When we first approached writing this book, we started thinking about it like a cookbook (which is admittedly ironic, because we do not cook). Nonetheless, it felt like an appropriate analogy: We wanted to give you a collection of organizing recipes alongside inspiring photographs, in the hopes that if you follow those instructions, you’ll achieve similar results.

For this recipe book, we wanted to show you how to assemble spaces in your home the same way that we do. You might not get a casserole at the end, but you will reclaim your sanity and your household. We’re going to cover a lot of ground in this section and work our way through the entire house, but do not get overwhelmed. Rome was not built in a day, and it wasn’t organized in a day, either. The purpose of showing you a range of spaces, with different aesthetics, at varying degrees of difficulty, is to help you pull together inspiration for your own home when you’re ready to embark on the challenge. And if you need to stick to the bunny slope for a while, you can organize every drawer in the house until you’re ready to tackle a larger space and still find great peace of mind. Always keep in mind our mantra about the Low-Bar Lifestyle (see this page), and you’ll be fine. Remember: Baby steps are small victories. And leggings are pants.