Although I’m somewhere in between being a neat freak and a pack rat when it comes to my workspace, I loved Tammy’s post on the subject the other day. At work, when I’m buried under 10 different projects and suddenly I can’t find anything for all of the files and paperwork spread around me, I have to take some time, get everything in order and restart.
At home, my office is a literal dumping ground for everything, like the four bottles of nail polish I rounded up while cleaning off my desk today (seriously). But I have a system here too, from the rolling shelves packed with art supplies to the storage shelves with colored bins, and I know where everything is located. Also? There’s still plenty of floor space for the dog to stretch out while I’m in here, so everyone’s happy.
But one of my favorite organizing systems is the one I use for everything house related. When we bought our home in the summer of 2006, we knew there would lots of painting, fixing, buying and planning, and I wanted a place to keep everything organized amid the chaos that is first-time home buying. The system? A colorful, well-put-together binder set from Russell+Hazel.
I started out with the gift set, which includes eight-tab index dividers, loose-leaf paper, a four-pack of Post-Its and the company’s Signature three-ring binder in lime green. I love R+H’s binders, which are crafted of heavy duty Davey board on the outside, and have a dry erase surface on the inside. The corners have reinforced metal detailing to prevent bending, and a giant rubber band wraps around the whole thing to keep contents in place. They’re made from 100-percent post-consumer materials, and if lime green isn’t your thing, the binders are offered in 10 other solid colors, as well as seven patterns.
In addition to the gift set, I added a set of pocket folders to complete the system. Now I have a color-coded section for each space, and can store receipts, business cards, tear sheets and paint swatches (which is especially helpful when you’re getting ready to do more painting in the kitchen and someone tossed out the remnants of the last can of paint with the custom-blended color info on the lid) in the pockets. Each section has plenty of paper for note taking and sketching for when we’re working on a project, and I use the front page of each section for listing paint colors and cataloging items in each room. Maybe it’s a weird habit carried over from my magazine days when I would have to source every single item in every single photograph, but I like knowing that the paint trim throughout the house is Sherwin-Williams’ 1095-gloss, and that those acid-green candlesticks in the dining room came from a designer friend’s store (mertinsdykehome).
But most of all, I like having everything in one place. One pretty, color-coded place. And with a few major projects on the horizon, I have plans to stock up on more Russell+Hazel goodness, like the planning notebooks and another binder set for everything outside…because spring is coming and we’ve got loads of work to do!
