Padma Lakshmi Shares the Home Project She’s Been Putting Off (and It’s Not in the Kitchen)

If you’ve been putting of a home project, you’re not alone—Padma Lakshmi, the television host and author, admits she has been procrastinating on one of her own.

“For a couple of years now I’ve been meaning to paint my office, and get new drapes as well,” she said in an interview with Thumbtack. “It’s so disruptive to do any kind of home renovations, and also, I have been busy—but I think it will make me feel better when I do get them done. And hopefully that will be soon.”

Lucky for Lakshmi, she was able to combine a bit of DIY skill with help from the Thumbtack app to finally bring her home office to life.

The renovation included some simple updates like fresh, mint-green paint on the walls and ceiling—leaning into the color-drenching trend—and decluttering the space to make it more functional and conducive to productivity.

Lakshmi’s Key to an Organized Kitchen

As the host of Taste the Nation and former host of Top Chef—and author of several cookbooks—Lakshmi also shared some thoughts about how to keep a kitchen organized.

“Have a clear-eyed understanding of how you move through the space and what you reach for most often,” she said. “In my case, my spice collection is as integral to my cooking as a painter’s palette is to his or her canvas. And so, my spices are easily accessible while I’m standing at my stove.”

She also said she has custom drawers for storing her spices so they’re easy to see and find what she needs, and they’re even organized by region and how frequently she uses them.

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Why a Big Kitchen Is Not Always Better

If you often dream of a huge kitchen with copious counter space and more cabinets than you could ever need, you may want to think twice.

Lakshmi said her current kitchen, which she designed years ago, sometimes feels too big, and a too-big kitchen can become impractical.

“It does take me a long time to get from the stove to the pantry and then to the shelves—and while it’s good exercise, as I grow as a cook and a cookbook author I realize that no matter how big your kitchen is, you will always fill it,” she said. “And often most of us don’t need at least a third to half of what we own.”

You can read more of Lakshmi’s interview with Thumbtack on their blog.