DC real estate agent Dina Paxenos called me first in 2013 to organize her home office in the Petworth neighborhood.  Compared to many of my projects, Dina’s office didn’t look “that bad,” but she felt cluttered and wanted a clean slate.

Without labels, miscellany will surely creep in, rendering the most elegant of containers clutter catch-alls. But, we don’t always want big tacky labels turning our spaces into kindergarten rooms. This is why I often cut little custom labels to place on the top edge of a drawer.

In January I revisited a realtor client of mine who I see once per year to retouch her files for the new year.  Together we have created so many folders over the years.  When we came across this one, she said, “That is my favorite folder we’ve made!” 

Would this office make you smile?  Probably not.  That’s why you are great at what you do and I am great at what I do.  My new client, Chef Tony Marciante of Chef Tony's in Bethesda, MD captured me beaming amidst his project at hand this week.

It’s not so much prospective clients who ask me this, but often when I explain what I do for a living to someone, they ask:

"But do people really stay organized after you're gone?” 

My honest answer is always along the lines of:

This could not be a more typical scene out of my workday.  I’ve spent countless hours of my adult life standing in this exact scene, and oddly never tire of it.  In this case, the mail had made its way upstairs to her home office over the course of weeks.  We chose to bring it back downstairs because her large kitchen island was an easier sorting station.