During an appointment earlier today, I was pleasantly surprised and so proud! As one of my younger clients, this high school student decided to take charge, reinvent and de-clutter her bedroom on her own. Since we had worked together in the past to create an organized and spacious bedroom, this client already knew how good it felt to sleep and study in a clutter-free environment.

So, after a few months of watching piles grow and cover every surface in her room, she decided to go for it and create space on her own. She persevered, made hard choices and kept the vision until she finished. She did a fantastic job!

Because we had already developed a basic structure of what should ‘live’ where and how much of each item was appropriate, it was probably easier for her to get back to “normal” and create a comfortable space where everything, once again, had a home and every drawer was able to close without effort.

This is why she said that she made the decision to get organized once again:

“My life in all aspects was starting to feel cluttered. I wanted to clear space so I decided to start with my room. It took me eleven hours but the relief that I felt and the burden that was lifted was well worth the time and sweat. I am so excited to walk in my room now!”

This case study, developed without any help on my part, proves the point that once you have a well thought out and structured system in place, it is fairly easy to get it back to ‘normal’. Organizing is always an ongoing project.

Since the clutter in this room had been building during a super busy school year, it took a bit longer to de-clutter. The good news is that the more often we get our space back to ‘normal’, the less time it takes to make it perfect. This client now has the skills and knowledge to maintain a clutter free dorm room which will be a handy trick in a year or two! Good job to ‘Miss Organized’ and her parents, all of you should be very proud!

This scenario is common in many instances of folks with hoarding tendencies. The bed had only a very small area on which to sleep and the rest of it was covered with papers, books and other items.

The scariest part of this situation for me was that there were several electrical items including electric blankets and heating units also in and around the bed. Most were in disrepair and therefore a very dangerous fire hazard. I am very glad that the family intervened and helped this client move into a better living situation where she could get the care she needed.

This is what the bedroom looked like after addSpace,  my colleague Mishele Veiera and The College Hunks cleaned it up to be put on the market for sale.

Situation: This guest room had fallen prey to typical problems. Without use, rooms like this often become disorganized dumping grounds for whatever items do not easily fit into other parts of the house.

Challenge: A son was moving in for a few months and we needed to get the room organized and ready for him to live in. Where does everything now go and how do we also create enough closet space for the son?

Solution: We cleared out the hall linen closet and the master closet to make enough room to move out the extra items that were in the guest room. In the end, we were able to set up a nice space for her son with a computer desk, stereo and even room in the closet for his clothes!

Situation

Life was too busy to put things away. We all know the drill, we work long hours, we come home exhausted and simply heave whatever is in our hands onto the nearest available surface.

This is what happens to all of us if we do not Read the rest of this entry »

Situation
A bedroom that had become the default dumping ground for all things that would not fit in the closet, the spare bedroom or other areas within the home. This challenge was partially a result of other rooms in the house not functioning: specifically the home office.
When papers had to be stored, the only area to store them was the bedroom. Additionally, the closets in this bedroom were overstuffed and could not hold the extra clothes or linens.

Challenge
Creating space in other areas of the home to store the items that were not related to the bedroom. There was  also wall-to-wall furniture surrounding the parameters of the room.

Solution
We spent time getting rid of the wall to wall furniture and other unnecessary and unrelated bedroom items.  We then sent them off to a charity in need.

I removed the excess furniture and moved the remaining furniture into a more user friendly and space saving configuration. We also created a sustainable home office in another room that provided a place to move the important papers.

We purged and organized the two large closets in this bedroom so that clothes and other keepsakes had a space to live.