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Real-Life Messy

Makeovers • Closet & Pantry

• Entry & Living Room Cr • Home Office

t Tackle Your Paper Pileups

Clutter-Busting Solutions from

the Pros BHG.co

pRoBteM: Two jobs, three active

children, and

weekends devoted

to kids'events

made it difficult for Wendy and Todd to manage their basement office.

Left unattended, piles of unneeded paperwork, sports

equipment, and kids'

artwork engulfed

the space, forcing

the family to work at

the kitchen table.

real-life example

open for business A family gets their home office in order by eliminating the superfluous and stowing the required in ready-made organizers.

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SOLUTION: Professional

organizer Laura Leist walked

Wendy and Todd through editing

items and selecting smart storage

to help them reclaim their kitchen and enjoy a fully operational

office. "From the beginning, it was

important to create homes for the

family's things so they didn't all

land on the desk," Leist says.

With the kids actively

participating, the family spent three

weekends cleaning the space. Todd

moved his coaching-related gear to

a storage room. The kids shredded

paperwork that Wendy had retained unnecessarily for years

and helped decide which artworks

to keep (favorites are displayed in

frames). Wendy sorted household

documents into manila folders

that she labeled as she worked. "I learned that you don't need to

bhg.com/sogo

keep every paper or artwork,"

Wendy says. "If it's not worth filing,

throw it away to make room for

things that should be filed. We

realized less is more, which has us reorganizing the rest of the house,

room by room."

Following Leist's advice, the

couple practiced restraint when

refurnishing the office. They

added an L-shape desk and a

wheeled file cabinet (#4) that

moves to supply additional work

surface as needed. Track shelves provide easily accessed storage

for stackable document boxes

(one for each family member),

kids' artwork portfolios (#1), boxes

stowing school supplies (#2), and

binders holding compact discs of

stored digital images (#3). "Those organizers put physical

caps on how much we can save,"

Wendy says. "The kids edit what

goes into their portfolios and

boxes. Remembering how much

time we put into this project makes

all of us work harder to keep it

looking good and working well."

Special thanks to IKEA and The Container Store.

EXPERT ADVICE

Laura Leist, author of Eliminate the

Chaos at Work, offers these tips for

creating offices that accommodate a

household's work and storage needs:

• Have a family meeting. Discuss

everyone's visions for the space

to determine what needs to go

and what needs to stay. Talk about

paper management/flow, supplies,

memorabilia, furniture placement,

and future maintenance.

• Plan before purchasing. Gather

similar things together to determine

the volume of items that need to be

stored so that you can buy products,

including shelves, file cabinets, and

organizers, that best suit your office

space and work requirements. Visit

BHG.com/paperpointers for solutions

for taming paper piles.

• Consider frequency of use.

Here, the lowest shelf holds a

magazine organizer storing often-

referenced directories, a handy

pencil holder, and easy-grab boxes

to hold incoming photos.