HOPE Organizing turned 10 in the spring of 2017! To celebrate, I invited clients, potential clients, friends, and family to an Open House in September. This was a true “open house” in that I let people look inside almost every closet, drawer, and cabinet in my home. Over the course of several posts, I will let you into my home and see how I organize my own space. My HOPE is to give you the inspiration to take on something that is really challenging and make one step to either give you peace of mind or save you time and/or money!

I wanted to do the “open house” not only as a way to celebrate my business but also as a reason to tackle a few of the spaces in my own home that were not organized the way I wanted and not really functioning for me. In fact, writing this blog is a big challenge for me because I have tons of ideas but hate the writing part! But by making this a several-part series, I am taking on a challenge and committing to completing it.

Midtown Omaha cool, 90-year old charm

Welcome to the 90-year-old home that Bruce and I (fell in love with!) purchased in 2011 after it was completely remodeled/rehabbed. We love living in an established, diverse neighborhood that allows us to walk to many fun activities. Our son Anderson joined the family in early 2016, and he has most definitely made a difference in how almost everything around our house is organized and just “lived” in.

Functional–and decorative–toy storage

As you come into our home, you will notice the first collection of family photos and Anderson’s toys. The toys are hidden away in the Rubbermaid Bento Box (that I am so sad are no longer available)! Sometimes, I try to organize his toys into categories within the box, and then I realize there is really no point as it will probably be destroyed when I turn around. Within the built-in bookshelves, we keep mostly memorabilia like my yearbooks, items from our travels and some items from our grandparents. Almost every item or knick-knack has some kind of meaning to Bruce or me. When we travel, we try to bring home a piece of art we can display that will remind us of our adventures around the world. In fact, almost all of the art in our home is one-of-a-kind or limited edition. We like having something special that is not just a dust collector.

Within the buffet, you will find all of our “good” dishes. We do try to use all of our good dishes a few times a year (it is a little less now that Anderson is around). This is one thing I see with many of my professional organizing clients: dishes that are never used. It was really important to us when we got married to pick out a dish set that was very simple and could stand the test of time. I believe we will continue to use our white dishes for the next 40 years. (Notice I didn’t say plain white because they are unique and square and–most importantly–dishwasher safe!)

Creative uses for built-in shelving

We think this corner shelf was built for the telephone back in the day, but now it makes a great cookbook corner! We were able to get rid of everything that didn’t fit into that corner, too. (The point is: give yourself a limit!) Let’s be honest: most of our recipes are found online and we typically only use the books with old family favorites.

Final professional organizer thoughts:

This is the honest, lived-in truth about a professional organizer’s house: things get messy with day-to-day life, BUT things can be organized and have a “home”. To prepare for this post, I was able to put everything away to get the pictures above in about 8 minutes!

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Published in January 2018

Updated in November 2020