5 Items in Your Home You Should Organize by Color (2024)

Finding an organizing system that works for you can be difficult, but for visual learners, one method rises above the rest: Sorting by color. While this may not be a candidate for every aspect of your home (like organizing cookware and cleaning supplies) other areas thrive in a color-coded environment. Consider anything that will be easier to find and identify when grouped by color—not only will these spaces look more visually impressive, but you'll know exactly where to find what you're looking for.

How to Organize by Color

When organizing by color, look to the rainbow. "Start with white, cream, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, brown, gray, and black," says Melanie Walker, the owner of NEAT Method. There are some other hues that are harder to place when working on the ROYGBIV system, like gold and silver. Try moving those shades around to see what looks best to you. Place gold alongside cream and silver with gray, or you can put all of your metallics together.

What to Organize by Color

Clothes

One of the common things people organize by color is their clothing. "When it comes to your clothes, you're going for a coordinated look," says Meredith Goforth, the founder of House of Prim. "Organizing your clothes by color is an easy way to visually line things up and know where something should be."

Start by grouping like pieces together, then create a color-coded system within each group. "For example, separate your long dresses from short ones, then organize each type by color," says Goforth.

Jewelry

If you often find yourself digging through your jewelry collection just to find one pair of gold hoops, consider organizing these accessories by color (or finish). "When you're getting dressed, it's easy to know 'I need a pop of this color,'" says Goforth. "Having your jewelry organized by color makes it that much easier to grab exactly what you're looking for."

Start by separating your pieces into their designated color family, then place them back into your jewelry tray together.

Books

Sorting your books by shade does double duty as a design element in your home. "While organizing books by color is more for visual appeal, it's a great way to bring personality to a space," says Goforth. Though there are other tried-and-true organizing systems that already exist for books, like sorting by author or genre, this method is ideal for visual people and offers a convenient way to pop a book back into its designated space.

LEGOs

If you haven't found an organizing system for your LEGOs that works for you kids, sorting by color is a fun way to get them on board. "LEGOs can be a pain point for a lot of parents," says Goforth. "Organizing them by color is a way to organize the chaos." For this project, use clear storage bins with colors clearly labeled and begin sorting by shade. "If you're working with limited space, combine like colors—red and pink, orange and yellow, green and blue," Goforth says.

Paper Filing

While plain manila file folders are a simple organizing solution for important documents, they can make it hard to find what you're looking for. "Assigning folders a color for categories like household, medical, banking, etc., can make for a quick glance to find what you are looking for," says Ben Soreff, a professional organizer at House to Home Organizing.