What a Vacation Rental Taught Me About Organizing My Own Home
Five Bedrooms, Five Bathrooms, Three Coffee Makers, and a Few Lessons in Living With Less
My husband and I recently spent some time in Charleston, South Carolina, where we rented a beautiful vacation home on Isle of Palms. It was a large house with five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and plenty of room to spread out and relax. The location was wonderful, the house was comfortable, and as a professional organizer, I couldn't help noticing something that made the experience even more enjoyable. There was very little clutter.
Now, you might think that's obvious. After all, it's a vacation rental, not someone's primary residence. There aren't years of accumulated belongings, overflowing junk drawers, or closets filled with things nobody remembers buying. But what struck me wasn't simply the absence of clutter. It was how well the house functioned without all that extra stuff.
The kitchen had everything we needed to prepare meals, serve food, and enjoy our stay. There were enough dishes, glasses, utensils, pots, and pans to accommodate everyone, but not three times as many as necessary. The bathrooms were equipped with the essentials without being overcrowded. The living spaces were comfortable and inviting without being filled with unnecessary furniture or decorations. Everything seemed to have a purpose and a place.
Well, almost everything. The house had three coffee makers, and we only used one. Apparently, even a beautifully organized vacation rental isn't immune to a little excess!
The experience got me thinking about how we organize our own homes and what we might learn from the simplicity of a well-appointed vacation rental. Here are five lessons I brought home from Isle of Palms.
1. Enough Really Is Enough
One of the things I appreciated most about the rental was that it had enough of everything without having too much. We never found ourselves searching for a glass, a plate, or a kitchen utensil. Yet the cabinets weren't overflowing with duplicates, mismatched dishes, or gadgets that hadn't been used in years.
Think about your own kitchen for a moment. How many coffee mugs do you own? How many spatulas, serving bowls, or sets of measuring cups? If you're like most people, you probably have considerably more than you regularly use. Over time, we accumulate extras because something was on sale, we received it as a gift, or we bought a replacement without getting rid of the original.
The lesson here isn't to get rid of everything you don't use every day. It's to be more intentional about what you keep. If you entertain frequently, you may need more dishes and serving pieces than someone who rarely hosts guests. That's perfectly reasonable. But there's a difference between having what you need and keeping everything you've ever owned.
Heather's Tip: Pick one kitchen cabinet or drawer and empty it completely. Before putting anything back, ask yourself how many of each item you realistically need. You might be surprised by how much space you can reclaim without sacrificing a single thing you actually use.
2. Clear Countertops Make a Difference
Another thing I noticed was how clean and uncluttered the kitchen countertops were. There was plenty of room to prepare food, put down groceries, and serve meals without having to move a collection of appliances, mail, decorative accessories, and miscellaneous items out of the way first.
At home, our countertops have a way of becoming storage spaces rather than workspaces. The toaster stays out because we use it regularly. The blender stays out because we might use it. The mail lands on the counter because it's convenient, and before long, every available surface has something on it.
The beauty of the vacation rental was that the kitchen was ready to use whenever we needed it. We weren't spending time clearing space before making breakfast or preparing dinner. It was a small thing, but it made the entire experience feel easier.
I'm not suggesting that everyone should hide every appliance in a cabinet. If you make coffee every morning, your coffee maker has earned its spot on the counter. But perhaps the bread maker you use twice a year doesn't need the same prime real estate.
Heather's Tip: Take a good look at your kitchen countertops and identify the items you use daily versus those you use occasionally. Keep the everyday essentials accessible and find another home for the rest. A little open space can make your kitchen feel larger, cleaner, and much more functional.
3. More Space Doesn’t Have to Mean More Stuff
Our vacation rental had five bedrooms and five bathrooms. That's a lot of space, and it would have been easy to fill every room with additional furniture, decorations, and accessories. Instead, the rooms felt open, comfortable, and thoughtfully furnished.
I think this is one of the biggest challenges we face in our own homes. When we have an empty shelf, we feel compelled to put something on it. When we have an extra closet, we find things to store there. And when we move into a larger home, we somehow manage to acquire enough belongings to fill it.
But just because we have the space doesn't mean we need to fill it.
One of the reasons the vacation home felt so relaxing was that there was room to breathe. The bedrooms had what we needed without being crowded. The bathrooms weren't overflowing with products. The living areas had comfortable seating without unnecessary furniture taking up every corner.
Sometimes, the most valuable thing in a room is the empty space.
Heather's Tip: Choose one room in your home and look at it as though you were seeing it for the first time. Is there furniture you rarely use? Are there decorative items that no longer appeal to you? Could removing a few things make the room feel more spacious and inviting? Remember, an empty corner doesn't necessarily need to be filled.
4. Everything Should Earn Its Place
Vacation rentals are generally designed with a specific purpose in mind. They need to be comfortable, functional, easy to maintain, and welcoming to guests. That means the items in the home are usually selected because they serve a purpose, not because someone has been collecting them for the past 25 years.
Our rental was a perfect example. The kitchen had what we needed to cook. The bedrooms had comfortable furniture and places to store our belongings. The bathrooms had the essentials. Nothing felt neglected, but nothing felt excessive either.
At home, we tend to make room for things simply because we already own them. We keep the extra lamp because it still works, the old towels because they might come in handy, and the serving platter because someone gave it to us years ago. Before long, our homes are filled with things that have a history but no longer have a purpose.
Of course, our homes should reflect our personalities and the lives we've lived. Family photographs, treasured keepsakes, and meaningful possessions are what make a house a home. I'm certainly not suggesting we get rid of those things. But I do think it's worth asking whether everything we're keeping still deserves the space it occupies.
Heather's Tip: The next time you're organizing a room, don't automatically put everything back where it was. Ask yourself whether each item is useful, meaningful, or something you genuinely enjoy having. If it doesn't meet any of those criteria, it may be time to let it go.
5. Even the Best-Organized Homes Have Their Exceptions
And now, back to those three coffee makers.
I have no idea why our rental needed three of them. Perhaps different guests have different preferences. Maybe one was a backup. Or perhaps the owners simply couldn't decide which one they liked best. Whatever the reason, we managed quite happily with just one for our entire stay.
It made me laugh because it was such a familiar example of how duplicates accumulate. Even in a home where nearly everything seemed thoughtfully selected, there was still an opportunity to simplify.
We all have our own version of the three coffee makers. Maybe it's the drawer full of phone chargers, the collection of reusable water bottles, the stack of extra blankets, or the dozen coffee mugs we reach past to find our favorite two.
Sometimes we don't even realize how much we've accumulated until we see an alternative. Spending time in a home that functioned beautifully with fewer possessions was a great reminder that having more choices doesn't always make life easier.
Heather's Tip: Find your own 'three coffee makers.' Identify one category in your home where you've accumulated more than you need. Keep the items you use and love, and consider donating the extras. You don't have to eliminate every duplicate, but you might discover that fewer options make everyday life a little simpler.
Bringing a Little Vacation Simplicity Home
One of the things we love about vacations is the opportunity to relax, slow down, and enjoy a change of scenery. But after spending time in our Isle of Palms rental, I started wondering whether part of that relaxed feeling comes from something much simpler. We weren't surrounded by years of accumulated possessions, unfinished projects, or cabinets filled with things we rarely use.
Everything we needed was there, and very little that we didn't need was getting in the way.
Now, I'm not suggesting we should all turn our homes into vacation rentals. I love the personal touches, family photographs, and meaningful belongings that make our house ours. And unlike a vacation rental, our home needs to accommodate real life, including holidays, hobbies, changing seasons, and all the things that come with them.
But I do think there's something to be learned from spending a week in a home that functions so well with less. We don't necessarily need more storage containers, bigger closets, or another organizing system. Sometimes we simply need to take a closer look at what we already own and decide how much of it we really need.
The next time you're on vacation, take a moment to notice how the space around you is organized. You may come home with more than wonderful memories and a suitcase full of laundry. You might also come home with a few ideas for making your own home more comfortable, functional, and clutter-free.
And if your vacation rental has three coffee makers, I'd love to know whether you used all of them!
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