January 2016 – Rolanda L., Professional Organizer

Make Room for Your Hobbies

Oftentimes, we value the tools we use for work and attempt to tuck away all signs of the things we do for play. A balanced lifestyle includes work and leisure time. Your living space can and should reflect this concept. Instead of cramming rackets, balls, bats, skates, skis, and other equipment into the far corner of a dark closet, create a designated area that will enable and encourage you to store the clothing and equipment you use for your hobbies in a more orderly, more accessible manner. Keeping your playtime items organized, attractive, and physically accessible may also have the secondary effect of encouraging you to work less and live more.

Pictured below is a swimwear drawer I created for one of my busy NYC executive professional organizing clients who still loves to get in a good swim!

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Upper Westside, Manhattan

A couple days ago, I had the pleasure of working with a very sweet client, who took advantage of a special I’m currently offering. She had previously worked with an organizer who offered very helpful solutions; however, the client still struggled with having functional access to some of her clothes and sifting through her shoes and accessories when getting dressed in the morning. So…our session began with a shopping trip, during which we found an inexpensive ($15.99) jewelry organizer that fit the bill nicely. We had originally planned to purchase a shoe rack and bring the shoes outside of the closet; however, we were unable to find one during our retail adventure. Things worked out great in the end when we re-purposed a wooden planter and a small shelf (not pictured) to visibly store the client’s clothes and shoes. We turned the planter on its side and positioned it on the top shelf of the client’s closet. Next, we stacked excess folded clothes on its makeshift “shelves.”

Jewelry Organizer

Repurposed Planter-Turned-Shelving

Cambria Heights, Queens Project

I love family referrals!..Actually, I love any referral. But this one came from an awesome client, who couldn’t help but share my services with her family members. This particular project was aimed at helping my ongoing client’s mother corral her love of faux flowers and knickknacks. 🙂 By working together, we uncovered the client’s desire to accumulate items due to having experienced economic struggles while growing up and fearing wastefulness. As a result of accumulating without organizing and purging, the client had run out of room to keep her treasured items, and they had begun to take over the dining room table, china cabinet, and shelf (a pretty common theme among my clients who own a house). First, we worked to sort the items and relocated many of them to more appropriate areas in the house. Next, we devised a system that would allow the client to keep all of her knickknacks, but would require that use them to create displays and rotate throughout the seasons or as often as she felt a need to change. Below are photos of the display we created during our session.

Dining Room Transformation – CT

The following photos were taken at the home of one of my ongoing clients in CT. During our first session, we tackled her dining room table. Instead of functioning as a designated gather place where family and guests could come together and have meals, her dining room had slowly become a place for miscellaneous storage. The work we were able to accomplish during the first session was remarkable as I helped my client identify her underlying emotions and resulting habits that drove her to accumulate and store excess items. We eventually were able to reclaim the dining room, and she was so excited to finally be able to host parent meetings at her home. She has since continued to work on her own to reclaim her detached garage and convert it into an outdoor entertaining area!

Dining Room Shelf – After

Dining Room – Before

Dining Room Shelf – Before

Dining Room – After

Great Expectations

Most of us want an environment that facilitates greatness. Whether it’s inspiring creativity, allowing us to work productively without interruptions or obstructions, or simply being a place where we can truly rest, every room in our homes and workplaces have a purpose. The way that room is furnished and maintained can have a tremendous impact on how well the room lives up to its purpose. Eventually, if our underlying needs go unmet, we will ultimately see a decrease in our overall quality of life.

What are your expectations of your living or work space?

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