You know that drawer in your house that you avoid opening because it's a black hole of clutter? We've all been there... and it's frightening, not to mention impossible to find what you need. Take back control of your space with a simple approach and a few tried and true organizers for a drawer of any size.
Define the space
Define the purpose of your drawer, Merriam-Webster style. Without a definition of what should "live" in your drawer, it can become a dumping ground for anything and everything. This is easy enough to do with a flatware or dish towel drawer but what about the dreaded "junk" drawer? First things first, give it a new name. Let's call it the "utility" drawer. Utility drawers should really only house items that assist in frequent tasks. Junk is NOT allowed. This is your new mantra.
Next, empty and edit the contents to support your drawer's new purpose in life. Sort everything into categories, including trash/recycle, donate and relocate. Most importantly, don't be afraid to say goodbye to items that are well-loved or you own a surplus of. An organized drawer will still look cluttered if you are storing too much.
Add boundaries
In order to keep your drawer neat over time, you'll want to add organizers to create boundaries for your different categories. There are so many options out there and we've tried a LOT of them. Here are some of our favorite organizers for every type of drawer...
Wide Drawers
The simplest solution to a wide drawer is to add one or two expandable drawer inserts. Our oil-rubbed Acacia Drawer Inserts come in three different configurations to fit almost any assortment of categories and have rubber feet so they won't shift.
Narrow Drawers
When drawers are really narrow, our best advice it to confine that drawer to one single category, like dish towels or wooden spoons, and avoid using organizers at all. However, if space is uber tight, we have gotten creative with this clever flatware organizer and our Acacia Drawer Dividers. Depending on the dimensions, puzzling together individual organizers can also work well for storing small items like wine stoppers or measuring spoons.
Deep Drawers
Modern homes are full of really deep, wide drawers. These can be perfect for baking dishes and sets of cookware, but can feel too large to store almost anything else. Our suggestion? Divide and conquer. Our Deep Acacia Drawer Dividers are 5.5' high and come in two different lengths that compress to fit snug between your categories. Need even more boundaries? Try arranging our divided Perforated Baskets within your drawer.
Shallow Drawers
We consider a drawer shallow, when it is less than 2" in height. We often come across these drawers in desks, and it can be difficult to find organizers that fit, but not impossible. Below are a few we've used in a pinch. Just be sure to measure and record the width, height and depth of your drawer, before heading to the store.
xx,
the NEAT team
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