Organize the Whole Shebang

The Organizer's House.... featuring Linda Samuels

I LOVE creative spaces... and it's even more fun to see how a professional organizer combines function with fabulous! Who says organizer's are all concrete-sequential? I'm also excited to check out her book... I'm a huge believer in 'People over Perfection' so I have a feeling Linda + I may just be organizing soulmates :)

A Sneak Peek into the home of Professional Organizer Linda Samuels CPO-CD, Croton on Hudson, NY and owner of Oh, So Organized! and author of: The Other Side of Organized.

HER ORGANIZED SPACE: Art and office supplies

 

HER ORGANIZING TIPS:

1) Mini Communities:Designate an area and sub-divide to group similar objects together. This 24-drawer dentist’s cabinet has been re-purposed to contain a large category (supplies) into smaller groups (scissors, post-its, watercolors.)

 

2) Eliminate Guesswork: Find your items quickly by using labels or pictures on the outside of the container. This cabinet went unlabeled for years until I used my Brother P-touch to add labels on the drawer fronts. What a difference that made. The guesswork in finding things instantly disappeared.

 

3) Dash of Chaos: The beauty of a closed drawer is that it hides what’s inside. This allows you to create the level of order that feels comfortable for you. That can range from things neatly lined up to objects tossed in randomly. There’s nothing wrong with some chaos within an area if that works for you. For example, my “Boxes/Containers” drawer is a jumble of objects, while other drawers in this cabinet like “Post-its” are more organized. For myself, I prefer mostly order with a dash of chaos. Choose the mix that works best for you.

The Organizer's House.... featuring Debra Ostrus

Some Organizer's really walk the walk! I'm feeling the need to give my pantry a serious perk-me-up! Here's an opportunity to take a look at my fellow Washingtonian's organized pantry... It almost makes me want to cook ;)

A Sneak Peek into the home of Professional Organizer Debra Ostrus of Gig Harbor, Wa and owner of Spaces Streamlined Home Staging, Organization & Redesign .

 

HER ORGANIZED SPACE:  Under-the-Stairs Pantry

 

HER ORGANIZING TIPS:

1) If possible, Keep your all of your pantry food items together in one place. A couple of large cabinets, a kitchen closet fitted with shelving or a cabinet specially designed to house food supplies will make it easy to know what you have and where to find it.

You can also create a pantry in what could be an awkward and wasted space as in my home. Here, under the stairway, deep shelves were installed and large baskets serve as drawers to turn this otherwise hard to access space into easy to use storage for bulky items. One basket is used to hold bags of snack foods like chips, granola bars and crackers, another bags and boxes of pasta and rice, a third contains paper products such as napkins, paper plates and plastic cups and the last extra baking supplies like bags of sugar, etc. These baskets serve to group loose and irregularly shaped items together and keep them from being piled in a mess on the shelves.

 

 

2) I love to keep all of my various oils and vinegars stored on turntables on the pantry shelf where I can easily spin the one I want to the front.

 

3) Because I bake quite a bit and don’t have room to store baking supplies in my prep area, I store everything I need for baking on this rollout cart. When it’s time to make cookies or bread I just roll the cart over to my work space, measure out what I need and roll it all back at once. This is a huge timesaver for me and makes the whole process easier.

 

4) I keep foods organized by storing like items together, for example canned fruit, canned vegetables, soups, boxes of cereal, etc. so that I’m able to see at a glance what I’m running low on. This way I don’t buy more of things I already have but can’t find.

HER ORGANIZING STYLE:  Keep it simple, make it easy! I set my systems up to work with the way I habitually do things so that it becomes a routine and something I don’t have to think too hard about- I just do it!

The Organizer's House... featuring Melanie Dennis

What does a Professional Organizer do with all her 'STUFF'... We keep it simple but insist on labeling everything so that it's functional for our families. This week Melanie Dennis shares how she personally organizes her stuff- the stuff we all have that clogs up our precious bathroom cupboards + drawers.

A Sneak Peek into the home of Professional Organizer Melanie Dennis, CPO of Columbus, Ohio and owner of Neat Streak.

 

HER ORGANIZED SPACE:  Upstairs hall closet

 
 

HER ORGANIZING TIPS:

1.  Think like a pharmacy and group like items- first aid, dental, hair care etc, to make it easy to see how much you have have on hand before you shop saving time and money.  I use these plastic bins that also keep things from falling out or from being lost in the back.  The plastic can easily cleaned if something leaks.  Baskets often have uneven bottoms and don’t always allow products to stand.

2.Labeling each bin makes it easy for my family to find what they need. My college aged daughters “shop” here.

3. Keeping the retail metaphor- the prime retail space is from your knees to your forehead so store less frequently used items can be stored above or below this.  I have cold medicines and travel sizes in the drawers below. Feel ill in the middle of the night? I just pull the medicine drawer out and take it into the bathroom to find what I need without disturbing anyone.

*If you're a professional organizer + you'd like to be featured on "The Organizer's House"... drop me an email and let me know!

The Organizer's House... Clare Kumar

Who doesn't want to see how Professional Organizer's live... We are just like you... surrounded by too much stuff that needs to be managed and with kidlets underfoot to mess things all up.

A sneak peek into the home of professional organizer Clare Kumar of Toronto, Canada and owner of Streamlife, an organizing company.

 I first met Clare at the NAPO 2011 Conference in San Diego...
She has a product she's bringing to market... and I think it's fabulous!
Here she is with Professional Organizer Deb Lee & I'm behind the camera ;)

HER ORGANIZED SPACE: Daughter's Room Makeover  

 
 
 

HER ORGANIZING TIPS:

Function: Determine the 3-5 activities you’ll perform in the room. This will dictate the furniture and storage you need in the space.  In this bedroom the activities are sleeping, dressing and play.

Fabulous: We began with bedding to set the tone for the room. We then chose the colour on the wall with help from Interior Designer Kelly Margani, who was also responsible for pulling window treatments and accessories together for a cohesive finished look.

1. Layout the main pieces of furniture to take advantage of the existing architecture.
Avoid blocking windows and heating/cooling vents. Keep easy access to light fixtures and electrical outlets.

2. Plan lighting.  
Use a mixture of natural, ambient and task lighting to ensure comfort in all activities, no matter the time of day.

3. Choose storage tools. 
Dressing and play place large demands on this space. The two small closets were divided into wardrobe and toy/dress up closets. A variety of fun, colourful organizing tools are used to brighten the space and make it truly functional.  Who knew there are magenta flocked hangers?!  Notice the dolls even have their own tools for organizing their wardrobes.

4. Finish the space. 
Choosing a colour palette and finding complementary accessories in a variety of textures and finishes really pulls the room together.  Artwork is homemade from photos taken over the past couple of years.   

Oh, and this is the before picture…in case you’re curious.

 
 

 *If you're a professional organizer + you'd like to be featured on "The Organizer's House"... drop me an email and let me know!

Last Minute ideas for the 4th of July!

I believe in keepin' it simple... and fabulous. And it can be done... pinky promise.

With one trip to the local grocery store and few minutes online... you can whip up a party in no time! Jars and ribbons are from my crafty stash... food + checkered table cloth etc are from the grocery store.

 
AM Northwest segment showing all these ideas! view it here

Patriotic Pretzels... Dip pretzel sticks in canned whipped frosting then cover in sprinkles. Place in the fridge for a bit before serving. TIP stir frosting well, when dipping pretzel use a swirl method to get just the right amount of frosting. The kids love making these!

Red... The candy aisle is full of red treats! A bowl full of Swedish Fish or use skewers to make 'fishing poles' like my daughter Annie created. She placed a piece of licorice over the skewer then caught a swedish fish. #clever  Wrap up pieces of licorice with ribbon scraps.

 Patriotic Straw Tags from TWIG & THISTLE

Online: 
Staw Tags from TWIG & THISTLE
Patriotic Pin Wheels from Family Fun
Patriotic Drink from Family Fun

Patriotic Drink from Family Fun 

The kids LOVE making this festive drink.... remember to use ice and pour in this order
1. cranberry juice
2. grape gatorade
3. diet 7-up
[the magic is in the amount of sugar]