Customer Reviews

Good Things for Organizing

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm not usually one to buy books about generic subjects like organizing. But this book intrigued me because it brings a dash of glamour and pinache to an otherwise dull subject and one that I needed to study!

All of the ideas are fresh and original.

The book goes room by room through the house: Living spaces, Working spaces, Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Basements, etc.

Martha and her team make the task of organizing seem do-able and also offer some very stylish ways of keeping clutter out of site, like the hidden book shelves on the sides of a headboard, starting a key corral by the front door or keeping your computer, fax machine and printer in a converted armoire - a 'secret office' you can put anywhere in the house.

There are lots of tips for storage, keeping clutter off desks, organizng a pantry, a linen closet, a medicine cabinet, a spice rack, a clothes closet, a laundry room, your kitchen drawers, etc.

It's a bit of a vanity project, like most of Martha's books, with photos of Martha's homes and rooms, but that's kind of fun too.

I got this book a while ago and I really love it. The suggestions are useful and very practical. Thanks to this book I now fold fitted sheets properly, which is a big drawer-space-saver. The photos are very helpful and the text is appropriate and addresses what is shown in the pictures/illustrations. I actually read the book from cover to cover, and found it very pleasant besides being informative. My mother-in-law is in the process of organizing her closets and she has asked to borrow this book again from me. I should probably get her her own copy...

My final point is that this is a great buy and you will not regret it.

Very visually appealing and fun to read.

Unfortunately many of the ideas are not cheap (for example, linen-covered boxes.) Also, this book is filled with good ideas for people living in houses, but many of the ideas are not necessarily applicable to people who have smaller apartments. Having said that, there are still many ideas that she uses are universal and can apply to any space.

Not as strong as some of her other books, but still worth buying, especially if you have a house and lots of stuff to store.

First I have to say that I find this book very visually appealing and some of the solutions were great springboards to organize solutions in my home. Also the idea of organizing *as design* is very appealing...

The problem I have is that, for me, not alot of the actual solutions are applicable in my home. Many solutions count on containers, cubbies and storage where things remain unseen and stored..for me..in an inaccessable manner.

I like the idea that the items are unseen in a way but i find that unseen clutter does not get dealt with. And just breeds more clutter.

There has to be a balance between visual asthetics and order for an organizing solution to work in my home. It can be beautifully attractive but if it doesn't *work* in the sense of a long term clutter solution ultimately it will not matter how lovely it is. I was able to look through this book, and continue to do so, to search for ideas that I can turn into reasonable solutions but the solutions themselves offered in this book wouldn't work for me.

If you want to see pretty pictures of nice looking organizing doodads, leaf through this book...but if you want practical tips on how to organize your space, pick up Julie Morgenstern's Organizing from the Inside Out.

There are few good ideas in here. After spending money for the book, I found that I would be SPENDING more money to get organized.

I thought this book was very good. The ideas were completely Martha-like, and quite simple. You probably wouldn't like this book if you are looking for a textbook of sorted ideas. This book is more of a book to give you ideas, not to offer information on every subject. Fortunately, I approached it with the former idea in mind, and I was very pleased with it. A really good book!

I love the pictures, and they are a wonderful inspiration to get you started on organizing your space. There are also a few specific ideas that may prove helpful. But unless you are willing to spend a lot of money on containers, shop at endless flea markets, and most importantly, are already organized, this won't be a big help.

Ingenious ways to organize just about every part of your house and inspiring photos of that oh-so-Martha style make this book a must have for any Martha fan or compulsive neat-nick. However, for those looking for a all-out guide to organizing, this book is more fluff than stuff. While you do get to see a lot of the ideas, the pictures limit the amount of space for instructions and tips. Most, if not all, of the ideas come from her magazine, so for those of us stock-piling issues and issues of it, this book provides a to-the-point compilation. Mostly useful for inspiration and as a visual guide, look elsewhere for much more. Not as lengthy as I might have liked--- I hope Martha comes out with a more comprehensive guide in the future. I'd recommend this to fans of the Martha style only.

For anyone who subscribes to or buys Martha Stewart Living, save your money on this book. It is basically a compilation of past issues on homekeeping and organizing techniques. There are a couple of new ideas(or maybe I don't recall seeing them in the magazine) but otherwise I found this book repetitive of old ideas.