Setting up an organized home is one thing, but keeping it organized is another! I’ve found that creating both a functional and beautiful space that my family and I enjoy helps us maintain our systems. Today I’m going to give you a full home tour of our organized house. I hope this inspires you to get your home cleaned and organized too.
Before I begin, I want to be completely honest. Our home is not always this clean. My husband and I have two boys and a large dog who can turn our home upside down fast! It’s amazing how much time it takes to clean a home and how little time it takes to destroy it! 🙂 These pictures were taken on a day when our home was clean. This is my goal for our home each night before we go to bed. This isn’t how it looks all the time!
So if you’re sitting in your home reading this post, know that as I type this I have dirty dishes in my sink and toys scattered all over my living room floor! I’m right there with you! And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So without further ado, welcome to our home.
We have a big front porch which is rather bare right now with all the cold weather we’ve had recently. I always try to have a wreath and welcome mat just to make it a little more inviting. I’m very much looking forward to spring when I can add some pretty flowers and throw pillows on our rocking chairs! I absolutely love this eucalyptus wreath from the Hearth and Hand collection at Target.
Entryway & Living Room
When you walk in our front door you walk straight into our main living space. It’s very open and we like it that way! I have my grandma’s piano on the wall next to our entryway.
We also have this shoe cabinet from Ikea next to the front door to hold all of our shoes. We use the top drawer of this cabinet to hold our keys, sunglasses, and dog leash. We have coat hooks behind our front door for guests. Our family usually keeps our coats in our bedroom closets.
Our living room is directly to the left of our entryway. We used our sectional couch to give a little more separation to the space. I like keeping this space open and clean. It’s the first space guests see when they drop by! 🙂 I’ve linked to everything I can find below.
Shoe Cabinet | Cream Armchair | Blue Armless Chairs | Shoe Cabinet | Ottoman | End Tables | Shoe Cabinet| Blue Lamps (TJ Maxx) | Shoe Cabinet | Shoe Cabinet| Shoe Cabinet | Wind Mill Wall Hanging – Walmart in-store (similar) | Large Farmhouse Clock | Lamp on White End Table | Black Metal Lantern | Small White House | Medium Black House | Metal House Lantern | Blue Glass Jug | White Cotton Stems | Light Blue Pillows (TJ Maxx) | Navy Blue Pillows – no longer available (similar) | Live Simply Pillow | Gray and White Checked Pillow | Gray Throw Blanket
*The majority of the wall decor in this room can be found at Hobby Lobby.*
Kitchen & Dining Room
Our kitchen and dining room are both open to our living room. I try to keep my countertops as clear as possible. I keep a fruit bowl next to our refrigerator, a crock in the back corner that holds wooden spoons I use regularly, and our coffee pot with a little decor on the corner next to our pantry. As you can see, I try to keep the large sections of countertop open for use. By placing the things that you do keep on your counters to the far sides, you create more usable space.
Bar Stools | Glass Door Cabinet | Vintage Scale | Letter Board | Wooden Houses
Master Bedroom & Bathroom
Our master bedroom is definitely my favorite room in our home! It’s so peaceful and serene. I try to keep surfaces as clear as possible. I limit myself to my absolute favorite decorative pieces and our daily essentials (alarm clock, baby monitor, etc.)
We have this dresser that belonged to my great aunt. I chalk painted it with Annie Sloan chalk paint a few years ago and it’s still holding up really well! 🙂
We also utilize a small space in our master bedroom as a home office space. You can see how we organize this space as well as all of the paper in our home in this post!
Our master bathroom is also small and quaint, but very functional. I LOVE the double sinks and the fact that we only have one shower to clean! 😉
We have a nice linen closet for storage! You can see how we keep that space organized in this post!
Metal Bed | Nightstands – World Market – no longer available | Desk | Hanging Metal Files | Hanging Wall Pencil Holder – Target – no longer available | Nightstand Lamps | Desk Lamp
*The wall decor in this room is either from Hobby Lobby or DIYed.*
Boys’ Bedrooms
My boys each have their own bedroom. We keep ALL toys in their bedrooms. We’ve had to get creative on how we store things utilizing both their closets and hidden storage in order to make the rooms continue to feel open and clear of excessive clutter.
But let’s get real…their rooms are rarely this clean! They are little boys and make messes often. But having a place to return the toys and crayons and Legos and books and all those little knick knacks to once their are finished playing is the key!
In Caleb’s room we store all of his toys (with the exception of his Lego) in his closet. This way we can close the door and not see all the clutter! 🙂
All of Caleb’s LEGO is stored in a small cubby behind his door. You can see how we store all of his LEGO in this post.
He has a twin bed as well as a large bookshelf that is full. Yes, we like books. Yes we read these books regularly! And no, I have zero intention of purging massive amounts of books anytime soon! 😉
In Ben’s room, we store most of the toys in his 16-cube organizer that we purchased from Walmart. This has got to be one of the best purchases we’ve ever made! It holds a TON and keeps things tidy and out of site which is very important to me. You can read all about how we organize ALL of the toys in our home in this post.
Both my boys only have one dresser where they store their clothes. I would actually really like to get rid of these as well in the near future. I prefer more open space for kids to play! But I’m still contemplating what to do with the clothing we store in those dressers.
Caleb’s Bed | Ben’s Bed | 5-Shelf Bookcase | 6-Cube Organizer | 16-Cube Organizer | Cube Organizing Totes | Stuffed Animal Bin | Navy Quilt
*Most of the wall decor in both bedrooms can be found at Hobby Lobby.*
Guest Bathroom & Laundry Room
Our guest bathroom and laundry “room” separate our boys bedrooms on one side of our home. The bathroom is simple and clean…exactly how I hope it to be! 🙂
Our laundry “room” is actually just a small closet. This was one of the things I was most worried about when moving into this house. I’ve always dreamed of a beautiful big laundry room. And a laundry closet is not at all what I envisioned.
But after a few weeks I realized something…sometimes smaller spaces aren’t so bad. They are easier to keep clean, cheaper to maintain, and realistically just as functional as a larger space.
When we moved in, we added a cabinet for laundry supplies and shelves to add some storage to this space. This is where store most of our craft supplies. We hang dry a lot of our clothing so we also added retractable hooks that can easily hold 6-8 pieces of clothing on either side.
Sometimes I think you have to get a little more creative when you live in small spaces. And i like that!
As you can see in the picture below, our linen closet is right next to our laundry closet. We are able to put our laundry baskets in this closet so it’s super easy to get a load of laundry done quickly! Plus, this space is right between my boys’ bedrooms so we can avoid having additional laundry baskets in their bedrooms! Win, win!
Magnolia Wreath | White Shower Curtain | Metal Buckets in Laundry Room – Walmart in stores (similar) | Fabric Linen Baskets
So that’s it! Our 1608 square foot organized ranch home! It’s not big or grande. It’s not a magnificent space. But it’s tidy, cozy, clean, organized, and the perfect little home for our family!
I think sometimes we see homes on Pinterest that can make us so envious of having more space and more stuff. But what we often forget is that those “mores” also come with more time spent cleaning and more money spent maintaining. So I’ll take my average sized home any day!
Lea says
It’s beautifully practical! I love it. We have the same square footage as you, but we have 6, (7 in July) kiddos. But I got some great ideas from this post, thank you!!!
Paula says
Thank you for sharing!
It’s nice to see everything in its place. I too am on a quest for this same peace and tranquility in my home. Out of four children we only have one left at home who is 10 and she still likes to make messes. Toys and paper that comes in the mail are our two biggest clutter issues. You have a beautiful,welcoming home. It inspires me to declutter and organize my own. I think a picture of something is worth a thousand words. Got some great ideas.
Best Regards
Paula
Kaitlin says
Thank you for your sweet comment, Paula! I agree…toys and papers are the hardest things to stay on top of here too!
Pam Pitts says
I love your home, reminds me of our younger years!
My favorite room in our new home of 1980 sq ft is my Master Bath, but since I’ve been ill these past 2 weeks, it’s a mess so I’ll spare you a picture at this time! The reason it’s my favorite is because I decorated in a beach theme and the rest of the house hasn’t really been decorated and we have lived here 1 1/2 years. My mother-in-law lives with us and Erin is in and out since she’s away @ college most of the year! All I knew I wanted to do was make sure the Word of God is everywhere for encouragement! I do have a few places that have a good little “favorites” theme and maybe I’ll take a picture and share at some point. 1 is inside the top of a cabinet, no one can reach up there so I had Cody to make me a display of my Coca-Cola collection, in the pantry there’s a collect of animal shaped cutting boards and hooks and more Coca-Cola stuff and in the entryway-really nice size we have my mother-in-law’s Amish Electric Fireplace as an entryway table with the Family Bible, some photo’s, Crosses and Large Mirror.. it’s a homey welcome!
Thanks for sharing, I love the 16 Cubby-Cabinet and the shelves, buckets and cabinets in your laundry room and the desk area w/all the goodies in your bedroom. Office Supplies (especially unique ones) are my weakness!!!
Kaitlin says
Thanks for the kind words, Pam! You’re home sounds lovely and so homey. Just perfect! <3
Bethany says
Simply beautiful! I loooove it! Everything has a place and everything in it’s place and your decor is so relaxing and cozy. Thanks for sharing and inspiring!
May I ask where you get your text and bible verse wall arts? The ones at the front entrance and over your bed and over the towel rod in the master bathroom etc. They add such a nice touch and speak much of your values and character :).
Bethany says
Ooops! I see now where you say where it’s from. You thought of everything!
Kaitlin says
🙂
Joyce says
love what you have done with the space! you and i have the same washer/dryer! i live in a rowhouse in dc with two dogs. i will post several comments/question when i return from walking my dogs (the kidds). one question now, does anyone play the piano?
Kaitlin says
I play a little…the piano belongs to my grandma and I’m planning to get my 6 year old in piano lessons this fall!
Alyssa Winters says
Hello Kaitlin, to keep home clean and organized is a very tough work. But it’s very nice to see in your blog that everything is in it’s place. I like the decoration of your home, it is just perfect. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your home in the blog. Now, I will take some suggesstion from your pictures for my home decoration. Keep posting!
Dawn says
Beautiful home. Thank you for sharing your tips for a nice clean, organized, and tidy home.
This is how I want my home to be, but haven’t gotten there yet. I used to be, but have flipped the other direction😞,
Showing us our homes don’t have to be huge and ‘pinterest-y” is a great inspiration!!!
(can you come help me get started…getting started is the hardest..lol)