Nate Berkus: 'Organization is the foundation of a life well lived' – here's how he keeps home tidy

Mastering the art of an effective organization system is vital in every home, but certainly not least in Nate Berkus's West Village apartment. 

The star of HGTV's The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project lives with his husband, co-star, and designer counterpart Jeremiah Brent and their two children, Poppy and Oskar Michael Brent-Berkus, in an (unsurprisingly) beautifully decorated penthouse. But with a high-profile schedule, young family, and urban apartment to navigate, Nate has had no choice but to get his home organization ideas in order. 

'For me, the organization is the foundation of a life well lived,' the designer says in an exclusive interview with H&G. 

'That layer of organization, that feeling of accomplishment when you look through your things and disregard or donate what isn't serving you anymore – and then you have the product to house all of those things, it shifts the way we move through our homes,' he says. But what is the secret to an (almost) effortlessly tidy space? The answer, according to Nate Berkus, is to find storage containers that work for you. 

Nate Berkus

Since Nate’s first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2002, he has become one of the world’s most recognizable interior designers. He has authored two New York Times bestselling books and stars alongside his husband, Jeremiah Brent, in HGTV's Nate & Jeremiah Home Project.

'I have known – not thought but known – for a really long time the importance of knowing what is in each drawer,' Nate says.

'Being able to reach for something, whether it’s wrapping paper or ribbon or a pot or pan – knowing where to find that is an aspect of housekeeping that allows me to fill the space in a way that is meaningful to me. Without that layer – and without the edit – if you can’t look at your things and edit them continuously, I think what happens is we stop appreciating what we have invested in – and the time we have spent carefully assembling these spaces.'

In his home, Nate uses his own storage containers that he designed for mDesign – as part of a larger home collection that launched this month. It has a series of storage items, including a two-tier organizer that is perfect for kitchen or pantry organization and a sleek wooden shelf organizer. However, the bins, like the ones shown below, are a particular favorite in his household. 

'How can you be creative when you can't get dressed in the morning or find the vitamin you wanted to take? How do you take care of yourself and your home? I am not folding everything with a ruler or anything like that, but my children's drawers have all of my mDesign bins inside because I don't want my son, who gets himself dressed, to have to dig through a messy drawer to find what he wants,' the designer says. 

'Everything goes in a section, and my mDesign containers fit perfectly in a row in the drawer,' Nate adds. 'I hope that my kids will grow up and that it is their second nature [to store things in the same way].'

You can shop the rest of the Nate Home by Nate Berkus collection via mDesign now.