Rainbow order is a trend in home organization and it makes for beautiful images of perfectly organized cabinets, bookshelves, and pantries. Yes, ROYGBIV is aesthetically pleasing but it might not always be the best way to organize for daily use. Find out the specifics on when it’s beneficial in episode 56 of The Intentional Edit Podcast.
Listen to this episode of the Intentional Edit Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription (not edited):
Rainbow order is a trend in home organization and it makes for beautiful images of perfectly organized cabinets, bookshelves and pantries. Yes, the Rogy B is aesthetically pleasing, but it might not always be the best way to organize for daily use. Find out the specifics on when it’s beneficial. An episode 56 of the intentional edit podcast.
(00:20):
Hey friends, quick tips that make a big impact in your daily life are my favorite ways to implement systems around the house. I’ve been sharing easy strategies and my go-to organizing products for tip Tuesday on the intentional at Instagram feed for a few years. Now I’m excited to bring it to the podcast with short episodes, answering your questions every Tuesday. If you want me to answer your are questions, go to the podcast page on intentional, edit.com and submit your questions there. Let’s get started on this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit
(00:50):
Podcast. Hey friends, welcome to episode 56 of the intentional edit podcast. It is a tip Tuesday episode, and we are talking about everything. Rainbow order today, a question came in and I really loved the honesty that came with this question. So I’m going to read it to you. Now, here it is. What is up with rainbow order, everything in home organizing. It doesn’t seem to be the practical way to organize and I can’t get behind or keep up with rainbow order books for children at all. Am I missing something? I don’t wanna be doing it wrong, but this isn’t working for me at all. I love the honesty here and that this person who submitted the question is willing to say what’s actually happening in their home. There are so many beautiful pictures on Instagram and Pinterest and all over social and these reals and video CEOs of people putting things in rainbow order.
(01:45):
Sometimes it makes sense. And sometimes it doesn’t. If you have a collection of books that are books that are not read a lot, and you want to have a rainbow order bookshelf, that is aesthetically pleasing. I think that that looks fabulous in most rooms. I love that. Look, that order and just what it does. It’s such a statement, but if you have kids that are getting books off of bookshelves all the time and you organize them in rainbow order and it’s just not working, then it might not be working for you. And that’s not something that’s attainable. It’s not something that’s realistic for your home. And what is happen in there right now? I will tell you that I think the first big rainbow order project that I did in my home, this was my old house is to organize my books, my children’s book collection in rainbow order.
(02:39):
And I actually found it to be easier for the kids that would come over and play to put the books back in a way that made sense. Like they could actually figure out where the books went based on the color. I was a teacher, I taught fourth grade and high school, but when I taught fourth grade, I had a large collection of children’s books that I personally owned for my classroom library. As a teacher, I wanted those books organized by category and narrowed down to very specific genres within the categories because that is how I would access them. But I quickly realized that the kids did not identify even as fourth graders. They did not identify the categories the way that I was identifying them or the way that made sense for the educational purposes and when I would be pulling them for whatever we were studying in that section of our curriculum.
(03:32):
That didn’t really make sense either. If you have a lot of books, you do need to have them in some way. And that might just be books on specific shelves or chapter books in one area, board books, in another picture, books in another, it depends what you’re using and when you need to use them. And if the parents and the adults in the household or the older kids are the ones that are taking the books off the shelves or the a, if the kids have access to them too, I definitely encourage you to let your kids have access to the book so that they can get them and look at the pictures, even if they are not readers, yet, if you have organized something in rainbow order, because it’s what you wanted to do, and it is not working, then a change needs to be made.
(04:17):
But think back, if this is something that you want, a lot of people want the look of the rainbow order, and that’s what they’re going for. If it’s something that you really want, and that’s important to you talk to your kids, talk to your people that, that are using these things in your home, specifically books in this example, and explain to them about the colors. If you show the kids young kids, especially that they can match up the colors and you show them on the edge and you point to the color wear’s red match with red. It’s also an exercise in matching. Just putting those books away. You might have success with it. If you take time to explain it, and maybe your collection is just simply too large, and you have too many hands involved in these bookshelves and it’s not not going to work.
(05:01):
That’s okay. Too home organization is to make life easier. It’s to simplify it’s to make it so that things stay orderly. Things become easier, and everyone can participate in the upkeep of these things. If you decided to do something like the rainbow order books and it, it’s not working for you, and it’s adding to your stress, that’s something that you can stop right away because that type of organization isn’t working for you. There are many pictures, like I already said on social media of rainbow water, everything, and these beautiful organized spaces, rainbow order works in craft rooms or craft closets with arts and craft supplies. If someone is into jewelry making and design or something wi that is very particular, maybe kniting organizing the yarns in color order. Those type of things are incredibly helpful because the colors matter in the projects, you complete projects by finding the right color things.
(06:06):
Sometimes we see these pantries and boy, do they look good? And the food is organized in this beautiful rainbow that does not make sense to me at all. It does. Doesn’t usually work now a, maybe a beverage fridge that is color order. Fine. That could be a little bit easier, but the food that is in your pantry is constantly changing. Packaging, also changes and organizing for ease of retrieval and how you use something. Makes sense. So much more color order if no one uses your pantry. And it’s just something to look at, go right ahead. But if you are like 99.9% of people that live in their homes and use their pantries and have food constantly coming and going then organizing by categories and having dinner sections and snack sections and breaking it down, even by types of food. When in we eat them snacks that you want kids to get on lower shelves, things that are only for baking or adults to consume are on upper shelves organizing.
(07:08):
That makes sense by category for how you use it will make things more efficient for you and make it so that you are able to see what you have not waste food, because you’re not buying things that you already have in a pantry while it’s a be beautiful. And I love those images, color order. Doesn’t make sense for the practical use of the food. There are other areas where you can choose to have things displayed by color like a closet. I think that dividing your clothes, clothing into styles like short sleeve, long sleeve and tank top is a great way to organize and then further divide those up into color and have those in the rainbow order. That makes sense, because it’s easier to match clothing. It’s easier to put things together. You can easily do that with accessories, well categorize and put them in color order.
(08:02):
You can do that for closets, with kids of all ages. And that’s an example of when rainbow order makes sense and it helps you. It makes it easier for you to find things and it saves you time books. It can work with clothing. It absolutely works with food more. So I would say no on office supplies that might not be the most practical way to store them again, going back to arts and crafts and specific arts or a crafty projects and materials and supplies that would make sense with rainbow order. But when you are organizing, you wanna dial in the best system and solution for your home and your family for how currently being used. So if rainbow order doesn’t make sense, then don’t do it. Come up with another way. That makes sense. That makes your life easier. That brings simplicity to your life and home. Thank you for listening to another episode of the intentional edit podcast.
(08:54):
I will meet you back here later in the week for another episode. Thanks for listening to another tip Tuesday episode on the intentional edit podcast. Keep submitting your questions so that I can keep answering them on these episodes. They’re quick episodes and I love to share actionable solutions for you to implement at home. You can always send me an email or direct message on I, but I have added a cool way to submit voice questions on the website. It’s honestly my favorite way to take questions. Now, head over to intentional edit.com, click on the podcast page and scroll down to where it says, submit your questions for the podcast. Ask me anything there. And you can even be featured on the show. Questions can be about creating systems in your house, decluttering, how to manage family schedules, getting kids on board with organizing, managing, and maintaining systems. Honestly, they can be personal questions of things you wanna know about how I do something in my house. I want to know what you want to know if you’re struggling with it. Other people are too ready set, go over right now to intentional edit.com and ask your questions.
Listen to other episodes of The Intentional Edit Podcast.
You can listen to THE INTENTIONAL EDIT PODCAST anywhere you listen to podcasts!
If you have questions please send me a DM on Instagram. I do my best to reply to all the messages I receive.
Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!
I’d love to have you follow along. Find me here:
Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook | Blog
Intentional Edit participates in select affiliate advertising programs. If you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms, Intentional Edit may make a commission. All opinions are my own.
My Favorite Organizing Products
Amazon | The Container Store
Where to Shop
Organizing
The Container Store | Target | Bed Bath & Beyond | Walmart | Marshalls | Ikea
Design & Decor
Wayfair | Joss & Main | West Elm | Crate & Barrel | Pottery Barn | Urban Outfitters |
Deals
Marshalls | Nordstrom Rack | Old Navy | Ikea | Amazon | T.J.Maxx | J.Crew Factory
Fashion
Nordstrom | Banana Republic | LOFT | J.Crew | Lululemon | Nike | Saks Off 5th | Abercrombie
DIY
Home Depot | Sherwin Williams | Michaels | Ace Hardware | Amazon | Etsy
Crafty
Michaels | Ikea | Etsy | Home Depot | Target | Amazon
Organizing | DIY | Recipes | Creativity | Design | Home | Shopping
I’m Lauren, and I’m passionate about being organized and efficient and making spaces beautiful at the same time. I hope to inspire you to live your best organized life.
