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!!

When Things Go Wrong: How a Junk Drawer Cleanout Becomes Something Else Entirely

Everyone has one, right? That one drawer filled with an odd collection of items, probably in your kitchen, and most definitely in need of some TLC. Need a screwdriver? A rubber ball? A Taco Bell sauce packet? It's most likely in that infamous location known as your junk drawer.

(I asked a few friends to share with me what their junk drawers looked like... and they did not disappoint)

If you're on top of your organization game, your junk drawer might be beautifully organized with sorting trays and perfectly shaped containers to keep your knickknacks tidy. Or maybe it's limited to only specific kinds of items, like this 'junk drawer' that contains mostly games and a few out of place bottles of sunscreen, a few lighters and a camera. 

(It's almost a junk drawer, but I'd say it's closer to a 'game drawer' with a near-perfect Tetris-style arrangement making it an excellent example of a well-organized space)

But, if you're like most people, it's a hot mess of charging cables, batteries and playing cards. Throw in a hodgepodge of office supplies, twine and hand sanitizer and you've got just about all your bases covered. And I'm here to tell you, there's nothing wrong with any of it! As promised, you'll get no judgment from me.

To prove my point, here's my current junk drawer situation. Somehow we've ended up with a fairly typical junk drawer, as well as a secondary/bonus junk drawer... right next to each other in the kitchen... because every home needs a safe space (or two) to tuck things away when people drop by unexpectedly.

(My junk drawers in all their haphazard glory)

Shockingly, mine aren't overflowing. I've tried to find better homes for the assorted goodies that tend to wind up in these spaces, but there's always a collection of the most random objects you can find in one's home. We've got masks and gum and stickers and paper and flashlights and tools and sunglasses and magnetic letters... well, you get it.

Now, you may be wondering why I would write about my not-so-well-organized kitchen drawers. This post, my friends, is not about a thing I've gotten right. It's about the journey of trying something new with my home organizing and I thought it would be fun to take you along for the ride rather than the traditional write-up with before and after pics. My goal was to show you the steps I took, the things I tried and tie it all up with a pretty little bow at the end where I reveal how my brilliant idea came together. It turned out to not be that...

The original idea for this post was to utilize decorative items that not only look nice on shelves and end tables, but also serve a practical purpose... storage for the not-so-tidy-looking collection of stuff that winds up in our junk drawers in the first place.

(These books, for example, aren't books at all... they're cute storage containers for things you might want to keep hidden)

Growing up, I remember my parents having a Campbell's Soup can that looked like a regular can of soup but was really a little bank for stashing away a few extra bucks. I'm not sure if it was hidden from us kids or if it was a rainy day fund, but it was a great hiding spot!

This idea was the same, but rather than hiding cash and priceless jewels in a pantry or bookcase, I wanted to use mine in plain sight with easy access so that we could have everything we need close at hand while still not leaving everything out on the counters... maybe a cute container of household tools and another with pens and pencils. The goal was to end up with no junk drawer at all, while still keeping those handy items, well, handy.

I started with the process I apply to almost every organization project I work on... I go from room to room looking for miscellaneous items that I'm not currently using to their full potential and attempt to repurpose them in a new space. I also use plastic containers and mason jars and Amazon boxes and pretty much anything else that's not nailed down. My goal is always to start with the things that cost nothing and only spend money to organize a space once I know the system I'm putting together has long-term potential.

(Here's everything I could find to get me started)

Step two was the emptying of everything out of the drawers and onto the counters so they could be seen and sorted. It's easier to organize a space when you know exactly what needs to be included. I started by separating out anything that has an official place to be returned: tools back to the garage (except the measuring tape, which is used almost daily for measuring my son's current height because he's obsessed with it and somehow seems to get taller every day! Pardon the tangent...), recipes into our recipe container and Neosporin back to the first aid kit. Then I sorted the items into piles based on who they belonged to and each of us decided how much of it should be kept and what could be thrown away. 

(If you're anything like me, you tend to hang onto things longer than necessary.... receipts, paystubs, grudges...)

Anything that's left after this process needs to be re-homed, which is where the fun usually begins. But, sometimes things don't go exactly as planned and this was definitely one of those times.

This post was intended to be about the moving of things from a junk drawer into cute storage solutions that actually freed up space in my drawers. I even had the perfect title: Junk Drawer to Junk Décor (cute, right?!?). But none of my junk drawer contents ended up making sense in any of my containers (clear containers aren't so great for hiding "junk") and all I'd done was pare the contents down to one drawer. 

(Don't get me wrong, it looks lovely and organized and I'm not mad about it, but it wasn't what I was looking for)

Since I wasn't yet satisfied with this project, I decided my next step would be to find the best use of this newly empty drawer. And the best place I could think of to free up space was my pantry. From the pantry I brought out all of the coffee, tea and hot chocolate related items... because it's starting to get cooler out and a wintertime hot chocolate bar is one of my favorite things to set up in the kitchen. I placed them neatly in the drawer and stepped back to admire my work.

(Progress... but still not right)

I was only slightly satisfied. I now had all of my beverage station supplies in a super convenient location and they were fairly well-organized, but I still hadn't achieved my goal of turning my junk drawer into junk décor, which is when I started to completely rethink the premise of this post... and the idea of re-titling it was stressing me out way more than was reasonable.

So I circled back to my original plan of using containers to store and display my stuff, this time with the contents of my newly created beverage supplies drawer. I desperately wanted it to count as "junk", but as a drawer filled with only drink-related accoutrements that actually came from the pantry, I realized that would be cheating.

(Beverage station with new containers on display)

At this point I have one freshly cleaned and well-organized junk drawer, a cute-ish beverage station with all of my coffee, tea and hot chocolate supplies and just a few additional drink-related items in the second drawer. 

(Not satisfying to an organizing junkie like me)

Since home organizing is not one-size-fits-all, I often try something out for a bit to see if it's a system that will work for me and my family (hopefully before spending any money on it). Still unsatisfied with the current arrangement, I spent the next few days reshuffling all kinds of things from pantry to drawer to shelves and back again until I found something that functioned well. 

With a cat, an elderly lab mix and an unhealthy bulldog (is there any other kind?), we have tons of random pet supplies, so I move those items from the pantry and try a few different configurations with them. 

(I don't like the way cans roll in the drawer, so I switch out food for treats in this space)

The mismatched containers on the counter at this stage drive me a little crazy, but I'm determined to be fiscally responsible, so I continue to hold out on spending money. This is the hardest part of a project for me. I love when a project comes together and the end result looks as incredible as I'd imagined it. This is not yet that.

(I snag a few storage containers from another space and try a few more configurations. Nothing is perfect, but it's getting closer.)

Finally, I believe my project is ready for the finishing touches... the décor that brings it all together so that it's both functional and fun to look at. In this process, I have not only cleaned up my junk drawers effectively, but also made my kitchen more efficient through the consolidation of all hot drinks to one station, freed up valuable real estate in our crowded pantry, AND relocated a variety of pet essentials into one convenient place. In celebration of my efforts, I treat myself to the kinds of things I'd envisioned when I first took on this little project of mine.

(My organized junk drawer, new pet supplies drawer and a fresh look for my coffee bar)

And while I completely failed at turning my JUNK DRAWER into JUNK DÉCOR, I did manage to free up space in my pantry by creating a functional coffee/tea/hot chocolate bar... so I successfully turned my PANTRY DISARRAY into a COFFEE BAR DISPLAY... which also has a nice ring to it. It's not at all what I set out to do, but it turned into a win on all fronts.

Bonus life lesson: somewhere in this post is an important lesson about adapting or going with the flow or rolling with the punches or (insert other overused cliché here). In life, there are things that just don't go as planned... even in something as simple as cleaning out a junk drawer. 

And if there's one thing I've learned in this life so far it's that, no matter how much I may believe otherwise, my home will always have a junk drawer (or two).