Fans pick 20 books like Beautifully Organized

By Nikki Boyd,

Here are 20 books that Beautifully Organized fans have personally recommended if you like Beautifully Organized. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Paula Lehman-Ewing Author Of Reimagining the Revolution: Four Stories of Abolition, Autonomy, and Forging New Paths in the Modern Civil Rights Movement

From my list on easing you out of your comfort zone.

Why am I passionate about this?

Throughout my career as a journalist and social documentarian, I have been committed to exposing injustices and seeking out stories overlooked by mainstream media. As my career has evolved in this space—from journalist to grassroots organizer to author—I have learned to remain curious and teachable, acknowledging that my preconceived notions of the world will not do me any good. In confronting the uncomfortable in pursuit of truth, I have uncovered systemic abuses in the criminal justice system and shed light on the harsh realities faced by incarcerated individuals.

Paula's book list on easing you out of your comfort zone

Paula Lehman-Ewing Why did Paula love this book?

Rothstein mercilessly cuts through the political rhetoric of the past century of American politics and gets down to the nitty-gritty: Racial disparities in housing and economics were established and exacerbated by our own elected officials.

Rothstein exposes direct lines between government action and racial inequality, furthering the idea that the system isn’t broken. Rather, it works as it was designed to by allowing access to the few while neglecting the many.

By Richard Rothstein,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Color of Law as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Widely heralded as a "masterful" (The Washington Post) and "essential" (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law offers "the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation" (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced…


Book cover of Design Remix: A New Spin on Traditional Rooms

Kim Kuhteubl Author Of Branding + Interior Design: Visibility and Business Strategy for Interior Designers

From my list on feeling at home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award-winning producer, author, and member of the Producers Guild of America. One of my fondest memories as a child is coming home from a weekend at my oma’s house to find that my mother had redecorated my room. The bedspread was pink, red, and white and so were the curtains but the main event was the fluffy white pouf of a rug on the floor. Home is a place that has always been important to me, which is why these books have found their way into my library.

Kim's book list on feeling at home

Kim Kuhteubl Why did Kim love this book?

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Corey Damen Jenkins, whose bold take on traditional interiors have won him a devoted following.

The designer, author, and television personality founded his firm during the 2008 recession and knocked on 779 doors in affluent neighborhoods around Detroit to do it. His patience and persistence are evident in his personal and stunning look at classic interiors; homes that have been reimagined for living now.

With sidebars on practical questions like how to hang a salon-style picture wall, and choosing the right window treatment, Corey is as generous with his advice as he is sharing his talent.

By Corey Damen Jenkins,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Design Remix as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Corey Damen Jenkins s bold interiors have won a devoted following. In his first book, he presents his take on classic interiors that have been beautifully reimagined for today s taste, sharing the building blocks of this fun, vibrant traditional look. Bold Standard is about how to use colour in unexpected ways. Good Bones showcases architectural details. Less Is More focuses on creating a minimal look within a traditional interior. Eclectic Exuberance celebrates a collected appeal. Night and Day is a new look at the classic, graphic pairing of dark and light colours. Haute House looks at accessorizing with fashion-inspired…


Book cover of Living Wild: How to Plant Style Your Home and Cultivate Happiness

Kim Kuhteubl Author Of Branding + Interior Design: Visibility and Business Strategy for Interior Designers

From my list on feeling at home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award-winning producer, author, and member of the Producers Guild of America. One of my fondest memories as a child is coming home from a weekend at my oma’s house to find that my mother had redecorated my room. The bedspread was pink, red, and white and so were the curtains but the main event was the fluffy white pouf of a rug on the floor. Home is a place that has always been important to me, which is why these books have found their way into my library.

Kim's book list on feeling at home

Kim Kuhteubl Why did Kim love this book?

I used to fancy myself as having a green thumb, until I planted my first outdoor garden.

These days I’m back inside with Hilton Carter’s Living Wild. Based in Baltimore, Carter is a director, editor, and fine artist with an encyclopedic knowledge about plants and how to style them. He’s also the dad to 250 plants including a fiddle-leaf named Frank.

In this, his fourth book, Living Wild, he talks about everything that is needed to design a “living home” and walks the reader through rooms he’s styled and his process. Check out his Instagram for a Living Wild playlist. 

By Hilton Carter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Living Wild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Living Wild, bestselling plant stylist, author, designer and family man Hilton Carter explores multiple ways to style your home with plants - and cultivate happiness along the way.

The therapeutic benefits of living with and tending plants are well known - they offer a connection to the natural world that nurtures our mental and physical health. In this, his latest book, Hilton shows how to create a lush, stylish space with flourishing plants that bring life to your home and promote a happy and contented mindset. He discusses interior design choices - choosing the right colour scheme, textures and…


Book cover of Black Artists Shaping the World

Kim Kuhteubl Author Of Branding + Interior Design: Visibility and Business Strategy for Interior Designers

From my list on feeling at home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award-winning producer, author, and member of the Producers Guild of America. One of my fondest memories as a child is coming home from a weekend at my oma’s house to find that my mother had redecorated my room. The bedspread was pink, red, and white and so were the curtains but the main event was the fluffy white pouf of a rug on the floor. Home is a place that has always been important to me, which is why these books have found their way into my library.

Kim's book list on feeling at home

Kim Kuhteubl Why did Kim love this book?

Images are powerful and, in our home, I am intentional about choosing art created by people who look like my son and me. When I discovered Black Artists Shaping The World, written by award-winning children’s author Sharna Jackson, I was thrilled.

Jackson was co-curator of the groundbreaking exhibition “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” and this book showcases twenty-six contemporary artists from Africa and the African diaspora, working in everything from painting, sculpture, and drawing to ceramics, installation art, and sound art.

My own favorites include the work of Kehinde Wiley, portraitist to Barack Obama, and Kenyan-British ceramicist Magdalene Odundo.

By Sharna Jackson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black Artists Shaping the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

Written by award-winning Black British children's author Sharna Jackson, Black Artists Shaping the World celebrates the diversity of work being produced today by Black artists from around the globe, introducing young readers to twenty-six contemporary artists from Africa and of the African diaspora.

Sharna Jackson's experience as a children's author who has worked for over a decade in the cultural sector, both at Tate in London and at Site Gallery in Sheffield, is combined here with the curatorial expertise of Dr Zoe Whitley, Director of London's Chisenhale Gallery and co-curator of the landmark Tate exhibition 'Soul of a Nation: Art…


Book cover of Organizing from the Inside Out

Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Author Of Edit Your Life: A Handbook for Living with Intention in a Messy World

From my list on inspiring you to change your life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an American author and writing teacher for both Harvard and Oxford’s online writing programs. I am also a mother of two who lived three years in a tiny backyard guest house with my family in an effort to focus more on what we love. Editing books is a practice I have honed over decades, and when my family was stuck in a living situation that felt unsustainable, the clearest way forward was for me to ask myself how I might edit our way out of it. It worked! In this book, I share the most valuable eight principles that we learned through the process.

Elisabeth's book list on inspiring you to change your life

Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Why did Elisabeth love this book?

This book is a gem! This book is a gem! Its common sense about organizing is sound and wonderfully useful.

It is humbly written, sweetly funny, and applicable to many areas of life. It is the book I reread whenever I am stressed out, the book whose principles have impacted how I teach, write, parent, and organize my home and my life.

By Julie Morgenstern,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Organizing from the Inside Out as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestselling guide to putting things in order. Put America's #1 organizer to work for you.

Getting organized is a skill that anyone can learn, and there's no better teacher than America's organizing queen, Julie Morgenstern, as hundreds of thousands of readers have learned. Drawing on her years of experience as a professional organizer, Morgenstern outlines a simple organizing plan that starts with understanding your individual goals, natural habits, and psychological needs, so that you can work with your priorities and personality rather than against them. The basic steps-Analyze, Strategize, Attack-can be applied to any space or…


Book cover of Minimalista: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Better Home, Wardrobe, and Life

Matan Korin

From my list on planning a remodel of your house.

Why am I passionate about this?

Matan has over a decade of experience at Ecoline and has helped 3500+ clients to renovate their houses. He has earned the title of the best window & door expert of the year for four consecutive years, from 2013 to 2016, helping countless homeowners to create their dream houses. Matan has built a team of 50+ professionals across Canada for Ecoline. His leadership and mentorship have enabled his team to achieve remarkable success, consulting homeowners and helping them choose and install the best products. He looks forward to helping you!

Matan's book list on planning a remodel of your house

Matan Korin Why did Matan love this book?

Minimalist is our go-to book for visualizing a simpler, clutter-free lifestyle. I love how helpful it is for envisioning new ideas for smaller spaces. And if you are downsizing, this book will be extra beneficial. 

The book is broken down per room, and she guides you through the process in manageable chunks. It makes thinking about a remodel much more straightforward. 

By Shira Gill,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Minimalista as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Elevate your personal style, trim your belongings, and transform your life, one room at a time, with this visionary lifestyle and home organization book from professional organizing expert, Shira Gill.

“Warm, funny, and direct, Shira builds you up while helping you edit down to the best version of yourself.”—Stacy London, New York Times bestselling author of The Truth About Style

As a professional home organizer with clients ranging from students to multi-millionaires, Shira Gill observed that clutter is a universal stress trigger. Over the years she created a signature decluttering and organization process that promotes sustainability, achieves lasting results, and…


Book cover of Inheriting Clutter: How to Calm the Chaos Your Parents Leave Behind

Lisa J. Shultz Author Of Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify.

From my list on getting rid of clutter.

Why am I passionate about this?

I speak from experience because within the decade of 20092019, I downsized from my enormous home and cleared out both of my parent’s houses. I felt like I was drowning in stuff when I added up all three houses. Lighter Living is a collection of my insights from, and candid reflections on, my journey of owning less. The benefits of lighter living are so broad and deep that they can’t be boiled down to one end result. My hope is that you will find the process of consolidation to be satisfying and fulfilling. That was my experience. My choice of a lighter lifestyle has brought me a greater sense of well-being. In a world that often seems stressful and chaotic, that’s a feeling I cherish.

Lisa's book list on getting rid of clutter

Lisa J. Shultz Why did Lisa love this book?

Sometimes I just need a major kick-in-the-butt motivational book. In 2020, author Julie Hall renamed her previous book entitled Boomer Burden: Dealing with Your Parents Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff. The content is the same, but the title and cover changed. Julie Hall is a personal property expert, who wishes to show you how to clear a family home and minimize family feuds. The book is filled with excellent advice and guidance and also a few horror stories to motivate the reader to take positive action sooner than later. It is a wake-up call if you need one!

By Julie Hall,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Inheriting Clutter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Every day, hundreds of adult children become middle-aged orphans when their elderly parents pass away. . . but what should you do with what they've left behind? Professional estate liquidator Julie Hall provides essential guidance for any executor, heir, or beneficiary.

You've heard the horror stories: arguments over stuff, an inheritance lost forever when easily deceived parents are scammed, siblings estranged, an adult heir taken from daily responsibilities for months because of the enormous task of clearing out a childhood home. It doesn't have to be that way.

The Estate Lady, professional estate liquidator Julie Hall, knows what to do.…


Book cover of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter

Jennifer Howard Author Of Clutter: An Untidy History

From my list on to read when you’re decluttering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I didn’t choose clutter as a topic—it chose me. Around the time Marie Kondo became a tidying-up sensation, my mother suffered a breakdown and could no longer live in her dangerously cluttered house. I’m an only child, so it fell to me to figure what to do with it all. So much stuff! It got me wondering: How did clutter get to be such a huge problem for so many people? The books on this list helped answer that question and made me feel less alone in the struggle with stuff. I hope you find them useful too.

Jennifer's book list on to read when you’re decluttering

Jennifer Howard Why did Jennifer love this book?

Dealing with a lifetime’s worth of possessions feels like a heavy task—heavy in every sense. In this breezy book, Margareta Magnuson reminds readers that it doesn’t have to be a drag. Figuring out what to do with all your things can be cathartic, liberating, even fun, a chance to relive some of the highlights of your life and celebrate where you’ve landed. It’s also a kindness to your nearest and dearest. As she wisely observes, “A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you.” I wish I could go back in time and give a copy of this book to my mother with that passage highlighted. 

By Margareta Magnusson,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*Soon to be a major TV series*

Dostadning, or the art of death cleaning, is a Swedish phenomenon by which the elderly and their families set their affairs in order. Whether it's sorting the family heirlooms from the junk, downsizing to a smaller place, or using a failsafe system to stop you losing essentials, death cleaning gives us the chance to make the later years of our lives as comfortable and stress-free as possible. Whatever your age, Swedish death cleaning can be used to help you de-clutter your life, and take stock of what's important.

Radical and joyous, eighty-something Margareta…


Book cover of The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Guide to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify

Rose Lounsbury Author Of Less: Minimalism for Real

From my list on minimalism and simplicity for working moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2012 I started a minimalist journey, inspired by my 1,500 square foot house that could no longer comfortably contain the possessions belonging to me, my partner, and our then 2-year-old triplets. I was a full-time working mom with little time to declutter, yet I knew that if I didn’t change our home, the stress of our stuff would rob us of valuable space and time to enjoy our young family. Over a period of eight months, I let go of about 70% of our possessions, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve since taught hundreds of thousands of busy parents how to do the same through my blog, book, TEDx, keynotes, classes, and coaching.  

Rose's book list on minimalism and simplicity for working moms

Rose Lounsbury Why did Rose love this book?

This was the very first book I read after being introduced to the idea of minimalism and it got me off my couch and decluttering my cabinets pronto! Jay breaks down decluttering with her simple streamline method, and since I had no methods of my own at the time, I happily borrowed hers. One of the best tips I learned from this book was to empty spaces that you want to declutter. I’d never done that before and now this is something I ask all my clients to do. I’m so grateful to Francine Jay for getting me started on the minimalist path! 

By Francine Jay,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Joy of Less as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"An inspiring read for anyone wanting to downsize, finally park the car in the garage, or just clear out a few closets." -Rachel Jonat, TheMinimalistMom.com

Having less stuff is the key to happiness: Do you ever feel overwhelmed, instead of overjoyed, by all your possessions? Do you secretly wish a gale force wind would blow the clutter from your home? If so, it's time to simplify your life! The Joy of Less is a fun, lighthearted guide to minimalist living:
* Part One provides an inspirational pep talk on the joys and rewards of paring down.
* Part Two presents…


Book cover of Sustainable Minimalism: Embrace Zero Waste, Build Sustainability Habits That Last, and Become a Minimalist Without Sacrificing the Plane

Rose Lounsbury Author Of Less: Minimalism for Real

From my list on minimalism and simplicity for working moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2012 I started a minimalist journey, inspired by my 1,500 square foot house that could no longer comfortably contain the possessions belonging to me, my partner, and our then 2-year-old triplets. I was a full-time working mom with little time to declutter, yet I knew that if I didn’t change our home, the stress of our stuff would rob us of valuable space and time to enjoy our young family. Over a period of eight months, I let go of about 70% of our possessions, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve since taught hundreds of thousands of busy parents how to do the same through my blog, book, TEDx, keynotes, classes, and coaching.  

Rose's book list on minimalism and simplicity for working moms

Rose Lounsbury Why did Rose love this book?

Stephanie Seferian is a good friend of mine and her Sustainable Minimalists podcast is one of my favorites! When I found out she was putting all her eco-minimalist knowledge into a book, I knew I had to get a copy. This book shares practical, well-researched advice on how you can reduce your number of possessions while also reducing your carbon footprint. Stephanie is a mother of two young girls, so her advice is applicable to busy moms who don’t have a lot of time. You’ll want to dog-ear and sticky note many of these pages!

By Stephanie Marie Seferian,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sustainable Minimalism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Aspiring Minimalist's Guide to Living Consciously and Contributing to a "Greener" Tomorrow

"This is the perfect book for people that want to find a realistic roadmap to sustainable living." The Holistic Millennial

Eco-minimalism is a hot-button issue right now, and for good reason. Living a life with less can be the key to saving our precious planet.

Break the consumption cycle. There's so much to do, and way too much to buy. Whether it's through late night TV ads, social media, or other sources of influence, we are addicted to buying and then storing things. Sometimes we consume with…


Book cover of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Book cover of Design Remix: A New Spin on Traditional Rooms
Book cover of Living Wild: How to Plant Style Your Home and Cultivate Happiness

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5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in order and clutter, cleaning, and minimalism?

Cleaning 8 books
Minimalism 30 books