The blog has been overtaken with estate sale previews over the last 8 weeks and I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. We are still organizing over here! Today I wanted to share a project that we worked on last week with one of the teens from the National Charity League. Last November I spoke to her local chapter about my home organization business and the 6 steps I follow at each session. At the end I gave away a 4 hour bedroom organizing session and she was the winner.
Working with kids, especially teenage girls is one of my favorite organizing projects to work on. It is such a great opportunity to help them transform their rooms and teach them valuable organizing skills that they can use for the rest of their lives!
We started the session with a quick consultation to learn more about Lauren’s organizing habits, lifestyle, and the pros and cons of her room setup. She mentioned right away that her closet wasn’t working for her and after I opened the door I knew why. She had a great custom system but it wasn’t being utilized for her current needs. She has grown into such a wonderful young lady and her closet was full of clothes that didn’t fit anymore, books that she had outgrown, and misc. clutter that just didn’t belong. My goal for the session was to help her closet grow up and match her age and sophistication.
We followed the 6 step organizing process that I spoke about at her National Charity League meeting. Once we identified the project and the goals we started pulling everything out of the space and sorting it into piles. All of the clothes were sorted on the bed, shoes and bags on the floor, school and craft supplies in the hallway.
The empty closet, what a beautiful sight! Originally I wanted to swap the middle shelves with the hanging bars on the left but the sections weren’t the same width. We came up with a plan for storage once everything was purged.
Speaking of purging, here is the pile that Lauren was able to let go of! Typically I bag it up as we go but for this project I wanted her to be able to see the volume she was able to live without. In the end we carted off 4 garbage bags of goodies for charity, what a great feeling!
I wanted her closet to look like a boutique so she would be motivated to maintain it. She is an athlete so with a very busy schedule. For school she dresses pretty casual but she has a nice collection of dresses for fancy occasions (most of which she has made). We set up a shoe gallery in the middle shelves, pretty snazzy for a 15-year-old!
The right side of her closet was dedicated to memorabilia, fabric for sewing, craft supplies, school supplies, and travel bags. I think creating zones like this also helps encourage maintenance. Everything has a home so it is easy to find.
I even labeled the shelves to remind her put things back where they belong. She is a pretty neat kid so I don’t think she’ll have any problems but her busy schedule might encourage her to get lazy about putting things away. It happens to all of us!
Another side-by-side look, what a difference!
Working on this project reminded me of helping my sister reorganize her closet when we were kids. I swear I have been in business since I was 8! There is nothing like a fresh start and this closet sure looks great!
Lauren is a talented seamstress and made most of the dresses that you see on the top left. I’m so jealous, I wish I could sew!
Before this session Lauren didn’t hang much up. Most of her clothing was folded and hard to find. We decided to hang her coats (that previously lived in a pile on her desk chair), sweaters, dresses and nicer tops. I had velvet hangers with me, gotta love how nice they look! So mature and sophisticated!
Lauren’s mom came home just in time for the reveal! She couldn’t believe her eyes and wanted to get a picture of Lauren and I together with the closet, so fun!
This is the review that her mom put on the Kuzak’s Closet Facebook page…
“Amanda & Taylor helped my 15-year-old daughter to organize her room. She sews, has two machines, lots of school stuff, is a clothes hound and plays lacrosse. Lots of interests and a lot of disorganized stuff. Kuzak’s Closets taught her how to go through her belongings, purge unwanted items that are being donated, recycled or thrown away. Then they taught her how to put things away in a manner that will keep them organized and make her life more efficient and pleasant. It is beautiful. What a great lesson for a teen. I only wish i had been home to witness the whole process, but I am having my turn soon as they are now coming back to do the same with a lifetime of accumulated mess in our garage. Thanks for such a rewarding experience. Highly recommend!”
How nice is that? Speaking to the girls at the NCL and working on this project was go great and reminded me of why I do what I do.
1,478 Responses
You are such an inspiration! I have the same thought when working with teenagers and 20-somethings…they have their entire lifetime to use what they’ve learned! I’m sure the day with you and Taylor was a lot more fun that Lauren might have ever dreamed!
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