Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Happy Tuesday, hey!
Here’s a recent client project comin’ atchya.
The setting: girl’s closet.
The state: not all together tragic, but certainly in need of some purposeful systemization (that’s fancy organizer talk).
The skirts were here, the skirts were there. Ditto the shirts, and the jeans, and the dresses. There were all everywhere– issue 1.
The hangers. Oh, but the hangers. The fastest way to have a closet appear cluttered is to have a hodge-podge of hangers happening and if I’ve said it once I will say it three hundred more times until it permeates the interior of your (that’s a collective “your”) brains–issue 2.
Three goes to the shelf situated underneath the highest hanging rack which trickingly says “I’m a shelf, look at me. Put things on me, it’ll work.” If shelves had pants they would be ablaze.
And issue 4, the fact that the longest garments were hanging on the lower rack, prohibiting any functional use of floor space.
Game on.
We’re very much not in a cutesy phase these days, so the end result had to be one of ultra refinement, think “Sophisticated Under-Ten.”
The first task was obviously to edit the closet in question, allocating necessary items to such piles as “giveaway” “give to sister” and “I abhor zebra print as I think it’s slutty, I never wanted her wearing that in the first place get rid of it.”
Then I switched out the hangers. The coats got wooden, while all the rest of the keepers got child-sized velvet hangers
Next, I relocated all those sweaters and sweatshirts that had previously been residing on the pseudo-shelf. I moved lightweight sweatshirts to a dresser drawer:
And heavier sweatshirts and sweaters to some shelves on the side of the closet (not actually visibile in these pictures; apologies).
Next, I moved all the shorter clothes to the bottom rack, including pants, skirts, and shirts. This makes the floor space accessible, allowing for a shoe rack (the one pictured will get the boot, to be replaced by a superior model, but you get the gist).
I hung the longer clothes on the highest rack, and streamlined and straightened that top shelf of linens.
Feeling that it would be a shame to waste a shelf even if it is a stupid shelf, I used plastic shoe boxes to house now off-season items such as hats, gloves, and scarves. So the shelf still provides storage, just not the everyday-use kind.
Here’s where we ended up:
And just a refresher by way of B & A, S x S (that’s: Before & After, Side by Side).
K, bye!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Yesterday I was listening to someone describe his ultimate career vision. He possessed no real clarity about what the precise structure of it would be, he had, at best, only a general concept of the activities the entity would engage in, and he had no sense of the actionable steps required to bring this firm to fruition.
All he had was a name. He had a name that he’d been carrying around in his head for a couple years without any knowledge as to why. This name for an entirely abstract idea of a company that doesn’t exist at present. Yet, it’s a name that feels as clear and definite for him as his own, as if this would-be firm could never use any other moniker. So he has a name. And that’s all he needs.
No one has all the details in the beginning. Nobody can claim to have possessed the knowledge of how their vision-nugget would ultimately evolve at that nugget’s inception. It doesn’t work like that. We can’t know what we don’t yet know.
But if there’s a nugget, if there’s some strain of inspiration, some detail, however disjointed from the rest of the picture, there’s enough. There’s enough to know that somewhere inside of you is a lingering desire. Even if it doesn’t make any sense to you, which it hardly ever will. If there’s a pulling, a quiet knowing, a curiosity that won’t quit, if there’s something that triggers your intuition, you’ve just got to go with it.
You might not have all the pieces by next Thursday or seven months from now or even ten years. That’s okay. If it’s inside you, it won’t dissipate. Rather, it will grow ever stronger and clearer and full of knowing until it bursts forth in all its magnificence, this notion you’ve been carrying around inside you for however long, biding your time, observing, refining.
If there’s a calling, you’ve got to listen to it. You don’t have to act right away, but you should pay attention. Monitor, consult with it over time. Above all, trust in it. These kinds of things rarely lead you astray.
Image credit: Allison SchulnikFriday, May 17, 2013
If there’s one thing I enjoy it’s knowing I am treading identical turf as supremely talented individuals. It’s why I get a little flutter in my tummy whenever I come upon a stellar person living in Seattle. I get all, “O.M.G! They’re here too! Maybe I’ll bump into them on the street. Maybe we’ll become friends. Maybe I’ve already walked past them on the street!”
Pulp Design Studio. One part Seattle, one part Dallas, if we’re being technical. Let’s get abreast what they’re all about.
Here’s a sweet bedroom with a pink vibe that appeals to the young female set but doesn’t make you want to barf. There’s just enough quirk to make it interesting, as well.
The same goes for this next dressing room area. The art is all, “tra-la-la, I’m a lady,” while the chair remarks, “Konichiwa!” Or something.
This next shot is a real winner– I happen to massively enjoy the sunshiny yellow desk amidst the otherwise neutral palette.
Direct your attention, if you would, to this credenza, and, in particular, the detailing on its front. I can’t help but be reminded of those things I love so tenderly called jigsaw puzzles. Have I mentioned I’m hardcore into puzzling?
Okay, so to be fair, it’s difficult to judge whether this room draws its delightful charm from the well-appointed decor, or from the small person parked bed-side, but either way, you know?
Two more bedrooms, this one featuring a color contrast I quite enjoy by way of bedside table and lamp:
And this featuring a sort of rebellious take on the gallery wall. It’s like, “Who needs art when you’ve got frames?”
I have saved the best for last. Throw on your ski socks and graduation gown cause you’re about to get schooled in killer design.
The sunburst mirror, the chaise, the panelled walls peeking out from the room over.
And then I reach this final picture which causes me to say, “Oh, Pulp, I wish you would stop showing off.”
Okay little readers, so ends another week. Choose happiness, would you please?
I'm Annie and I'm a professional organizer/ life simplifier. I'm on a mission to help people everywhere expel the extraneous and instill their lives with a sense of ease, laughter and light through introspection, clutter obliteration, organization, and a steadfast intolerance for complication. Do you Live Simply?
