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Posts Tagged ‘Melanie Fascitelli’

Chatting with Melanie Fascitelli of Clos-ette

By Annie | February 16, 2012 | 6

Welcome

Annie Traurig was born with the ability to see order through clutter. As a child, she spent playdates organizing friends’ closets and packing their duffle bags for summer camp.

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What you don’t see:

-me going back and forth over the course of several hours about how best to situate everything in this closet, taking into account frequency of use, level of storage accessibility, and cohesiveness across categories

-finally settle on a layout

-go home and sleep on it (by which I mean wake up at 2am to think it over some more)

-come back in the morning and tell them I’d had a pre-dawn epiphany and we had to change it yet again

-deal with whatever extra effort it required to make it perfect (or as perfect-adjacent as is realistically possible)

-feel deep satisfaction at having set them up for success in their space in the best way only I know how to

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#homeorganization #professionalorganizer #closetorganization

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Happiest birthday wishes to my right hand woman @dreamarie.c !!!!! 🎊🎊

Drea is the rarest blend. She is fully grounded in herself, and yet has a chameleon-like ability to find common ground with most any person. Drea is perpetually nodding along knowingly while clients talk about anything from Harleys to manga to old episodes of Scooby doo (meanwhile I’m like Scooby who??). Plunk her in any chaotic situation, and she will sort her (and everyone else’s) way out by skillfully bossing other people around and/or brute force. She has a mechanical know-how that makes me feel dumb on a daily basis, in the best way one can feel highly unskilled. Appliance broken? Ask Drea to look at it. How do we get this bulky thing into this ridiculously constrained space? Drea has already figured it out. What is Correct? Drea knows.

Andrea has saintly patience, and nonchalantly twiddled her thumbs while I (a person who grew up learning self sufficiency was necessary for survival) learned to receive help. Every time in the five? Six? (Who can remember? What is time?) years she’s been working with me that I have passed her the baton she has run to the finish line with an obviousness to her stride that begs the question, “Didn’t you know I could and would?”

She knows when to be gentle and when to say what needs to be said firmly, and she occasionally drops some truly delicious witty and sarcastic quip that makes me and everyone around her lose all composure as we absolutely crack up.

From our first meeting years ago, I felt that the universe had sent me the biggest blessing in the form of Drea. I have considered myself insanely fortunate to know her and have her in my corner every day since then.

Happy birthday you uber cool chick! Thank you for being here! 💗💗💗🎊🎊

If you consistently follow through on your promises (show up when you say you will, deliver a work product by a deadline you’ve committed to, support someone through a challenging time, exercise and eat well consistently, manage your household thoughtfully) you’re already doing more than most.

To be excellent, you need to give credence to the quality of your efforts (which is a way of acting in service to your future self) and your impact on others (the way you make people feel, anticipate their needs, and prioritize their experiences). Excellence is caring enough to give the full force of your vital energy to whatever it is you’re focusing on.

In order to care enough to be excellent, though, you must be selective in what you take on.

Too many people are operating under the false belief that they can accomplish far more than they reasonably can. They task themselves with errands they don’t actually have time to run and commit to obligations they can’t adequately show up for. Thinking you can do it all is is a fallacy that’s harmful in numerous ways, notable among them being achieving excellence.

You can’t be excellent while trying to do everything yourself. Overloading or unintentionally committing yourself means resigning yourself to a level of mediocrity.

Ironically, your ability to do things in a manner that surpasses expectations depends upon your whittling down what you’re expecting of yourself.

Ask yourself to do three dozen things perfectly and you’re bound to fail at most all of them. Ask yourself to do three things consistently and your chances of excellence in those areas increases exponentially.

Your energy is most potent when it’s concentrated, not diluted.

Once you’ve done the work of editing down your priorities in life, you can finally begin to gain a sense of momentum. The consistency and care that you’re thereafter able to hone will pave the way for excellence that inherently self-motivates. As you see the fruits of your fullest-effort-labor you’ll become even more incentivized to strive for an overarching feeling of deep, life-wide satisfaction.

[graphic designed exclusively for us by @ariel_marko]

“It’s really about honoring each thing, isn’t it?” She remarked as she surveyed the closet, noting the care with which we had hung every garment, folded every pair of pants, and arranged every shoe.

It’s a common reaction clients have—feeling as though their things have never been so highlighted, so regarded.

It’s not really about the things at all, of course. It’s about honoring a person by way of their belongings. It’s giving yourself the messaging that you are worthy of indulgent care, of being freed of what would otherwise weigh you down, and of moving through your daily life with ease. The state of your space and your belongings is your barometer for your personal standards and overall self worth.

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#homeorganization #closetorganization #professionalorganizer

By the time most renovation projects conclude it’s been months—if not years—that belongings (already deemed non-essential enough to be packed up and stored!) have been patina-ing in boxes.

Absence makes the mind grow clearer, and prior to moving back in, a thorough edit is practically a prerequisite. What items are you overjoyed to be reunited with? What items make you seriously question your judgment for having carefully stored away? And, importantly, how can you maximize the “fresh start” effect by bringing intentionality to how things are arranged (and how you function as a result) within your new space?

Those questions were top of mind in the project seen here. The fact that our client’s house burned down to the ground mid-renovation (and then had to be re-re done) only served to heighten the discrepancy between essential and extraneous. Out with the unnecessary, the outgrown and the haggard, we helped her to decide. In with the items that score top spirit- delight points. No shoving things in drawers. Yes to having the concealed spaces look and feel as elevated and nurturing as the visible areas. Exclamation marks. (!!!)

Interior design: @michelledirkse

I recently learned of the existence of “darkness retreats” wherein participants willingly deprive themselves of all light in order to experience a new appreciation for the beauty of sight.

Not to undermine the sacrifice and profundity of such an experience, but summoning awe and reverence for something once you’re without it seems fairly easy.

Counter-intuitive though it may seem, it requires much more insight and awareness to appreciate what you have while you have it. To do so requires you to push beyond the autopilot mode you spend so much of your time in and truly see the beauty and abundance that surrounds you—the sights and sounds and smells and comforts that you’ve gotten so familiar with that you’ve forgotten what gifts they are.

Living in a state of awe is a choice you make. It’s deciding to remain connected to the youthful, naive part of you that’s curious enough to pay attention, and open enough to be impressed by what you find.

The older we get and the more we’ve seen and experienced, the more we need to consciously invite ourselves to stay in a state of wonder. Our brains naturally register what’s foreign, and glaze over what’s familiar. But just because you’ve seen thousands of impossibly intricate flowers doesn’t mean you can’t pause to absorb the one in front of you.

The trees, gnarled and reaching, are as majestic as they’ve ever been. The tide rushing up over thousands of pebbles and receding back again sounds as lush and silvery as it ever has. The summertime air, perfumed by jasmine and lilies, wafts as sweetly as it ever did.

Beauty surrounds you. The awe of the natural world and the blessings of your material one are there for you to enjoy.

You do not need to wait for something to be taken from you in order to realize what a blessing it had been, all along. Be grateful now. Be curious. Look with the intention to find beauty and wonder and you surely will find them.

[calendar designed exclusively for us by @ariel_marko]

The worst part of moves is missing our client-families afterwards, once they’re fully in (or out), edited, organized, all grown up and walking the Simply walk just like we taught them to.🥺

I see clients every day who have been stymied as to how to tackle their clutter and disorder.

These are people who have been incapacitated for years (sometimes even decades), waiting for motivation to arrive that never seems to.

In a single session, these same clients transform from being anxious, overwhelmed and avoidant to voracious editors who must be pried away from the task by way of unbearable hunger and/or melting-down children.

All they needed all along was to get into action.

Action inspires motivation. Taking the first step is what motivates the next three. Flossing one tooth is what inspires flossing the whole set of chompers.

Only once in action do you begin to be motivated to remain in action, and can you create a chain of momentum. And once you have momentum, you become an arrow that cannot help but to hurtle forwards towards growth and expansion. You spend more of your time in your flow, and the universe responds by sending you more circumstances that invite you to experience the feelings you desire.

Your energy to begin is what topples the final dominoes. Your intention at the outset determines the path.

Do one thing first. Do the second thing next. Notice how you feel afterwards. Repeat.

Instead of waiting for momentum, create it.

[calendar designed exclusively by @ariel_marko]

Break the cycle. Be selective. Aim to participate in the unfolding of life, much more so than the preservation of the past. The present is where the magic is.

And before anyone chimes in to say, “I loved all the things my parents saved for me!” Or: “all my things were thrown away and I’m still sad about it!” Save your keystrokes. Your feelings about your own life are valid and so are my thirteen years of professional experience that tells me THIS is what most people need to hear.

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#professionalorganizer #declutteryourlife #declutterlikeamother #clutterfree

Solving the puzzle of available space and relevant items is my preferred life activity.

Some people were born to dance. Others, to sing, parent, report. I was called here to bring about peace and freedom through people’s environments. Getting to fulfill my life’s mission and delight our clients in the process is the ultimate privilege.

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#homeorganization #professionalorganizer #seattlemovers #seattlehomes

My work is designed to help clients hone their ability to access purpose. At the core, what I ask them about their possessions is, “Why is this present in your life?”

Plenty of them own a plethora of pretty things. Most of them can easily invent utility for objects. My goal is for them to understand that ideally, an object worth owning both has visual appeal and/or is emotionally evocative, and has practical application. It both delights their senses and enables their routine. Exciting and applicable. Pretty and practical.

When significance and utility combine, there is purpose. And with purpose comes value, contribution, contentment and gratitude.

The same rules of purpose apply to our lives.

If we’re merely going through the motions of life without feeling as though we’re being useful, we become adrift. We need to combine our talents, skills, beauty, and interest with contribution. We need to ask and answer the question, “Why am I here?”

Purpose is not reserved for the fortunate few who are brave enough to blaze an uncharted trail. A sense of purpose can be achieved regardless of who you are and what you’re doing, so long as you regard your life as the way you’re of service to the whole world.

Whether you’re cleaning toilets, changing diapers, or trading stocks, when you work from a sense of purpose, you stay connected to why it matters that you show up wholeheartedly, carry yourself with excellence, and act in the interest of love. You keep at the forefront of your mind that you are not here merely to collect a paycheck, check off a life milestone, scroll your phone endlessly in the dark, or to stress and suffer. You are here for an important reason. Your unique contribution supports the larger goals of the universe–to increase awareness and equality, elevate consciousness, and spread love.

This month, focus on purpose. Examine the “why” behind the material objects in your environment. Look for ways to bring a greater sense of purpose to your life by viewing how you spend your days not as a job or a hobby, but as a calling. Do not discount how your authenticity may be your unique form of service.

[calendar designed exclusively by @ariel_marko ]

Hot Moves Summer—one of my favorite times of year.

Relocation projects are like normal projects, only at hyper speed. That’s because even as we’re unpacking, we’re editing, as we’re putting away, we’re organizing. We’re fitting together all the spatial puzzles pieces simultaneously, and not just in one isolated room. We’re solving for maximum flow, functionality, and ease for the entire household.

It’s instant-er gratification. It’s Live Simply on steroids. It’s all of my decade plus expertise crammed into a whirlwind week that’s designed to shift the trajectory of your life within your space forever. ✨

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#seattlemovers #homeorganization #homeorganizing #professionalorganizer

The language you use to describe yourself matters. Everyday, you are likely telling yourself and others stories about who you are, what you excel at and what you’re miserable at. These statements are usually nothing more than ones you’ve repeated over and over throughout your life. As you repeat them, they repeatedly come true, and you feel your self beliefs have been validated.

Who you are is a mailable entity. You are capable of changing. Being a different way than you have in the past begins by deciding to be, and by examining how you’ve been predicting your success or failure through the narratives you’ve long held.

If you want to be great at being on time, you’ve got to cease telling yourself you’re always late. If you want to be organized, you must stop repeating the belief that you’re messy.

Get used to repeating the phrase, “In the past, I was_____. Going forward, I am excited to be_______.”

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#homeorganizer #declutteryourlife #lifehacking

Fun game for your Friday: Name It To Keep It. 😘

Alignment is one of those words that gets tossed around in the self-help world. But what is it, really?

The feeling of being at the right place at the right time. The feeling of having the necessary skill set to solve the puzzle presented to you. The feeling of talking to someone who gets it. The peace of mind of knowing you are making decisions that are in agreement with what your highest self believes and values.

Alignment is living in accordance with your true self, and it’s achieved when you honor your authenticity through your words and actions.

When you engage in work that fulfills you, invest in your values, move and nourish your body in ways that serve your vitality, and engage with like-minded people that inspire you, you feel aligned. You feel as though your inner self matches the self you present to others. You feel a kind of ineffable harmony.

The alternative is inner conflict–wanting what you believe you shouldn’t really want. Doing work that obliterates your creativity. Spending time with people with whom you know you don’t really vibe. Saying yes when you want to say no. Saying no when you’re too scared to say yes. When your inner self conflicts with the reality of your day-to-day life, you feel disconnection and discontentment.

Your true self knows its purpose and preferences. Only, it needs you to speak and choose on its behalf. It needs you to say yes only when it’s a full and complete yes, and no when it’s anything other than a full-on yes. It needs you to believe your real, inner weirdo is innately lovable and that she is worth your honoring. It needs you to eat well and exercise and care for your environment. It needs you to view your time as precious, your work as your calling, and your relationships as equal parts give and take. It needs you to live with integrity.

Once aligned, your life will flow freely. What you’re seeking will begin to seek you.

You would think that identifying a thing you love—one that suits you exceedingly well and checks all your boxes—would mean fully basking in the ownership and use of that item.

All too often though, finding something you love creates a chain buying reaction, wherein you keep trying to replicate the experience you first felt with the original winner.

The beloved item becomes the gateway, not the finish line.

Why? Society has taught you to perpetually want more. It’s convinces you that several is always preferable to singular. And it’s brainwashed you into believing that feeling pleasure is a transactional occurrence.

Beginning today, become aware of your pursuit of buying more. Understand that your intention is to feel the abundance of having your needs and desires met—which the thing you love is already doing.

Most of all, learn to luxuriate in what you own. Be grateful for it. Remain present to this gratitude.

The only thing that can provide you with lasting contentment is your own mind, when it decides to.
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#professionalorganizer #declutteryourlife #homeorganizer

Pegboards are the perfect solution when there are lots of small supplies and available wall space at play. They ensure essentials stay in sight and in reach, and they allow for maximum evolution over time. Plus, there’s the obvious aesthetic benefit of things being arranged on grid lines, which is a certain kind of satisfying.

In summary: form, function and versatility. The holy storage trinity.

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#professionalorganizer #professionalorganizing #craftinspiration #homeorganizing

But what if you *didn’t* buy more than could comfortably fit in your space/ you could reasonably manage??

Decanting > random product packaging, number 7393772.

Ritualize the restocking, and the system will be as functional as it is fulfilling.

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#professionalorganizer #homeorganization #homeorganizing

Did we mention it helped massively that she edited the toys so ruthlessly??

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#professionalorganizer #homeorganization #homeorganizer #playroomorganization

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