Design Expert, Nicole Gibbons’ tips for Spring Cleaning in Style!
Spring is finally here and with the change of season and warmer weather comes a desire to freshen up our homes by doing a bit of spring cleaning and organizing! I’m going to show you how to get beautifully organized for Spring with a few simple solutions that are both stylish and functional so you can jump start your spring cleaning and make your home look and feel beautiful from the inside out!
1. The first step before you can organize and de-clutter is to clean: Most cleaning products come in packaging that’s very utilitarian so we typically hide them in closets or under our sinks. But I am obsessed with finding products that are so pretty you won’t want to hide them away. I love the Caldrea Essentials collection because it features vibrant packaging, it comes in the loveliest scents and it’s also made without harsh chemicals or fragrances. The produce are actually made with essential oils and plant based ingredients so they’re safe and effective and it has all of the items you’d need to get your home clean and fresh for the spring cleaning. The line is available exclusively at Target and the prices start around $5.9 The Caldrea Essentials Collection, starting at $5.99 at Target
How cute is this fun and colorful dustpan and brush set? I found it at HomeGoods and it’s just $6.99. These items will for sure make the chore of spring-cleaning a little more enjoyable.
The Macbeth Collection Dustpan Set, $6.99,
HomeGoods
2. The next step in getting your space fresh for spring is to purge and de-clutter. Old clothes, pantry clutter and paper clutter are 3 of the most common types of clutter in households:
Clothes: In your closet you’re going to want to store away all of your out of season clothes and also set aside the items you’ll no longer wear for donation. I love using clear acrylic boxes to store away shoes. They’re great because you can see exactly what’s inside and they stack up very neatly.
Clear shoe drawers, $8.99, The Container Store
And peek-a-boo storage is another great solution. These storage boxes feature stylish patterns and a peek-a-boo window in front so you can always know what’s inside the box. Peek-a-boo Storage Boxes, $9.99, $14.99 and $16.99 at HomeGoods
Pantry: We also keep a lot of clutter in our pantries. Be sure to toss out anything with an expiration date that has passed and then focus on organizing what’s left.
Instead of keeping your dry foods like cereal, rice and beans in their original packaging and having a mess inside your cupboard, try storing them in uniform storage canisters and containers to keep things neat and orderly. These items are all from the Container store. The pop of color takes them a notch above the ordinary. Color Pop Storage Canisters, from $8.99 @ The Container Store
Stackable Food Storage Containers, from $3.99 at The Container Store
Your junk drawer is another area you’re going to want to tackle when you’re de-cluttering. I love using these clear storage trays from The Container Store to organize odds and ends in my junk drawer like pens and pencils, old batteries, loose change, rubber bands etc. It’s a super simple solution that will make a big impact! Acrylic Drawer Organizers, from $2.99 at The Container Store
Paper clutter is a huge problem for many of us and one of the keys to keeping paper clutter in check is to tackle it before it even comes to your home and I use a fantastic app called Paper Karma to help me do this. You can use to unsubscribe to catalogs that you never signed up for or any unwanted junk mail. All you do is take a picture of the return address and the app will automatically remove you from their mailing list. It’s amazing and it’s free for apple or android phones, paperkarma.com.
Download the Genius Scan app to scan multi-pages document and send out without a scanner. With your phone you can scan not only documents in sight, but also whiteboards, receipts, business cards, posters, coupons, books ...etc. Save your documents in PDF form, make notes about them, and store them on your computer or in the cloud to be accessed at any time. Then I use a paper shredder daily and shred any old papers or mail that’s lying around to prevent it from piling up. I also use a paper shredder daily and shred any old papers or mail that’s lying around to prevent it from piling up, Genius Scan App 3. Once you’ve cleaned and de-cluttered you can finally get to organizing and arranging. I love using bins, baskets and space saving solutions to keep things tidy inside closets and these are also good looking so you can use them for storage outside closets as well. To maximize the space in your closet when you’re organizing all of your spring clothes try using space saving hangers. These are from Bed Bath and Beyond and they’re super slim so you can hang more items inside your closet. They also have little rubber grips on the shoulders so your clothes won’t slide off. Slimgrips Hanger, $14.99 @ Bed Bath & Beyond
This storage bin is from HomeGoods and what I love about it is that it’s on wheels so you can roll i around for easy transport. This would be great for storing toys, bed linens, at the bottom of a closet. Storage Bin on Wheels, $24.99 at HomeGoods
I also love these sea grass baskets, which are also from HomeGoods. They come with little chalkboard panels in front so you can label its contents. Labeling is such a great organizational tool. Seagrass Baskets with Chalkboard Labels, $14.99 & $12.99 at HomeGoods
Watch Nicole Gibbons on "Home Made Simple" on OWN. Follow her on Twitter
@nicolegibbons, and on Instagram
@nicolegibbonsstyle_. And head straight to “Where Style Meets Home” on Nicole’s blog
sohautestyle.com.
