‘It’s a control thing’: why are we so fascinated by super-organised homes?

Strangers joke that Jacquelyn Rendall should stick a label on to Adam Rendall’s head. “Husband,” it would read, in the curved typeface Rendall designed based on her own handwriting, the Pretty Perfect Font. If Adam had a label on his head – some of the 400,000 people who follow Jacquelyn on TikTok say – then he would match everything else in the couple’s home in Rochford, Essex.

It starts at the front door, where the words “Thank you postie” are stuck on the silver letterbox, followed by a cartoon heart. There’s nothing too unusual about this, nor the drawers in the corridor that hold separated bits and bobs labelled “cables”, “batteries” and “tools”. It is Rendall’s six-doored pantry that has the power to inspire a thousand envious and incredulous comments online. Starting at the top left, there are nine transparent containers full of white, brown, pink and yellow powders, each marked by its identity: “sugar”, “hot chocolate”, “banana milkshake”. Below that are miniature acrylic drawers of stock cubes and tiered rows of spices. The word “cereal” adorns six canisters in the next cupboard; “tagliatelle”, “spaghetti”, “conchiglie” and “penne” are also spelled out on clear containers (use-by dates are written in chalk pen on the back).

Behind the next set of doors are dishwasher salt, stain remover and softener decanted into corked glass bottles. In the fridge, an open-topped container of apples reads “apples”. The words “ties and cufflinks” adorn a drawer in Adam’s office. The couple’s young daughter, Sienna, knows where to put her things, thanks to baskets marked “dress up”, “sports” and “dolls”.