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Thinking about home organization systems this morning.
I sort of got stuck, unknowingly, the last couple months. Despite reading a lot about design and being really interested in home improvement, beauty, systems, and wellness, I failed to really apply it in my own life.
My sister just finished visiting and she graciously gifted us some storage solutions, which she thought of after observing how we lived and singlehandedly implemented. Once again, I realize how many life problems can be answered with $5 at Walmart.
Christopher Alexander describes, in A Pattern Language, the necessity of needing to own a place, not rent. It makes it more cognitively accessible to invest in your space.
I got stuck, also, knowing that I'm only renting and likely to move. Is it really worth continually investing in a space you're likely to move out of in 6 months? Won't you just create more waste for your future self?
I don't think I have a good answer here but I am reflecting, now, on my home system. Things I collect that I don't use often enough or are disorganized: books, yarn, art supplies, paint and tools for home improvement, camping/outdoor gear, paper & sentimental junk.
There's a largely aspirational component to these collections. (Someone should invent an Alexander Technique for homes and organization. The home as a sort of body.)
I made the observation, recently, that for every moment of curiosity, I'll buy 3-5 books along the same topic but only really gravitate towards 1. By the time I finish that book, the others become mere reference materials and not actual reading material. I want to move on.
An extremely similar thing has happened with my yarn stash. Pattern, much?
This makes me think maybe I should mentally work towards giving away/selling these things. I become slow in reading & knitting or weaving because of guilt for my stashes.
This makes me think maybe I should mentally work towards giving away/selling these things. I become slow in reading & knitting or weaving because of guilt for my stashes.
Camping and outdoor gear, home improvement tools: these probably mimic each other in that I use them sparingly but they are long term investments. So they should be stored as such.
My other art supplies (mostly watercolor). These should be on display. I should have a bin to store finished/"used" pieces of paper and liberally throw away everything else. I don't really watercolor to display my work, maybe apart from on Twitter (had a thread on my alt).
(Aside: with crafts in general, I believe, for me, it is best to give away my work. I don't like to knit or weave for myself. I'll watercolor for my own growth and expression but I don't like the idea of adorning my home with my own artwork. I'd prefer my friends'.)
Anyway...
I feel like for a long time my partner and I thought maybe our home was just too small for us. But I don't know if that's the case.
I feel like for a long time my partner and I thought maybe our home was just too small for us. But I don't know if that's the case.
To me, it feels instead like a lot of cognitive junk mapped onto physical junk.
Home storage and organization should be live systems, that you tend, made of both individually and collectively beautiful components.
They reflect real things, like identity (aspirational vs actual) and emotional regulation.
See https://www.pamelajhobart.com/blog/how-homes-work
See https://www.pamelajhobart.com/blog/how-homes-work
I sort of thought that items for storage and organization looked horrible. I don't think I like Container Store ideas of beauty, either, though now I grok the adult appeal.
But a storage system should aspire to incorporate both these things. https://twitter.com/simonsarris/status/1357084021726011396?s=20
I personally find it compelling to think of home organization as a design problem to be solved: one that is especially compelling because the creature you are solving it for is you! You have all the data about your living habits.
Of course, because you are so close to the subject, it could be difficult. You may have to confront things about yourself.
The other most obvious piece of advise I have for people looking to aesthetically improve their home (or a design), besides examining how they live and how it corresponds to mental states, is to think holistically.
Growing up, I saw how my parents viewed tiny pieces of home improvement as atomized units: what's the most beautiful chair within the budget? Oh, I love this print, I'm going to get it.
I used to think this way, too.
Then I learned with design to think holistically. I might not like a particular color or pattern on its own, but if it works with the color ways, the textures, of its broader context, it will look beautiful.
Then I learned with design to think holistically. I might not like a particular color or pattern on its own, but if it works with the color ways, the textures, of its broader context, it will look beautiful.
Without a holistic rationale, there cannot be real harmonizing beauty or design.
