Bedroom Closet: 8 Hours
BEFORE: Poor organization had too much room for some items and not enough for others. We also had both husband and wife sharing the closet.
AFTER: We designated closets for him and her. This became his and we were able to spread out and organize all of the suits and pants in the back and all of the shirts on the side.
Home Office: 8 Hours
BEFORE: The client was hoping to use the space for a home office but also wanted some additional floor space in the hopes that her kids could join her while she worked.
AFTER: We sorted through all of the miscellaneous items and moved anything currently useful to it’s rightful place in the home. We also sorted through children’s clothing for donation and loaded up the van with a few unwanted items to be dropped off at Salvation Army. And, as an added touch, we arranged all of the books by genre and then by spine color, giving it a really clean and polished look!
Craft Room: 18 Hours
BEFORE: This spare room was filled to bursting craft & art supplies. First, we needed to determine what was staying and what was going and then everything needed to be organized by type so she could find the exact supplies she was looking for at a glance.
AFTER: Two van loads of donations and one trip to Ikea later, all of the items were itemized, sorted and contained. Projects were easily identifiable and there was now room to walk around and work on projects in the designated space. Success!
Front Entrance: 1 Hour
BEFORE: A problem area for almost every family that lives in Calgary. Four seasons in one day can often mean several different pairs of shoes and boots at the front door, not to mention, coats, hats, scarves, bike helmets, etc, etc, etc! This family was no exception so we were working to organize what was there and help to contain the smaller items.
AFTER: By finding the perfect sized baskets for the cubby’s, we were able to clean up some of the smaller items like sunglasses, sunscreen, etc. We also picked one hook for each person and got rid of any out of season gear.
Pantry: 7 Hours
BEFORE: The major issue with this pantry was the fact that too many items were being stored in here while other areas of the kitchen were under-utilized. One example of this would be the spices, which we knew would make more sense in another area.
AFTER: We removed any items that we felt made more sense in other areas of the kitchen. We also added bins, dividers, shelves and lazy susans to contain messy items into more organized categories. Overall, a much higher functioning pantry!
Garage: 9 Hours
BEFORE: Renos in the basement had led this family to store all of their basement items in the garage (along with their garage items). With the thought of winter looming, they were eager to get it cleaned out before the snow hit so both cars could be parked in the garage.
AFTER: This husband and wife team was amazing. We took over 4 truck loads of items away (some to landfill, some to shredding, most of it to donation). They made quick decisions about what needed to go back inside and what was garage worthy. At their insistence, I left them with a bit of homework (some items to sell, some to micro sort) but overall, in just 1.5 days, we made amazing progress!
Basement: 11 Hours
BEFORE: Unfinished basements are magnets for everything in the house that used to have a home or may one day have a home. We needed to sort through every item and make sure, once we were done, that every item that needed to remain was accessible.
AFTER: One side of the basement was reserved for the older children’s memorabilia that will eventually reside in their own homes. But, for now, it remains contained in one section. The other side was set up for tools, painting items, suitcases and rarely used kitchen ware.
Kid’s Bedroom: 3 Hours
BEFORE: The room had become over-cluttered with too many books and too many toys. One of biggest issues was the amount of storage available. We decided cutting back on storage options would help alleviate a lot of the mess.
AFTER: We downsized from a bookshelf & 8 cube storage unit to just one 4 cube storage unit. We were strategic about what toys would live in his room and the rest would reside in the playroom. We also rearranged the furniture to create a more open feel. Both the parent and child were thrilled with the transformation
