"Reading" Your Rooms

I came across an interesting article on Real Simple's website today that has given me some direction on my kitchen project.  As you may recall, I have been avoiding my kitchen reorganization.  Part of my avoidance is because I know it's going to be an all-day (or multi-day) affair.  Because of the size of the task, I've been wondering where I should begin.  Which drawer or cabinet goes first?  Not knowing where to start is always overwhelming.

Enter this article on tips from organizing pros.  One of the tips was to "Edit" your rooms: As if you were editing a manuscript, start at the top-left, and work your way left to right, and top to bottom.  It's true that it might have no rational relation to your room or what you need to accomplish, but I see the following benefits:

• It's a simple, easy suggestion that can be applied to any room.
• It gives you a definite starting point.
• You always know what you're going to tackle next.
• Not having to think about your process means you can focus your energy on the actual task at hand.

This sounds like a good method to use when doing your initial sweep of "Keep vs. Toss."  However, after you purge the whole room, I'd take a step back before you do anything else.  You might decide to re-arrange the areas where items are kept, and this would be difficult to do without looking at the room as a whole.  However, after everything has been relocated to its new place, you could use the method again to determine the storage needs for each area and doing the final organization.

I'm definitely going to try this process when I start the kitchen this weekend.  Top-left cabinet, here I come!