Nate Berkus Has a Pretty Genius Solution to Every Parent's Problem: Toy Clutter

Published on April 8, 2016 at 6:22 PM

Decorating extraordinaire Nate Berkus has undergone a couple big housing changes lately. He and husband Jeremiah Brent sold their stunning New York apartment and moved to Los Angeles. They also — oh yeah — welcomed a baby daughter named Poppy in early 2015.

As a happy result, Jeremiah and Nate's carefully ordered — and decorated — life has undergone a little bit of upheaval. But Nate's taking everything in stride and is an understandably big proponent of keeping things organized and discarding what you no longer need.

He's teamed up with eBay on a special Spring auction in which he's getting rid of some of his loved but no-longer-needed items. He also spoke to us about his tips on getting tidy and how he and Jeremiah are adapting to life as parents.

On keeping his home organized as a new dad: "It's definitely taking much more effort than it used to. I haven't been somebody who lived for many years with any primary-colored plastic in my home. I have now laid down my sword and given up on the fact that our home is now overwhelmed with stuffed animals and primary-colored toys you can ride on."
His tricks to organizing toys: "For me, it's not about what's out but what you've got in closets, what you've got in drawers, what you've got stored in containers under the bed. I've given up on the quantity of children's things that have been welcomed into our life with our daughter. I think it's even more important — as a new parent — that our home is organized and edited so we feel better and more effective and more creative. Systematically, of course, all of her things go in baskets, and then they go over and take everything out. At the end of the day when she goes to sleep, everything goes back in."
His take on Spring cleaning: "Don't tackle everything in one day. Divide your home into sections: I'm going to go through my closet, I'm going to go through my drawers."
On how he's decorating his new Los Angeles home with Jeremiah and Poppy: "The truth is I'm a pretty ruthless editor about what I let in our homes. Jer is pretty good too. There are certain objects and decorations that will always live with us no matter where we go, but we all have too many things. We amass so many things and so much stuff. If I look at something and it's not beautiful and it's not useful and it doesn't have an association with something important, we get rid of it."