October 2009

South Jersey / Volume V, Issue III /
www.suburbanhomegarden.com

Closet City's designer, Janet Stevenson is one of several area organization specialists and space planning designers that were quoted in the October issue of Suburban Home and Garden Resource Guide.

The new trend in organization is to create a command central in the home for the family to both keep organized and communicate with each other.

Following are extracts from the article including quotes from our professional organization & and space planning designer, Janet Stevenson.

Extract from the Article

"Command Central "

Conquer your clutter with a well-organized communications center for the whole family.

There is a place for everything, the old saying goes. When there isn’t, “everything” usually winds up tossed on the kitchen countertop. That’s where “the pile” starts to form. It could be a few bills, the day’s junk mail, a party invitation or two, or a permission slip for the school field trip. It all quickly accumulates into a mess.

Area designers, however, can offer an easy solution. It’s called the “command center”—a single place in the home that serves as communications central. Not only can a command center keep the entire family organized, but it can also help household members know what everyone else is doing at any given time, what they need and where they need to be.

THE “BOARD” ROOM
It all starts with a cork board. The cork board, designers say, is a must in any command center. “We design and build some sort of tack strip or cork board area into every home office or kitchen station,” says Janet Stevenson, a designer with Closet City in Montgomeryville, PA. “A framed, fabric-covered board makes a very pretty display for all of those invitations, schedules and calendars.”

From there, the direction the space takes depends on what the family’s needs are. Some homeowners may want to include a computer station. Others may want to designate a space for scrapbooking or crafting or even toys.

“Many home offices or craft rooms are designed and built around the whole family using that area,” Stevenson says. “The mom might want an area for sewing or crafting, but she still wants to have a space for her kids to work on the computer or do homework under her supervision.”

PILES AWAY
Once you’ve established a command center, you need to deal with the rest of the mess that’s accumulated. The aforementioned “pile” is a common problem, designers say, and one that can easily be tackled with a little discipline and simple organization.

“What I suggest in each case is dependent on that person’s habits,” says Stevenson. “If a client tends to pile papers on the desk or a shelf and admits that she is not a good filer, I suggest we give her a tower of small drawers, with each drawer designated for one of her piles.”

The key to making a system like that work over time, Stevenson says, is to be diligent about putting papers away in the designated drawers: Bills go in one drawer, the catalogs with the really great gift ideas in another. Still another drawer can hold important school papers for the children. Once those drawers get filled, Stevenson says, it’s time to file.

FILE UNDER "ORGANIZED"
Intricate filing systems that look good on paper are useless if the homeowner won’t keep up with filing things in labeled folders and cabinets. A professional designer can work with homeowners to create spaces that best serve their needs. Many include cabinetry designed with a customer's feedback in mind, unique storage solutions that can instantly double or triple your storage space.

To contact Janet Stevenson, or one of Closet City’s experienced staff members to find out how they can help you streamline your life with an organized space, call (800) 342-0070. Closet City is located at 619 Bethlehem Pike in Montgomeryville, PA.