My First Client Project

I was pretty excited to announce recently that I was starting my own business as a freelance home organizer. It's been in the works for some time now, but it's been slow going as I tried to figure out exactly where to start. Then I saw this post on LinkedIn and figured it was a sign that it was time to take the leap.

And what better way to share this announcement with the world than to present the progress on my very first client project!

About the client: {J}

I met J a few years back when our sons were in sports together. Our paths have crossed from time to time and she's an absolute delight, so I was thrilled when she agreed to be my business model guinea pig. During our initial consultation meeting we discussed a few different options for a first project, but it was clear the job she wanted to tackle the most was her basement. It's a large space her family uses for all kinds of purposes, including storage, kids' stuff, exercise, her husband's work space and, during the winter, storage for their kayaks and outdoor plants. She knew she wanted to rearrange the space into zones specifically for each thing the basement was used for and we walked through a few options before she settled on one she thought would work best. We also determined that she wanted a combination of hands-on working together and smaller jobs that she could do on her own between appointments to keep the project moving forward. We set our first appointment for the start of the organization project and I gave her a little homework to prepare for our next meeting.

Here are some pics of the space before we got started:

(Future workout zone)

(Future kid zone)

(Future storage zone)

(Current view of center of basement)

(Current miscellaneous storage)

As you can see, there's tons of space for storage, but what J needed was usable space for her entire family.

By the time I showed up for our first organization appointment, J had not only completed her homework of clearing out one section of the basement, she had also moved some of the furniture into the its new zone, allowing us to make even more progress working together. During this appointment, we organized all of their board games and moved the larger games into the "kid zone," cleared the space around her husband's "work zone" and cleaned out and reorganized the bookshelf.

(Games in the kid zone)

(Kid zone seating area)

(Designated workout zone)

(Tidied up shelves that now block the hot water tank area from the kid zone)

(Easily accessible games)

At our next visit, J wanted to tackle the "storage zone." I was particularly excited about this part of the project because my spatial relation game is strong (I consider myself a pro when it comes to real-world Tetris situations). Ideally, a too-cramped space can be reorganized by getting rid of things that are no longer needed. The tricky part here, however, was that there wasn't much we could purge to free up space, so this was more about finding better storage solutions for the items she had in order to make room for everything that needed to be stored.

We tackled this space in small sections. We skipped the area where she keeps Christmas decorations (that'll be done after the holidays) and went right to work on some shelves that held all kinds of things from other holiday decorations to old yearbooks to suitcases. My goal in this space was to create designated areas for each type of thing. J is like me and hangs onto things for very specific reasons. She keeps a limited number of mementos and anything that can serve a future purpose, like storage containers and party supplies. She's also a realist when it comes to an item's possible future use and isn't afraid to part with things that didn't get utilized as she once thought they might.

(Before: mostly holiday decorations - the shelves on the left are Christmas decorations to be organized later)

(After: holiday décor & mementos)

Next, was the larger section of shelving for household items. It was mostly a combination of kitchen gadgets and storage containers (for things like Christmas cookies and foods you take to parties), as well as basic household items like paper towels and cleaning supplies. She's also got collections of things for outdoor use and some great containers for gift wrap. In this section, my goal was to rearrange the items into categories so that she could easily find anything she needed without having to do a lot of digging. My goal in organizing a space is rarely about making room for more stuff... it's about organizing the stuff in a way that makes it more manageable and accessible for the user. In this case, I felt the reorganization of these shelves made it possible to not only store more things, but also to more easily find and retrieve the things J and her family might be looking for.

(Before: mostly household items)

(After: household items)

Note the potential avalanche that existed on the top left shelf of the 'before' photo... In the 'after' photo you can see that grabbing one life jacket no longer poses a threat to one's wellbeing. Believe it or not, nothing was purged from this shelf. It's all the same stuff from the first photo, just moved around in a more organized way.

(Progress to date: storage space all neat & tidy)

I'm excited to see J's basement reorganization project coming together. It's already changed so much from our initial consultation meeting and I'm super excited to continue working towards her goal of a more useable space for the entire family. While there are a few sections left to be organized, tackling this project in small sections has made it easier for J to take her time going through things to make decisions about what to keep and what can go. And it's given me an opportunity to work with her multiple times... and more time with J is never a bad thing. Thank you, J, for trusting me to help you with this project!!