Our Routines Are Changing—Here’s How to Reorganize Your Stuff Accordingly

From baking staples to crafting supplies.
Lydia Geisel Avatar
dining room with long bookshelf

Share

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Home should be your happy place—now more than ever. Head to the #MakeYourselfAtHome hub to find tiny projects, feel-good recipes, and clever decorating ideas to make each day a little bit brighter.

As we hunker down at home and adapt to unfamiliar routines, objects we never considered all that important and rooms we never walked in are, suddenly, our main sources of respite. Is your dining room now the office? Have you used your kitchen more in the past month than you did in the past year? It’s time our spaces adapted to our new needs. 

Shifting things around seems like a heavy lift, but a little reorganization will save you a big headache in the weeks to come. Whatever your priorities may be (setting up a crafts zone for kids, a bar station for adults, a reading nook for nighttime), here are a few easy tweaks you can make to your home that will help the time fly by.  

Baking Supplies and Breakfast Staples

Finding yourself in front of the stovetop a lot? Keep your spices at the ready by storing them in fabric pouches and suspending them from S-hooks on a wall-mounted rod. This is how baker Ashley Illchuk has set up her kitchen. Along with bags of dried herbs, she even hangs up coffee cups and scissors there. 

Whether you’re getting in the baking groove or are now big on early-morning granola, gather all the supplies you need in one place. Professional organizer Corrie Jackson recently created a smoothie-making station in her pantry by lining an over-the-door rack with all her powders and nuts. 

Self-Care Essentials

bathtub with elaborate light fixture hanging over it
Photography by Laure Joliet

Carve out a nook that’s solely dedicated to winding down. Justina Blakeney did this in one corner of her bedroom by taking a vanity, mirror, and stool and displaying her favorite creams, masks, oils, and makeup, but you could easily elevate the bathroom by keeping dried citrus on hand to create the ultimate bubble bath. Ojai, California–based blogger Christine Rose fills her tub with orange and lemon slices and lines it with candles and flowers when she wants to zen out. 

Kid Stuff

menagerie heads on a wall with books
Photography by Amber May

kids room with built in desk
Photography by Brittany Ambridge

If your kitchen table has transformed into a full-on arts and crafts zone, control the chaos by labeling every bin by category (the easier it is for children to find things and put them back, the less you’ll be left with to clean up). This goes for toys in the playroom, too. And if your little ones have turned into bookworms, congratulations! Consider lining up their of-the-moment reads in a front-facing fashion à la London-based creative director Alex Eagle, so they can look forward to what’s up next. 

Cocktail Concoctions

wood chest with tray of alcohol
Photography by Heidi’s Bridge

You don’t have to own a bar cart to curate your booze. All you need is a flat surface (a floating shelf, a side table, a chest) and a tool to corral the necessities (a tray works best), and you’ll feel a lot more prepared for the next Zoom happy hour. 

See more stories like this: How Leanne Ford Is Keeping Her Kitchen Reno Moving Along During Quarantine Here’s Exactly How to Organize Your Fully Stocked Fridge 5 Work-From-Home Habits That’ll Help Break Up the Day

Lydia Geisel Avatar

Lydia Geisel

Home Editor

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.