Professional Organizer Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland Scott Roewer's organizing blog DeClutterYou » Closet Organizing

Washington, DC Professional Organizer Gives NonProfit Organization a Makeover

DeClutterYou — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:03:09 +0000

The Before Picture

The makeover recently continued at the Dress for Success Boutique in Washington. DC. Solutions by Scott joined forces with multiple local organizers, all volunteers and members of The Washington, DC – Metro Chapter of The National Association of Professional Organizers to complete this phase of the makeover. The makeover team included: Andrea Hancock, Professional Organizer and owner of B Dexterous, LLC ; Denise Sintetos, Professional Organizer and owner of Declutter, DeStress; Helena Alkhas, Professional Organizer; Janice Rasmussen, Professional Organizer and owner of Executive Order; Katie Mazzocco, Professional Organizer and owner of Visions Organizing, Julie Langsdorf, Professional Organizer and owner of The Pick-up Artist; and Nina Muscato, Professional Organizer and team member of Solutions by Scott & Company.

New Paint, New Carpet, No Broken Cabinets

The three-phase makeover of the Dress for Success boutique began in December 2010. Scott Roewer of Solutions by Scott & Company is orchestrating the design and layout of the new Boutique giving each room its own feel and providing an organized shopping experience for Dress for Success clientele. Scott and several stylists from Style for Hire performed clothing edits on December 9th and January 28th. In mid-January, the boutique was freshly painted and new carpet was installed. Once the studio is completly reorganized, Scott and his colleagues from Style for Hire will return and give the Dress for Success clients a personalized styling experience, readying them for interviews and career success. In the photos posted in this post, you can see the makeover from the beginning to the end in one of the five rooms they organized.

Two Volunteer Organizers Hard at Work

This portion of the makeover was made possible by the generous support and donations of elfa® the awesome organization systems from The Container Store. The Container Store sent two of their awesome employees to help install the shelving.

Solutions by Scott & Company firmly believes in giving back to the community which is why we have volunteered our time, expertise and care to provide the boutique at Dress for Success a complete makeover, enabling the organization to better serve the individuals in the community.

Professionally Organized & Ready to Go!

If you ever have any professional business attire that is current fashion, and in great condition, please consider donating to Dress for Success. Men can donate their dress clothing to Career Gear. Find a location near you.

Do you have a favorite place to donate your gently used clothing? We’d love to hear about it.

Closet Organizing – How to Install an elfa® Closet

DeClutterYou — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:35:29 +0000

I work with elfa® frequently and find it rather easy to install. The product is affordable, very sturdy, and flexible enough to use in most any space. If you enjoy simple, do-it yourself type projects, this how-to video demonstrates how you can install your own elfa® closet system from The Container Store. This is the eighth video in a nine-part series on how to organize your closet like a pro.

Be sure to review the seventh video in this series, where I explained the closet parts, tools, and important safety considerations.

What’s your biggest challenge in your bedroom closets?

Here are the previous videos in this how-to series.

Organizing Your Closet – A How-To Series
Organizing Your Closet – Measuring and Planning Your New Closet
Closet Organizing – Removing the Old Closet
Closet Organizing – How to Sort & Downsize Your Closet Clutter
Closet Organizing – Sorting & Storing Your Linens
Closet Organizing – Sorting & Organizing Your Clothes
Closet Organization – Steps to Install an elfa® Closet System

Closet Organization – Steps to Install an elfa® Closet System

DeClutterYou — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:50:45 +0000

We’re excited so many of you have been following this how-to closet organizing video series. Now that we’ve sorted all the ‘stuff’ from the closet, and removed the closet system that wasn’t working, we are ready to begin installing the new elfa® system from The Container Store.

In this video, I’ll show you the tools necessary to install the closet, explain the various hardware pieces, and share with you a few safety concerns. This is a 3 minute video and it is the seventh in a series of nine videos.

If you have questions about any of the tools, or hardware, please do let me know. The eighth video will actually show the step-by-step process to install the closet. Installing an elfa® closet is an easy, DIY project for most anyone.

If you’re considering purchasing an elfa® closet, you can download this coupon and use it before July 12, 2009 to save 25%!

Here are the previously posted videos in the how-to organize your closet series.

Organizing Your Closet – A How-To Series

Organizing Your Closet – Measuring and Planning Your New Closet

Closet Organizing – Removing the Old Closet

Closet Organizing – How to Sort & Downsize Your Closet Clutter

Closet Organizing – Sorting & Storing Your Linens

Closet Organizing – Sorting & Organizing Your Clothes

DeClutterYou — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:47:45 +0000

How many times have you said, “my closet just isn’t big enough”? Well the truth of the matter is, your closet is probably large enough, you simply have too much stuff! I’ve worked in a few hundred closets, and I find people use the wrong accessories to store their clothes, and don’t take the time to fold or hang items. Instead, they shove the clothes on shelves and expect their clothes to not be damage, wrinkle free, and they expect to find a ready to wear outfit in a timely manner.

In this fifth video of my “how to organize your closet like a pro” series, I’ll demonstrate the steps you can follow to sort your clothes. I also talk about the proper types of hangers to use, and how to avoid some common mistakes people make in their closets. Watching this video may just save your favorite outfit from damage!

I’ve previously posted five videos in this series. To view the other posts, please visit the links below. If you have any clothes storage tips you’d like to share, please comment below.

Organizing Your Closet – A How-To Series

Organizing Your Closet – Measuring and Planning Your New Closet

Closet Organizing – Removing the Old Closet

Closet Organizing – How to Sort & Downsize Your Closet Clutter

Closet Organizing – Sorting & Organizing Your Linens

Organizing Your Closet – Sorting and Storing Your Linens

DeClutterYou — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:36:52 +0000

This is the fifth video in a nine-part series of “How to Organize Your Closet Like a Pro” and we’ll take a look at organizing your linens.

I love living in the city. However, with city life, you often find a lack of storage space. In this home, there was a lack of closet storage. So the homeowner decided to store sheets, towels, blankets, tablecloths, and material in his master bedroom closet. As you can imagine, the closet was over flowing!

In this 4 minute video, I demonstrate the basic steps you can follow to sort your household linens. Because this homeowner was short on space, we had to find a new home for the towels. In order to redistribute them to another area of the home, I suggested we add a shelf in the linen closet/laundry room conveniently located outside the main bathroom. By adding a shelf here, we were able to move the bath towels closer to the bathroom. Several old blankets were donated, and we used large sweater bags from The Container Store to keep items clean and organized in the closet. Finally, we made use of the space under his bed and stored some of the linens that were not frequently used in the Underbed Containers from The Container Store.

Do you have a creative way you store linens? How many blankets and sheets do you think you should have for each bed in your home? Please share your comments below.

If you’ve missed the first four videos in this how-to video series, please review these posts. If you have any questions about the process, or if you get stuck, please let us know by leaving a comment below.

Organizing Your Closet – A How-To Series

Organizing Your Closet – Measuring and Planning Your New Closet

Closet Organizing – Removing the Old Closet

Closet Organizing – How to Sort & Downsize Your Closet Clutter

DeClutterYou — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:00:45 +0000

This is the fourth video in a nine-part series of “How to Organize Your Closet Like a Pro”. In this 5 minute video, I’ll show you how a professional organizer sorts through clutter found in a closet. Treasurers buried in this closet include an old “Born To Kvetch” desk calendar, tons of stationary, $150 of new gift cards, unopened mail, magazines, unused electronics, trash, you name it! We’ll sort these items into suggested three categories; Keep, Donate, and Trash. The homeowner will need to review the piles we’ve sorted and make the final decisions on what items he’ll keep. The bottom line, most of what we found in the various bins did not belong in his bedroom closet.

Additionally, in this video, I highlight a photo scanning service called, Scan My Photos. They’ll scan approximately 2000, 4″ x 6″ photos at 300 DPI and return them to you with a DVD of the images for $124.95. Check here for the full details on this service. Scan My Photos isn’t the only memory preservation company available online. In a future blog post, I’ll do a side-by-side comparison of this company with similar vendors.

I hope you’re enjoying this how-to video series. If you missed the prior three videos in the “How to Organize Your Closet Like A Pro” series, you can view the following posts.

Organizing Your Closet – A How-To Series

Organizing Your Closet – Measuring and Planning Your New Closet

Closet Organizing – Removing the Old Closet

Closet Organizing – Removing The Old Closet

DeClutterYou — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:14:26 +0000

This is the third video in a nine-part series of “How to Organize Your Closet Like a Pro”. In this 2 minute 40 second video, I’ll cover the tools necessary to remove the existing shelf and pole. We’re prepping this closet for a new elfa® system from The Container Store. The video show you step-by-step how to remove the basic shelf and pole system found in most homes and to patch the holes. Additionally, I cover the tools you need to do this quickly and safely. This is a must watch for any person who wants to install a new closet system them self.

If you missed the first two videos in this series of “How to Organize Your Closet Like A Pro”, you can view them here.

Organizing Your Closet – A How-To Series

Organizing Your Closet – Measuring and Planning Your New Closet

Organizing Your Closet – Measuring & Planning A New Closet

DeClutterYou — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:26:29 +0000

Organizing your closet is possible for you to do at home. However, knowing how to measure and plan your space is the difficult part. In this how-to series, I’ll show you how to measure your space, measure your clothes and how to come up with a custom closet design for yourself. This is part 2 of a 9 part series on how to organize you closet like a professional.

I’ll be sharing one video post per day until all 9 videos are shared here on declutteryou.com. Please leave your questions and comments below. I look forward to our conversations.

If you missed the first video, please view this post.

Organizing Your Closet, A How-To Series

DeClutterYou — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:02:17 +0000

Recently I filmed a series of how-to videos for MonkeySee.com, a website where you can learn how to do, just about anything. They contacted me to film a series called, “How To Organize Your Closet, Like a Pro“. This nine-part series, shows all the steps I take when organizing a closet. We event show you how I ripped out the existing closet, and installed a new elfa® system from The Container Store. This is a must-watch video series for the DIY organizer.

Today, I’m sharing with you, Part One of this series. You’ll see how I turned this cluttered closet into a space perfect for this home owner. Watch out for falling ironing boards, closet organizing is hazardous work! This video is only 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The others are only three to five minutes in length. I encourage you to watch the videos and leave your comments and questions below. I’ll be posting the rest of the series here on DeClutterYou.com soon.

For more information on closet organizing, please check out these two previous posts:

10 Minute Organizing Ideas

Scott Roewer — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:29:31 +0000

Recently I asked friends, professional colleagues, and business owners who follow me on Twitter and Facebook what they would tackle if they had 10 minutes free and felt like organizing. I have enjoyed their responses and perhaps they may inspire you to find 10 free minutes each day to organize.

	Deb Lee of D. Allison Lee Professional Organizers said she’d deal with her mail. “Open the mail and put each individual bill in my bill sorter so that I remember to pay them!”
	Leigh Ann Hubbard is Managing Editor of James Hubbard’s My Family Doctor magazine and suggested she would tackle her bedroom. “Nobody can enter it at the moment, and you have to go through it to get to the bathroom.”
	Shelf Genie Franchise Owner, Allan Young must be using social media frequently, because he needs some online organizing time. “I’d organize my friends on Facebook into categories.”
	Human Resource Professional, Daniel Jason of Richmond, Virginia saves money during his 10 minutes. He said, “I’d organize all my clipped coupons by date so that I can use them before they expire.” Great idea, Daniel.
	Southern California bike enthusiast Buzz Kasprzyk said his desk needs work. “My PC Desk at home and work table! Looks like the post office threw up on it, or like a tornado flew by!” Well, Buzz – you’re not in Kansas anymore. I didn’t know they had tornadoes in Long Beach.
	Professional Organizer and owner of The Clutter Cutter of Wichita, KS, Pam McCutcheon said “My fridge – because my husband does the grocery shopping and I rarely know what is in there!” I agree, gotta keep the family fed!
	Debbie of D & R Custom Organizers and blogger at Virtually Organized responded via Twitter with this comment: “My Middle Schooler’s overstuffed backpack. There’s GOT to be a way to reduce how much she has to carry every day!” (Middle school students in Washington, DC are not allowed to carry backpacks at school.)
	Tom Dow, General Manager of CF Folks, Inc. an awesome catering firm in Washington, DC said “America’s finances…10 minutes would be more than what’s being done now.” If you can solve it in 10 minutes, I say “Dow for President!”
	Kit Grieder of Herndon, VA a book keeper and self described “domestic engineer” said he’d tackle his linen closet’s shelves. “Ten minutes is enough time to pull out the old towels to become garage rags, refold the good ones and put them back neatly.” A neat linen closet is a beautiful thing.
	Kevin Nellis, a Public Health Analyst has some extreme ideas when it comes to organizing. “I’d light a stick of dynamite in my master bedroom closet. It’s a good excuse to renovate and get rid of things at the same time. And I get to buy more clothes.”
	From New Jersey, Geo Jedlicka, an accounting manager turned nursing student said, “I’d probably organize some papers lying around somewhere, whether it be a drawer, or pile. There might be a bill that needs paying.”
	Adriane Williams, a former client of Solutions by Scott who moved to West Virgina to begin a life as a college professor said she’d work on her dining room table. “It’s the drop off point for mail. We have a mail center but it is overrun, so the table is always under siege. I try to pull it together to keep things from getting out of hand just before I walk out the door.”
	Jessica Brigham Food Service Director for Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company must be carrying around a big purse. She said “I’d clean out my bag. So as not to carry things with me that will just get in my way all day.”

Are you inspired? What could you do with 10 minutes? I’d love to hear from you.