Imagine It Done has partnered with California Closets, a custom home storage company and Related, a real estate company offering luxury high end rentals in New York City. What do all three brands have in common? It is one important word, Lifestyle!
We help our clients to achieve a more functional, efficient lifestyle, so the synchronicity was undeniable. Related and California Closets invited myself and my team for a speaker series held at the California Closets Tribeca showroom. In their new beautiful Tribeca showroom, we shared our tips and tricks to living day to day without the stress of clutter, disorganization and how to achieve the ultimate organized closet.
We partnered with our dear friend Michael Toccin from Stylist.to.a.T, of the fabulous husband/wife stylist duo based in NYC to moderate the live Q&A. If you follow them on Instagram, you see that they too personalize in styling their clients. It is not all about fashion, rather It is first and foremost about the client.
Many may not know that California Closets in fact offers their services of installing custom home storage to Related luxury apartments, even in their rental units thus making for a more homey, functional environment. The link between all of our brands is lifestyle. We all strive to make it attainable for anyone to live more sensibly, organized and beautiful. Read below about the topic of discussion during our live panel, The Art of Refining Your Closet, so that you too can learn some closet organization tips.
1. The Art of Personalizing
The first step of any Imagine It Done transformation is to understand what our client does not like in order to understand what they do indeed like. It is reverse psychology!
Imagine It Done works with California Closets to create space reflective of how clothing is hung, how shoes are placed, if their wardrobes are dressy, casual or fussy. California Closets designs closets for function, which includes shoe shelves, angled to fit taller shoes and maximize space, lighting installation within the closet (it is all about the mood), drawer dividers for organization, jewelry drawers, and more! We understand when clients let us into their homes, they are sharing their lives with us. It is not just the design within the space, it is their lifestyle. Therefore, we deliberate to make certain the focus is all about the client and their specific needs, while still offering help with basic closet organization.
2. The Art of Editing
Once we determine your personal style and closet design, it is time to edit and get rid of clutter in your life.
In order to live your best life, you must be organized, because we truly believe that “an organized space is an organized mind is an organized life”. If you leave your apartment not knowing where your items are, or feeling disconnected, it is going to affect your day-to-day. We help our clients remove items that do not belong thus creating more space. We understand this can be daunting for some people in letting go, but it is a must in order to feel cleansed and born again!
Stylist to A T and Imagine It Done both help our clients go through their wardrobe so they can make sensible styling decisions. With Michael, it is all about dressing yourself for NOT who you were or who you want to be, but who you are right now.
In the edit process we recommend that you do not hide your items in shoe boxes and duster bags. Your possessions are meaningful, therefore should be displayed and showcased. Why wait to wear that dress or those Cinderella shoes? They are meant to be used not saved. By storing your items, they are out of sight therefore out of mind. You will forget what you have, therefore shop unnecessarily. We do not believe in excess, rather a functional lifestyle. So display valuables, edit the items you don’t need, donate, consign, toss, store, give away, and keep! We help our clients to donate anything that is no longer of use to them. As a bonus, California Closets has a promotion running until October 31st with the charity Big Brothers and Big Sisters. When you donate your new or gently used clothing, you receive $100 off.
3. The Art of Categorizing
For clothing and seasonal clothing in your closet, we prefer to organize by item rather than by season. Tops and shoes for example are multi seasonal. It is important to start editing and transitioning your closet before the season begins so you are not overwhelmed. This is when Imagine It Done comes to the rescue to organize your space and edits to keep, toss, donate, consign, store and or give away.
4. The Art of Containing
Containing your items will always give you peace of mind.
How something is contained varies on what it is, how often you wear or use it, and how much space you have for the container. Containers are available for everyone’s budget. Our favorite place in the home to begin reviewing items to contain is the master bedroom closet. Closet organization is always the area that starts you on your Imagine It Done journey and gives you the motivation to not stop till you drop.
Our favorite accessories you need to effect the ultimate closet organization are: bins, hangers, hooks, drawer inserts, belt and tie racks, acrylic drawers and zippered air tight bags.
Before we leave our clients’ homes, when the project is complete, our work is still not done. We review with the client what, where, how, when and why the stuff is where it is. We review everything that has been organized, removed, added, tossed, stored, We make sure that our clients are present throughout the entire process in order to learn the tricks of the trade so they can maintain this new lifestyle and avoid going back to their old habits. They should ask questions, participate in the physical organization in order to realistically process the new methods.
The anticipation is worse than the event of organizing, The first step is to get started. Baby steps are better than no steps! You will quickly see how change is oh so good! And you too will be Imagining it Done!
Thank you to Related and California Closets for hosting us, and the incredible brands that made this event come to life: Stylist to a T, Be Mixed, Food Trends Catering, Deep Eddy Vodka, and Saks Fifth Avenue. And thank you all of our followers for coming back for more tips, we love helping you Imagine It Done.
Interested in decluttering and organizing your closet? Check out our closet organization favorites.