Customer Reviews

A Place for Everything: Organizing the Stuff of Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

People seem to either love this book or hate it. I am one of the ones that loves it. Just a note to folks who are trying to decide whether or not to give it a try, this book is not for beginning organizers. There are no tips for turning kleenex boxes into handy jewlery organizers. This book is for people who are already highly organized, live and breath the stuff. It is like a graduate course for the compulsive, and if that is you, you'll probably enjoy the book. The ideas are highly original and help people who have already decluttered and organized their things to store them beautifully. It is truly a great book for those people who are really into this stuff. But if your just looking for a way to keep your kids' school papers in order and a system for finding your keys don't get it.

This pretty book is a little bit dishonest, I found. It's OK if you are just starting out in life and have the luxury of buying things that naturally go together. In that case, the premise that you can cut clutter by displaying your possessions (because they're all the same color) works. Unfortunately, most of us own and love a variety of objects, such as gifts and family heirlooms, and those things don't always go together naturally. So, Ithink the authors cheated a bit, making it easy on themselves by showing us how to group those things that do, of course, go together. The book seems to be more a statement of a certain style (white, white, white) instead of delivering what it promises in terms of storage help.

Profiles practical and innovative storage solutions that are beyond stylish. Focuses on the aesthetic aspects of storage rather than the organization of clutter. Couple it with Julie Morgenstern's "Organizing From The Inside Out" and your life will be perfect. (Well at least your closets will be.)

This is a BEAUTIFUL and PRACTICAL book, an unusual combination, I admit. Each page is filled with useful suggestions for stylish storage. I actually leave some closet doors open now because of the ideas I picked up in this book. Don't hesitate. Buy this one!

Taking tips from Julie Morgenstein I recently completely decluttered my life. I am left with only the things I love and use and am ready to make storage purchases. I was hoping for a book with pictures of before and afters, of cleaning supplies, cosmetics, etc. stored several different ways (wicker, plastic, boxes, on the door, under the sink, etc.), and tips on where to buy the storage supplies. 'A Place for Everything,' unfortunately, seems to be just a photo journey through one victorian home which I thought looked quite cluttered! The moral seemed to be if it is antiquey looking, by all means leave it out, because that is art, not clutter. I agree with the other reviewer who said "save your money" and use it to buy organizational supplies!

I agree with the previous reviewer. This book is a big, big disappointment.The pretty picturers don't reflect the real stuff that most of us live with and must organize. In other words, the book is not really about "organizing the stuff of life," as it promises. And regarding the previous review, who is Julie Morgenstein? Never heard of her.

I was thrilled by this wonderful book which gives us practical and elegant solutions to get organized. The photographs are very well done and the book would be a pleasure for anyone to keep.

This book is neither practical nor helpful. The authors made it easy on themselves by focusing on ideal circumstances from the start.For instance, they show a lot of "organizing" of all-white stuff, and their idea of "organizing" is simply stacking and displaying. It's easy to do that if everything you have is white. There also is the ridiculous situation of the big walk-in closet which they "make over" by adding a table and other stuff. If you have a big closet like that in the first place, you don't need much help. And who has a closet big enough for a table? If you live in the real world with regular closets and ordinary (anything but all-white!) stuff, you will not find any help here.

This book reminds me of that Phil Hartman (sad...) character on Saturday
Night Live, the Anal-Retentive Carpenter. He would have loved
this book. Especially the photos of the "sheds" and "basements",
with all their tools lined up and hanging on perfect little hooks.

I agree with the other reviewers that bemoan the lack of practical
ideas and the abundance of country cottagey "distressed"
furniture, cutesy style. This is mostly a book for people who
buy everything from J. Crew and Pottery Barn and need just a
couple more "inspirations" to attain the ultimate catalog lifestyle
they've always dreamed of.

On the other hand, there are a smattering of photos that could give
you some ideas for your own, real-world home. I liked the idea
of a shelf above the bathroom door for storing towels (good
use of unused space). And some of the kitchen storage ideas
are reasonable (or can be made reasonable). But you could
probably get all that's useful from this book by just flipping
through it at a bookstore some day. That's what I'd recommend.

This book is neither practical nor helpful. The authors made it easy on themselves by focusing on ideal circumstances from the start.For instance, they show a lot of "organizing" of all-white stuff, and their idea of "organizing" is simply stacking and displaying. It's easy to do that if everything you have is white. There also is the ridiculous situation of the big walk-in closet which they "make over" by adding a table and other stuff. If you have a big closet like that in the first place, you don't need much help. And who has a closet big enough for a table? If you live in the real world with regular closets and ordinary (anything but all-white!) stuff, you will not find any help here.