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15 beautifully organised rooms that will inspire you to sort out your life
If your life (or your interiors) are feeling a bit chaotic, then perhaps what you need is a little inspiration to improve the situation. Looking at beautiful houses is often what spurs us on to improve our spaces at home, whether it's a really wonderful display of art that motivates us to finally frame those pictures and hang that gallery wall, or a splendidly styled sofa that drives us to a cushion refresh. Why can't it be the same with getting organised? Sure, we've got plenty of decluttering advice, not to mention first-person accounts of getting one's life in order, but if you're a more visually-orientated person, then we've gathered a few truly admirably organised spaces for you to feast your eyes on, from impeccably arranged boot rooms to ultra-stylish pantries. If they don't get you itching to tidy, we don't know what will.
Owen Gale1/15We've long been envious of the stylish glazed pantry at Angus and Charlotte Buchanan's London house. It is very much within the kitchen but also can be closed off with french doors, while the pretty curtain below the countertop hides away any unsightly objects or mess.
Chris Horwood2/15Another enviably organised pantry in a London house by Laura Stephens. Her clients wanted a walk-in pantry that was open, so Laura used reeded glass panels which let the light through, and give a glimpse without creating a cluttered look. “I felt it was quite brave to just put everything on display like that. But they are very tidy and organised, and keep everything in pretty jars,” says Laura. (We're very jealous of the Perello collection.) The pantry was designed together with Boffe kitchens.
Andrew Montgomery3/15A thoughtfully arranged dresser can provide all sorts of opportunities for organisation. You can display ceramics and plates in a decorative fashion, and if they come with drawers and shelves at the bottom, like this ‘Bath Dresser’ by Berdoulat in the sitting room of Patrick Williams' house, so much the better. Also please take inspiration from the jars of colour-coordinated pens – how delightful!
Lucas Allen4/15Rose Uniacke is known for her serene interiors, so it's no surprise that the kitchen of this 17th-century house she designed is beautifully organised. A collection of timeless copper pans makes for a decorative display over the table, and we like the perfectly lined up utensils on a hanging rail over the stove.
Mark Anthony Fox5/15While we're talking about kitchens, have we mentioned how much we love a plate rack? Yes, of course we have, but we'll say it again! Whether you have a set of matching crockery, as the owners of Jamb do in their house in Spitalfields, or you prefer to be riotously mis-matched, a plate rack makes your collection look rational.
Simon Brown6/15If you would really rather put everything away properly, we love the idea of a generous larder cabinet where you can store plates, glasses, food and also small appliances. Kerri Lipsitz has made a breakfast garage in the kitchen of her London house, with a bespoke cupboard based on an antique original.
Jake Curtis7/15Those of us who enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine can easily be guilty of piling up too many bottles, and too many forms of glassware to drink from. But these things can also be pretty when displayed properly, as they are here in this airy basement flat in London. Thea Speke deliberately chose pieces like this vintage cabinet for the relatively dark interior, as the glass gives a certain visual lightness in the space. It's very chic seeing all the perfectly arranged glassware lined up, with the heavier (and more visually busy) bottles lined up at the bottom.
8/15This display of cookbooks on simple homemade shelves at Farrow & Ball brand ambassador Patrick O'Donnell's house is a brilliant way to organise a large collection (and also liven up a bare wall in a kitchen). Patrick has drenched the walls and woodwork in a single colour, Farrow & Ball's ‘Biscuit’ in the Dead Flat finish, which allows the colourful books themselves to become the focus. Also please note the gloriously tidy larder beyond the door.
Owen Gale9/15How you go about organising your bookshelves can be a controversial subject. Do you do it by colour, by topic, by author, or are you one of those people who is quite happy to be random? Large bookshelves can have a huge visual impact on a room, and while we don't think they should look overly regimented, it's very satisfying when they're tidy. Architect George Saumarez-Smith went one step ahead of most of us and had the bookshelves in his Winchester house specially designed for the height of his books, so that they fit perfectly.
Read McKendree | Styling by Alexandra Morris Flint10/15If somewhere in your house you have a giant pile of shoes (in the hallway, at the bottom of your wardrobe), then this picture might make you feel a bit uncomfortable. A dedicated dressing room like this one in a Kansas City Georgian-style house may not be a realistic option for many people, but a few carefully constructed shelves within a cupboard or hallway might be something to consider replicating.
Magnus Mårding11/15This corner of Marie-Louise Sjögren's Stockholm apartment is something we keep returning to, as bathrooms so easily get filled up with bottles and jars, and can feel overwhelming without proper storage. The elm and elm burl used for this built-in set of shelving and drawers is very sophisticated, and helps elevate everything within it.
Simon Brown12/15Although in the digital age, most of our paperwork has moved online, if you still have plenty of scrapbooks or files to keep around, we like what Kerri Lipsitz has done in the study of her London house. Vitsoe shelves provide a clean backdrop for ranks of matching box files, while storage baskets from The White Company corral any clutter below.
Chris Horwood13/15Laundry rooms are apt to get rather out of control, and cleaning products are never particularly attractive, so we adore this laundry room in an 18th-century workers' cottage in Greenwich, where owner Anna Rhodes has used a pretty fabric to hide away the storage space below the sink.
14/15A well-organised boot room is a thing of beauty indeed, and this one in a Cheshire house by Rita Konig has plenty of ideas that could be copied on a smaller scale. The cubbies for wellies are very handy, and Rita has allowed for a liberal use of storage baskets, which always make everything better.
Paul Massey15/15Another boot room that makes us feel strongly that we should have more cubbies in our lives. Nicola Harding has given the one in this Berkshire house a clean, sharp look by drenching it in tonal shades of blue: the joinery is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Claydon Blue’ to tone with walls in ‘Oval Room Blue’.
