Ep. 136: organizing expert Clara Schoen

Luxury home organizing expert Clara Schoen joins the show, to talk about what it takes to be a professional organizing expert, and gives her advice on how we can best use this time to get our home tidy and streamlined. Clara also talks about how we can get our family excited and onboard for organizing, how to get through the sentimental part of throwing things away, and what products she finds the most helpful as an organization investment.

What You’ll Hear On This Episode

• How one gets into the organizing space in the first place, and how it’s different than organizing for yourself.
• Why labeling things really does help you save time, and how to get your family onboard (and maybe even excited?!) about labeling.
• What organization products Clara feels is worth the investment, and where we can save money.
• Clara’s advice on organizing things that can create clutter such as junk drawer items, extra pens, and chords.
• Organizing can be an emotional or sentimental practice, so how to feel better about ditching things you really won’t use.
• How to get things looking clean and uniform, and where we spend small amounts of money to have everything looking streamlined.
• How Clara folds clothes, and tips for getting our closets under control and storing handbags.
• Great ways to organize sentimental items that the kids create, and why it’s okay to not keep everything they bring home from school.
• How we store and file away our important papers, so that they are easy to find and clearly labeled.
• Great tip: stores will load paint for you in your car, so you don’t even have to go in the store!

Mentioned In This Episode:

The Home Organized

@thehomeorganized_

Ballard Desk Organizers

Decorating Dilemma:

It’s all about thinking big! A 36 inch round skirted table that fits your own vibe with a big round ceramic lamp would look great. Feel free to buy larger things, like big artwork, as you have a good amount of space to fill. This will add height and presence to the room. We also bet your friend Taryn may paint something for you, if you ask nicely! Some modular seating that flow around the room could work to add more seating, and you do have the space for it.

The color of the headboard depends on how much light comes in the room, and how much you want to create a little cocoon feeling in the room. We like a color called Urbane Bronze, so check it out and see if it would work for you. Also, deep purple or green would go great. Think about getting bigger lamps, with something big and exaggerated with drama and pizazz.