Becoming Organized Part One: Primary Function
I'm excited to share part 1 of my series on "Becoming Organized" - Identifying the primary function of each room.
It is my belief that the first step in truly becoming organized is looking around your home, at each individual room, and identifying that room's primary function in your life. I believe that to truly become organized and live a simple life, you must understand, embrace and then design each room to fit its own unique purpose and function. Only then will items become organized, find a home and truly make each space a sanctuary.
Each space in your life has a basic state of being, a basic function. A Purpose. Sometimes that purpose is decided on before you even step foot in your house. An architect has spent time designing the basics such as the kitchen and bathrooms. And those spaces in most cases can only fit the purpose for which they were intended (a bathroom for example would be hard pressed at finding functionality as a bedroom!) Most of the time however, the purpose of each space is left to us, the inhabitant, to identify and build a space which is truly unique to us and the room.
Identify the Rooms True Function
Using my own home as an example, our dens primary function is to be a space for us to watch TV (it houses the only TV in the house) and the room's secondary function is to be a play area for Amelia. Our living room's primary function is to welcome friends and family to sit down and have a conversation, relax by the fire or enjoy a drink. Our master bedrooms primary function is to be the place where we can sleep and truly relax and spend time together. Each room in our home is assigned a specific task, a certain job, a unique personality. Understanding their unique roles or purpose is key to keeping each space organized and working efficiently and fluidly.
The first step to becoming truly organized is understanding the roles that the spaces in your life play. If you look around your own home, do you see rooms and spaces that are not meeting your idea of that spaces basic function? Is your bedroom perhaps, taking on a den mentality? Has it been overrun with entertainment, technology or maybe stuff that doesn’t lend itself to your ideal vision or purpose for that space? Is your living room taking on the space of a play room or office? Is your office, then, being utilized as a storage space? Have children's toys become scattered throughout your home making the entire house a play room? I like to call this the "bleed over effect". Where the purpose of one space or room bleeds or runs over into another space.
Taking a step back and looking at each space in your home with eyes that are looking at that spaces unique function and purpose will help you determine what you really need to change.
Step One: Action Plan
For each step in this series I will include the actions that you can take to succeed at making your home and life truly organized and simple. This weeks task is simple: Go room by room identifying the spaces primary function or purpose, your vision of what you want for that space and what objects no longer serve that space.
Tools
- Notebook
- Pen
Action
- Name that space: Using a notebook, go room by room and identify what that room's primary function or purpose is (eg: If you are standing in your master bedroom, label a page "Master Bedroom" and so on)
- Identify the function: Underneath the rooms name, write down the primary function of that space. (eg: Bedroom - Sleeping, relaxation etc)
- Identify your vision: This is the vision that you have for the space. Get creative and descriptive with your comments for the room. Use adjectives to describe the emotion or feeling you want that room to exude. (eg: Serenity, calmness, haven, boudoir, sexy, romantic, warm, beachy, neutral)
- Identify the items that don't belong: After completing your description of the space you want to create, identify the items in the room that don't fit the vision and primary function. Be specific here. List objects names, furniture, books, anything you see that you believe is not in the right room and serve the primary functions of the space.
- Keep space: Keep a large space at the bottom of the page. As you go room by room and you see something that could be moved to another space to help with the vision and purpose you are creating, jot it down on that rooms page.
Example
Room name: Master bedroom
Primary function: Sleeping and quality time with partner
Vision of space: A true place of relaxation. Keywords: calmness, cool tones, romantic, clean lines, no clutter, nothing on the walls, overhead light little used, enjoyment, a place to unwind, a place for coffee.
Items that don't belong:
- TV on wall doesn't promote relaxation and time with partner.
- Rocking chair in corner has become area to leave clothing.
- Toys seem to accumulate in corner of wardrobe
- Entertainment unit used to house electronics and catch all
- Pictures on the wall don't suit vision of space
- Why is the dictionary in here?
- Random scooter in the corner of the room
Items to move in:
As I would go through other rooms, any items that don't belong in that space but would work in this space would be added to this section.
I hope you enjoyed this first post in this series "Becoming Organized". Check back for the next post coming soon!
Your's in organization,
Lauren
