That’s right — I pulled a Benita Larsson. If you don’t know her work, she’s the creative mind behind Chez Larsson, and I’ve always admired the clean, functional, and beautifully simple style of her Swedish home and lifestyle. This quick closet refresh felt very much in that spirit: practical, understated, and oddly satisfying. Benita even makes a brief cameo in a project of ours, but that’s another story. For now, let’s focus on this small but effective update involving a set of simple white bins.
After rearranging our bedroom furniture recently, my line of sight from the bed landed directly on our previously unorganized closet. It’s funny how a new view can change your tolerance for clutter: the baskets and half-folded piles that didn’t bother me before suddenly felt noisy and unfinished when I saw them every night before sleep.
I decided I wanted something lighter, more cohesive, and consistent across the shelves — the same solution on every level to create a calm, uniform look. I had been thinking about white baskets, but when I spotted a set of white bins on a store shelf in the organizing section, it clicked. They were actually labeled as waste-sorting bins, but their shape and clean lines made them perfect for shelving. I grabbed six almost immediately.
I turned the bins so the handle indent faces the back of the shelf, which gives a smoother, less busy appearance while still leaving them easy to pull out like drawers. Each bin now houses an easily accessible category: socks, underwear, pajamas, t-shirts, shorts, and a few miscellaneous items. The uniformity instantly reduced visual clutter and made the closet look more intentional.
While organizing, we also cleared out a few items that didn’t belong — an old shredder was donated and a booster seat that Clara has outgrown was moved up to the attic with other kid gear. Those small decisions made the space feel lighter and more purposeful. The transformation was noticeable: the bottom of the closet, once a jumble of mismatched containers and loose piles, now looks tidy and well-ordered.
The clean aesthetic feels especially nice from the bed. It’s a small thing, but seeing a neat, coordinated set of bins instead of a chaotic pile has changed the end-of-day mood for me. We joked about labeling the bins with dry-erase markers in a pretty script to identify contents, but for now my husband easily finds his things without labels. The majority of items in these new bins are his, since most of my clothing lives in the bedroom dresser.
Our bedtime ritual has acquired a playful new line thanks to the closet upgrade. A typical exchange might go: John: Goodnight Burger, goodnight lady-wife. I love you. Sherry: Goodnight Burger, goodnight hubs. I love you. After a short hush, I’ll whisper, Sherry: Goodnight new bins. I love you. to which John responds with an affectionate, audible eye roll. Small domestic joys, indeed.
At about $6.99 per bin, the entire project cost roughly $40. That’s not insignificant, but it’s less than many decorative storage baskets of similar size, and these plastic bins have the added benefit of being easy to wipe clean or soak — a practical advantage over woven options. For two twenties, we bought back a little more peace of mind at bedtime, which felt worth it.
Minor updates like this are a reminder of how one simple change can inspire more organization. Rearranging furniture shifted our perspective, which made the messy closet more visible and prompted a small, manageable fix that now makes daily life smoother. Have you ever had a similar chain reaction — where moving one thing led to another improvement? Or found items designed for one purpose and repurposed them to solve a different problem? These creative little swaps can add up to a lot of calm in a home.
Psst — if you’re in the mood to dig deeper into cleaning and organizing, there are many more ideas and projects out there that can help you create a tidier, more functional living space.