Elementary School’s Attic

Posted in Blog on 01/04/2011 09:01 am by Sarah

Today we tackled a school attic that was in dire need of cleaning out. According to fire code there are supposed to be three pathways clear across the room. There were no pathways. Two teachers were hoping to find room to store some of their supplies, and there was no space.

We spent three hours organizing 3/5 of the 80 by 20 foot area (the other 2/5 was already fairly well organized).  We had three teachers in addition to myself, and three custodians hauling off all the trash.

Art/PE Area Before

Art/PE Area After

The end result was so encouraging and fresh looking! We found some items that had been lost in the shuffle that teachers wanted to use. We found a lot of items that were old, broken, or obsolete. We found about 12 boxes of blocks (evidently blocks are out of fashion this year but still valuable). We found very sturdy and well-made carnival games that hadn’t been used in years. And we found some awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wooden cutouts.

Kinder/PreK Area Before

Kinder/PreK Area After

Serene Spaces was very proud of the teachers and principal we worked with. They were all ready and motivated to get rid of all the things that were broken or unnecessary, and they were very happy to have the space organized. We were so thankful for the custodians who helped us carry all the trash to the dumpster.

Trash Pile 2

Trash Pile 1

As you can see from the pictures, we were able to make very large pathways for the fire code, and we will paint the paths so that no one stores things in those areas anymore.

Files Area After

It was a really great day!

 

Lucy’s Kitchen

Posted in Blog on 10/18/2010 09:25 am by Sarah

The client:

Lucy is a lovely lady who doesn’t have a natural talent for organizing. She decided to learn more about how to make her house work better for her. She has a nice big kitchen with lots of cupboard space. She was also ready to sell some things at a garage sale.

The problem:

Lucy had not sat down and thought about which cupboard would work best for different items. She also had some items that she wasn’t using which were taking up space.

We found some extra empty bins in her house that we could use to help sort the items, and we also went through and found some things to sell at a garage sale. It’s amazing what you can do in just a few minutes with a few dollars. The biggest challenge in Lucy’s kitchen was deciding where everything should go and what would work best for her family. Once we decided that it was a matter of just moving things to their new places.

Before, both sides

After

After, right side

Our box of garage sale items was full!

After a long day of sorting we were ready to have a break.

 

Candace’s Closet

Posted in Blog on 10/12/2010 01:01 pm by Sarah

The client:

Candace has moved into a new house and she is busily trying to make everything fit. She has a great sense of style and order already. She was getting overwhelmed with the last few boxes that she needed to fit into the closet.

The problem:

Candace got a great start on her closet and then stalled. She had too many boxes left to fit in nicely, and ended up with a pile of stuff on the floor. We all know how frustrating it can be to have stuff all over your floor! It steals your joy and is visually overwhelming. Candace was willing to use items she already had as containers.

Before- stacks on the floor

After- floor is clear

Before- shelves are used inefficiently

After- All space is used wisely

The solution:

We took a good look at all the shelves in her closet and figured out how to fit everything in nicely. We found containers in other parts of the house and made labels for her boxes. Sometimes something as simple as having matching labels on everything makes all the difference. We were able to clear the floor pile and arrange all the things in her closet to Candace’s content. This project took about 2 hours of organizer time plus a few hours of Candace working on her own.

 

Roxanne’s Closet

Posted in Blog on 10/11/2010 09:35 am by Sarah

The client:

Roxanne is a librarian at a local school.  Her storage closet is overwhelming her with clutter, and she needs to keep part of the closet clear for access to electrical panels.

The problem:

The closet has large posters that need to be stored properly, costumes languishing in disarray, and a shelf full of cables and headphones.

Before

After

The solution:

We bought a hanging hook for the costumes, a bin for the cables, and labeled and sorted all the boxes.  We helped Roxanne to sort through her items and decide what to give away.  We also found a great way to store all the posters in a system that Roxanne can use in the future to find and put her posters back when she’s finished with them.  In the end we had a fun closet that helped her to feel peace when she entered it.  We also only spent about $15 total.

 
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