Bobby Berk’s Hot Take: Fall Cleaning Is the New Spring Cleaning

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Whenever we need a cleaning pep talk, we speed-dialBobby Berk. The design guru and Emmy-nominated host has handed usplenty of genius hacksover the years. Microwave looking like a crime scene? Nuke a bowl of lemon water and watch the gunk surrender. Out of duster refills? An old gym sock has entered the chat. But when we sat down with Berk to dish abouthis Amazon Devices partnership, he dropped a bombshell: he straight-up skips spring cleaning.

“I personally think fall is the best time for that,” Berk declares. His logic? Autumn is when we’re already digging through attics and garages for holiday decor—so why not turn that treasure hunt into a full-blown purge? “It’s the perfect time,” he insists. “I never do it in the spring. You put everything outside to organize it and it gets rained on.” Ahead, in his own words, the designer spills his fall organizing playbook, plus a few gadgets making his life easier.

Years ago, I evicted the cardboard boxes and moved my stuff into see-through trunks. Now my garage looks like it has its life together. I line them up parallel to the shelf, long-ways, so I can spot everything without excavating.

My father passed last year, and my mother lives way out in the middle of nowhere, so she was honestly scared to be alone. I went home and installed Ring cameras outside, so now we both know what’s up. She feels safer, and every time there’s motion in her yard, I’m squinting at the thumbnail on my watch like, “Who’s that, Mom?”

I also have a camera pointed at my construction site in Palm Desert. I sent her a pool update, and she said, “I’d love to watch that.” So I shared the feed, and one day while I was there snapping pics, she chimed in with, “I see you!” You don’t expect a security camera to double as family bonding, but here we are—it’s given my mom real peace of mind.

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We had some flash floods at our desert spot,Casa Tierra, about a month ago, so I spent plenty of time out there fixing the mess. I treated it as an excuse to pour gorgeous new concrete and stone stairs, add a 2,000-square-foot wedding-yoga-events deck, and—because why not—a pickleball court.

It’s the perfect moment to sneak some terracotta into your space and ride that warm vibe straight through Halloween and Thanksgiving. I’m officially over neutrals (please tell me I’m not alone?), but bright colors still make me twitchy. Terracotta is the cozy middle ground.

I think Amazon smart gadgets make killer gifts because they prove tech can actually simplify your life. A smart bulb starter kit that plays nice with Alexa is the perfect gateway drug—suddenly everyone’s like,Oh, that was easy.I use Philips Hue bulbs with Alexa, so when friends come over I just say, “Alexa, set the drink vibe,” and the lights, music, and mood all shift at once. Very host-with-the-most energy.

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.

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