Get Tidying with Gorgeous KraftMaid Cabinets

Hardwood Specialties is teaming up with KraftMaid to help you “Tidy Up,” the Marie Kondo way!

What’s the “Tidying Up” trend?

If you missed the hit Netflix series that swept the nation (and inspired everyone to sweep their homes of clutter!), don’t worry, we’ll fill you in.

Published in 2012, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” was written by Marie Kondo. While the book was pretty popular, Netflix released “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” earlier this year, causing the topic of shoveling out America’s closet to explode.

So, what’s the big deal? It’s just cleaning out, like your mom used to nag you to do.

Well … not quite. Kondo’s methods are a bit extreme (and exhausting, for those of us who’ve tried it!) Here’s how it works: you take everything in your house (yes, everything.) and pile it up into categories. So let’s say you’re starting with clothes. You would pile all your tops together, all your pants together, all your underwear … you get the picture.

It’s time to let go.

And then you touch everything. You pick it all up, piece by piece, and wait to see if it sparks joy. Sound silly? It may not be as silly as it sounds! Lots of us keep old dresses or socks because they were a gift, but they only make us feel guilty as we squash them to the back of the closet, knowing we’ll never actually wear them. Marie Kondo says we should say “Thank you” to those bright purple socks that Aunt Joyce gave you four years ago, and let them go to a thrift store, where someone who actually loves them will get to wear them.

People around the world are adopting Kondo’s methods to clean and organize their closets. Some are going to extremes, throwing out everything but a handful of joy-sparking t-shirts and some useful cookware. But, most of us have landed somewhere in the moderate zone, getting rid of stuff like the closetful of old softball gear that only serve to remind us that while we once enjoyed getting out on the field, we don’t play any more, and probably never will.

But that’s ok! We’ve moved on, we’ve thanked our (suspiciously stinky) cleats and chucked them in the “donate” bin at the thrift store. Now, you’ve made room for the things that really inspire you.

So you’ve thrown out anything that doesn’t spark joy. Now what?

It’s time to find the perfect storage solution for those things you just can’t live without! “The Art of Tidying Up” isn’t about living like a monk. It’s about letting go of all those things that actually weigh us down, and making room to cherish those things that help us remember sweet moments with loved ones, or inspire us to be better parents, better professionals and just generally more productive and happy in life.

If you’ve gotten to the stage where piles of “keep it” stuff are stacked neatly around, but … well, where do you put it all? … You need cabinets that spark joy, too.

Enter KraftMaid cabinetry.

At Hardwood Specialities, we spend our days helping people design and build environments at home that spark joy with every cup of coffee, every family gathering and quiet evening in. We know better than anyone that how we store our things — treasured heirlooms or everyday tools — matters. It gives us peace of mind to know our storage is just as beautiful and functional as our open shelving, or our carefully chosen art.

We’ve teamed up with KraftMaid to help you find storage solutions that are every bit as special and functional as the stuff you’re storing. Contact us today to get started.