Does It Spark Joy? Inspired Storage Ideas From Five Great Australian Designers

Lauren Li of interior design and decoration firm Sisällä guides us through her strategies for keeping and displaying sentimental items, and using beloved objects as forms of decoration.

Hey Lauren! What is your take on the Marie Kondo craze?

My take away after delving into the Konmari method is, don’t be too hard on yourself or you may live to regret it! Hold onto sentimental things that hold special memories, and instead of throwing them out, move them to a new spot in the house. Those pieces that ‘sparked joy’ when you first laid eyes on them may look a bit tired now, but just store them and bring them out in six months. You’ll feel that spark again and be so thankful you still have it.

Don’t go too extreme. For me, the most depressing thing about ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’ is that an absolutely bare room is celebrated. No-one should live in a house so minimal that the rooms have absolutely no furniture or artwork (what is the purpose of an empty room?). In the process of throwing everything out, the soul of the space is thrown out too.

What’s your advice on storage solutions?

When storing sentimental pieces, keep a combination of closed and open storage. Pieces like vases, candles, ceramics and décor objects can be shown on display on open shelving and occasionally refreshed and swapped out with other pieces stored in cupboards.

Where built-in isn’t an option, a few key pieces can serve a function and still look great. A bench seat, hooks, mirror and a console for keys and to store mail means that the space works and you’ll never lose the keys again. Shelving that has closed storage incorporated in the design is perfect, such as the String System from Great Dane.

Award-winning Melbourne-based interiors practice Mim Design offers direct and succinct storage advice – very Marie Kondo!

What are your top tips on culling?

My top tips are only; keep what you love, and, if you haven’t worn or used an item in the last 12 months, it’s time to cull.

What favourite storage solutions do you turn to time and time again?

There are so many great storage solutions suited for different purposes: I use Blum storage for kitchen cupboards and joinery, Howards storage for make-up and jewellery and Metro storage systems for the garage and store rooms.

Louella Boitel-Gill (formerly Louella Tuckey) is a brilliant interior designer and stylist whose stunning Bilgola House renovation caught our eye recently on instagram!  She offers some solutions for keeping items you love, while avoiding clutter.

Hey Louella! What is your take on the Marie Kondo craze?

A tidy house is an easy house to read, and when you can read a space easily it has a calming effect on you. Marie Kondo is spot on! In saying that, I’m a magpie and I struggle with letting go of things!

My trick is to rotate things and to group things clearly. I block things into groups of colour and texture. I have shelves with groups of bits and bobs in whites, wood, orange for example. If I group them together it simplifies what you’re reading when you scan the space. It’s easier on the eye, and the brain.

When I worked in London for Terence Conran I remember his wise words, which were that if you want to organise a space, take everything out, and only put back what you really want/need.

What’s your advice on choosing storage solutions?

I love a good set of pigeon holes – they create order and structure. You can store and display things at the same time with a calm sense of order.

I also love the Spencer 2 Drawer cabinets from Officeworks in white. You can line them up along a shelf from easy filing!

Melbourne’s Flack studio are not known for their minimalist aesthetic, self identifying as ‘equal parts Gio Ponti and Vincent Van Duysen with a dash of Dame Edna…’! So it is refreshing to hear how a maximalist vibe can respond to the minimalist trend!

Hey David, what is your take on the Marie Kondo craze?

Firstly it’s important to remember it’s a craze. I’m a maximalist at heart – but I agree with the sentiment of only purchasing things of joy. The common mistake I witness when people are either setting up new homes or renovating – they want it to be perfect straight away, we always recommend layering a home slowly and through consideration.

Rather than thinking ‘will it bring me joy?’ – I ask clients to think about whether they will still love it in years to come – this will prevent costly mistakes and landfill.

Can you recommend a favourite storage product?

We love designing custom joinery – however when we specify furniture we can’t go past USM from Anibou or Vitsoe shelving units.

Carole Whiting Interiors and Design is a Melbourne based multi-disciplinary firm, with a particular knack for designing beautiful custom cabinetry, and squeezing the most out of a small space (remember this exquisite house?). Carole takes us through her strategies for keeping clutter to a minimum.

What are your top tips on culling?

It’s great to have a cull every year or two. But even better to stop buying things that you don’t need.
 Don’t buy ugly!  By that I mean, think about what you’re purchasing. If you are buying something – anything from a dress to a pair of scissors – think carefully first. If you have beautiful things, you are more likely to look after them, and love them for longer.

Can you offer advice on storage solutions?

Think about your storage needs. If you have the correct space for things, its much easier to be tidy. There needs to be a space specifically for each item. Give yourself some hanging space in your laundry for underwear or shirts to hang on a rainy day. 
Design it so you either don’t see it or it adds to the aesthetic of the space.

On the flip side – I usually give my clients a cupboard or drawer for the ‘I don’t know what to do with this’ things. We all have them – string, old keys, pens etc. BUT clean it out regularly. It’s a space for shoving things when
 you need a quick tidy up, but don’t let it get out of hand.