It’s That Time of Year… Decluttering Season!

It’s that time of year again… decluttering season!!! Starting in January and going hard through the spring, people around the country are feeling the desire to let go of the things that are no longer serving them in order to make room for peace.

While full service decluttering is about a quarter of our business (the other percentage being interior design), it is something that is near and dear to our hearts. We view it as such an honor to be invited into our client’s homes and to work alongside them through the decluttering process. It requires vulnerability, there’s often sweat and dust, its tiring but the result is so worth it! One of our recent decluttering clients wrote: “I was doing my weekly cleaning in the main part of the house for the first time since you finished the space. I just wanted to reach out and say thank you. As I cleaned, I had the feeling I was looking for. Everything had it’s place and I knew what belonged and what didn’t. It eased my mind and calmed my soul.” This is why we do what we do.

Today, we’re sharing a decluttering project that we completed last year out in Lanexa, Virginia for a young family of five. We ended up working on pretty much every room in the client’s home! While we don’t have professional photos of the space, the before and afters are pretty amazing.

• LOCATION: Lanexa, Virginia

• CLIENT: a young family of five, and two large dogs

• SCOPE OF WORK: living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom, kids’ bedroom, attic.

• NUMBER OF SESSIONS: 5 decluttering sessions (3-5 HR each)

For this particular project, we ended up switching around the design and function of some rooms. The old master bedroom became the kids’ bedroom (shown above), the baby’s room became the master bedroom, and the older girls’ bedroom became the “bonus room” (shown further down below).

Being a family of five in a relatively small space, every inch counts! And so, we considered what would be the best - function-wise for the family. The client and I decided that having a set of bunk-beds for the kids’ bedroom would be the best utilization of space. This would leave the living room and family room (or bonus) room upstairs for play space.

Probably one of my favorite decluttering transformations yet! We turned the older girls’ bedroom into a family room - some place that parents and/or kids could enjoy. As you can see, we painted the walls and brought in some new pieces - making it a space that the family could grow into.

We utilized the closet (not shown here) and key pieces of furniture for better storage; and did a bit of styling to make it feel more like the family.

I wish I had a before picture of this attic but basically there was stuff all over. We created a clear pathway down the middle, with storage on either side. On the left, we have the family’s memory boxes and labeled holiday decor. Now, the family knows where everything is and will be able to easily access it.