Author
Colette Ramsey
Writer and editor behind Room by Room Home. She covers one question across every guide: where does this actually go, and will the system survive a normal week?
About Colette
Access-first, not display-first
For more than a decade, Colette has helped households set up storage that holds up in daily use. Most of those homes were rented, on a budget, or shared with children, so her advice starts from real constraints rather than a blank showroom: fixed shelf depths, plumbing under the sink, a door that only swings one way, a cabinet a short person has to reach into every morning.
She does not treat a home like a retail display. A good solution can use containers a family already owns, leave some shelves visibly empty, and change when children grow or routines shift. She avoids fear-based decluttering, one-size dimensions, and brand-led comparison tables.
How the guides are written
Every guide is built on the same unit: the real constraint of the space (plumbing, hinge swing, shelf depth, moisture, weight, reach), a decision rule for what goes where, the failure mode that breaks the system, and an observable check you can run afterward. Where a guide touches medication, food, fire, tip-over, electrical or vehicle safety, the figure is tied to a public source — the full sourcing policy is on the how we research page.
Editorial standards
- One guide covers one specific space, or one space plus one constraint.
- Physical obstacles come first: pipes, hinges, shelf depth, reach, moisture, and door swing. Measure before buying anything.
- Product types stay generic. No affiliate rankings, no sponsored placements inside a guide, no invented measurements or prices.
- Every system ends with a short maintenance routine, because setup without a reset is temporary.
- Safety notes — anti-tip hardware, chemicals stored high, medication out of reach — are never trimmed for length.
- Corrections are welcome and published. Send the guide title and the sentence in question through the contact page.
How the method works
The full process — the order Colette works in, and why the physical space comes before the product — is written up on The Room-by-Room Method page.
Recent guides by Colette
- How to Organize Under the Kitchen Sink Around Pipes and Leaks
- How to Organize a Small Reach-In Closet Without Losing Hanging Space
- How to Organize a Junk Drawer So It Stays Useful
- How to Organize a Bathroom Vanity Around Plumbing and Daily Routines
- How to Organize a Deep Linen Closet Without Losing Things in the Back
- How to Organize Under-Bed Storage Without Losing Track of What's There
- How to Organize a Corner Kitchen Cabinet and Reach the Dead Space
- How to Organize an Entryway Drop Zone So the Door Area Stays Clear