Do you find that you make great strides toward minimizing, purging, and organizing only to find yourself right back where you started after the hustle and bustle of Christmas comes and goes? One of the most important steps in home organizing is addressing and adjusting our relationship with the stuff we purchase moving forward. Many of us have great intentions to declutter and streamline, but if we aren't also scaling back on the items we continue to bring in, we will be right back where we started very quickly. Christmas is one of the most difficult times of year to scale back - Particularly if you have children, or were raised with the tradition of a tree bursting with presents, over doing it in December is a common concern for many of us. The good news: there are a TON of creative ways to simplify the holidays. Small shifts can offer big impact! And over the years, we have found some great ways maintain our focus on conscious consumption and meaningful presence (vs. ...
5 Ways to Stay Organized & Sane Through the Holidays
It's no secret that the holidays can be a stressful time. There is so much to do - buying and wrapping gifts, baking cookies, going to parties, decorating the house, and much more. Which reminds me - I still need to send out my holiday cards (oops)! My #1 piece of advice for staying sane through the holidays is to get organized early! Having a game plan will keep you on track during the holidays, and it will ensure that nothing gets forgotten or left to the last minute. Staying organized will help you even more when unexpected guests arrive, you're invited to another last-minute party, or everyone comes down with the flu! Here are 5 things I do every year to keep my holiday season merry, bright, and (mostly) stress free! #1: Make a list & check it twice! I think Santa may have been on to something here! Making lists will keep you organized and on schedule. Keep them wherever is easiest for you to find them - on your computer, in a notebook, or on your phone. Here are just a ...
Making Compromises To Renovate On A Limited Budget
Once you’ve established everything you want from your remodeling project and the estimate comes in, you may need to reassess your priorities. Unless you’re making simple changes like painting and putting down new flooring, it’s not uncommon for a home renovation budget to come in higher than you anticipate. Rather than go back to the drawing board, consider these approaches first. Go Back to the Basics When the estimate exceeds your budget by far more than you expected, it’s time to do a line-by-line analysis. Note which improvements are driving up the cost of the project. Determine whether they’re associated with the basics of the project or with the finishes. The basics include: Increasing the square footage. The infrastructure that includes the wiring, plumbing and HVAC. Functionality like doors, windows and cabinetry. The finishes include: Floor coverings. Wall and ceiling finishes. Upgrades to doors, windows and cabinetry. Discuss whether you want to scale the project ...
Organized Travel During The Holiday Season
Many people travel during the holidays to get away from the cold weather, or visit family and friends. The holiday season is one of the busiest travel period of the year, and it can be hard to stay organized, especially when travel can get busy and chaotic and all you want to do is get to your destination. To stay on top of your holiday trip planning, try following these suggestions so you can enjoy stress-free travel this holiday season: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE ESSENTIALS It goes without saying, but make sure you have everything you absolutely need for your trip ready to go, including passports, ID, phones, chargers, tickets, and booking confirmations. For people who are travelling by vehicle, phones and chargers are especially important in case you run into bad weather and need to call for assistance or to give family and friends a heads up that you may be late or have to delay your trip. When times get busy, it is easy to forget the most basic and essential items, so make sure you ...
5 Design Mistakes To Avoid
Being Matchy Matchy You would think that designers would like the word ‘match’….but it usually makes us cringe. We love things to coordinate, but having every fabric the same on every piece of furniture looks bland and boring. To create visual interest in a space you need multiple layers and textures, colour and patterns. Shop at several stores instead of buying everything all in one place. Keep your fabric swatches and paint samples with you at all times. You will easily be able to see what works when you lay it all out together. This process can seem tedious but remember, designers spend hours pulling fabrics and options for clients. If you want a room to feel put together, give it the time it deserves. Poor Lighting Bad lighting in your home can affect the mood dramatically when someone walks in – and more importantly when you walk in. Dimly lit rooms are most common in older homes, and by simply adding lamps with the correct bulb type can help a room help more inviting. In ...
Attic Venting and Ice Damming
What is the purpose of attic ventilation? Why do we insulate our attics? You may think that these were two completely different questions with two completely different answers; however, they are actually more related than you may think. During the warmer months, ventilation helps keep the attic cool; alternatively, during the colder months, it reduces the moisture within the space to keep the attic dry. This leads to protection against damage to materials and the structure itself; thus, providing comfort both in the form of physical comfort as well as peace of mind. Insulation also provides similar benefits. We insulate the attic to reduce the energy load driving into the home in the warmer months, but we also install it in our roofs and walls to ensure that we don’t lose heat during the winter months as well (note: but don’t forget to air-seal!). Energy savings is clearly a benefit and a reason why we would want to use ventilation or insulation in the attic; however, ...
Creative Ideas for Storing Children’s Artwork
If you have kids, chances are you know how REAL the struggle is when it comes to their artwork. Year after year, the volume of art they create only multiplies. For obvious reasons, we become sentimentally attached to much of it- that is up until we finally reach our breaking point and can't deal with the sheer volume of every single 'masterpiece' taking over our homes We get A TON of questions about how to best manage children's art work, and the answer is not 'one size fits all' - some people want to hold on to every scrap or scribble, while others are fine to observe each piece while on route to the recycling bin. Wherever you find yourself on the kid art spectrum, we have a few creative ideas to store, document, or preserve this season of your child's wildly creative life. THE ROTATING GALLERY Perhaps the most common strategy is a rotating gallery wall. The idea being you display some of the best pieces for a duration of time, and then rotate new pieces in as they are ...
Organizing Clothing With The Konmari Method
The KonMari organizing method has been around for a couple of years, but some of its ideas and methods can still be confusing for some people looking to live a more organized life. Here is how the KonMari method can help you get organized, starting with your clothing: WHAT IS IT? According to the KonMari method, organizing should not happen room by room, but item by item. In this way, people are able to properly organize and find a home for one specific item, which may be scattered throughout a home. Clothes are recommended as the first item to start organizing. Organizing begins by collecting all of the like items together and laying them on the ground so you can get a good look at what you have. Then, you go through each item to determine whether or not it makes you happy or “sparks joy.” Karen, at Calm Order recommends to start with areas with the least amount of attachment. Clothing may not necessarily be easy for some. Sometimes it is going through the pantry or kitchen ...
Tile Trends for 2018
Once upon a time, tiles were mostly used for their functional benefits (resistance to water, durability, low maintenance). Today however the sky is the limit for the designs that are possible and the aesthetic impact tile can create. Manufacturers have really pushed the limits on what is possible to provide really unique styles for today’s spaces. 2018 full steam ahead, we thought we would bring to attention some of the tiles that seem to be the most popular right now and for the foreseeable future. Stone/Wood Imitation Tile With the technology almost perfected to digitally copy and recreate an existing surface. Many manufacturer’s have selected wood or stone and recreated them in porcelain. In both instances you get a recreation that is almost identical to the real thing without having to put up with any of the potential drawbacks of the original material. You can have a wood look tile in your bathroom without worrying about moisture, or a white marble in your kitchen without ...
Ask an Organizer || Where do I start?
What is one area of your home that you simply can't keep organized? What clutter, no matter how hard you try, can you never seem to curb? What is that one burning question you would ask a professional organizer if you had the chance? QUESTION: I would love to get organized, but I don’t have the slightest idea where to begin. I’m paralyzed and completely overwhelmed when I look around my house, so I don't even start. Where would you say is the easiest or most motivating place to begin? ANSWER: First off- please know you are not alone! We hear this question ALL THE TIME! For some of us, when we look around a disorganized space, our brains aren't immediately able to break the mess down into individual pieces. We don’t see the parts that make up the whole, we just see EVERYTHING at ONCE. So of course that feels incapacitating. The second part to this is that the things in our homes hold memories- good or bad, it's the sentimental attachment to stuff that makes letting go so ...
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