or baskets. It’s a method that works for virtually anything. Some of our favorites include:

Holiday decorations

Sports equipment
Out-of-season clothing
Gift-wrapping supplies

Purpose by Color: Instead of pulling out items from various storage places and making a mess along the way, sort things by use or event, then you’re ready to grab and go. Try it for:

Road trip essentials
Picnic supplies
Cleaning tools

Tip: When it comes to cleaning, color code your supplies by room. Place the items you need for the kitchen in a hand-held caddy and your living room essentials in another of a different color. You can easily carry everything you need into your space, saving time and energy.

Family Member by Color: When you assign each family member to items of a different color, it helps keep your household running smoothly. Whether it’s kitchen dishes, laundry baskets or photo albums, when you go by color, you always know where—and to whom—things belong. Try coding these other everyday items and sub-categorizing them into different colorful containers:

Mail
Schoolwork
Home videos

Tip: For a completely color coded family bathroom, discover more colorful organization ideas.

Color Blocking 101
For a different but equally colorful approach, try color blocking your space. Choose a palette, then create large splashes of each color. It’s a practical yet decorative technique that leaves your room visually organized.

Books: Arrange the spines of your books by color on a bookshelf to give your library a striking decorative bent.
Closet: Reconfigure your wardrobe, hanging pieces by color for a rainbow effect.
Message Board: Choose four colors and make a color-blocked message board, assigning a family member to each quadrant, perfect for jotting down reminders and posting notes.

Tip: You can complete the look of a freshly color blocked room by adding in a few décor knick-knacks or window treatments that pick up the colors of your palette.

Choose Your Color Palette

Monochromatic: Start with a unique, soothing colour like cool pistachio, then choose three additional shade variations to complete your scheme.

Summer Brights: Complement bold, cheerful colours like cotton candy pink, lime green and turquoise with dark olive green.

Nautical: Celebrate summer with a nod to the navy pier, using hues like navy and sky blue, kelly green and orange.

Sophisticated neutrals: Give classic neutrals like cream and grey a lift with lilac purple and smoky blue.

Garden hues: Find inspiration outside and get earthy with brown and green accented with tomato red and sunflower yellow.

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If you like this article, you might also like:

Color-Coded Bathroom > Using the Color Wheel

Tags:

Choosing a color palette, choosing a color scheme, color, color blocking, color palette, color scheme, decorating with color, family organization, organization, organizing, organizing with color.

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