By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
Photographs courtesy The Valle Group
Accumulating stuff can be fun. Finding a place to put it all? Well, that’s an entirely different story.
This is where a professional organizer like Mashpee’s Maryann Murphy can come in handy. Her job is to remove the excess clutter in your life. Or, if you prefer, she can help you manage how best to store that clutter so it becomes less of a hassle in your life. “I think it’s a tremendous relief for people to get rid of the clutter that’s holding them back,” she said. “Being able to let go of clutter allows them to let go of the past and embrace the future.”
The first step in her process is to sit down with clients to determine what they want to keep and what they are willing to throw out. Depending on the individual, she said, it may involve going through a closet, a room or an entire home.
Her individual sessions last three hours, enough time to “usually do one room,” she said. That may be all a person needs to better organize a home, Ms. Murphy said, or it may require multiple sessions with additional tasks she assigns in between to help expedite the work.
While many tend to think they can do this work themselves, Ms. Murphy said, a specialist like herself can serve as an invaluable resource, as she attends conferences and keeps up to date on the latest strategies that can assist people in what to do with the belongings they have collected over the years.
Removing excess clutter, Ms. Murphy said, can serve as a time saver when cleaning, can help people avoid potential injury from tripping over their belongings and can serve to reduce anxiety from lingering worries about where to store it all.
Storage Options Abound
Once you’ve removed some of the clutter, the next step is to find a place to put the belongings you decided to keep.
Companies like Clear Space Garage & Closet Storage Solutions in Sagamore are focused on getting the most out of the spaces intended to hold those possessions that you prefer remain out of sight.
Lance and Cindy Lamborghini started the company in 2012 somewhat out of necessity; they were straightening out their own garage and found a powder-coated cabinet made by RedLine Garagegear they wanted to use in their own home. There was only one problem: they could not find a local retailer that sold the cabinets. So the couple turned that obstacle into an opportunity, launching their own business that allowed them to sell and install the product—Mr. Lamborghini is a licensed contractor—for customers throughout southeastern Massachusetts as well as Cape Cod.
“I haven’t had one single job that was boring,” Ms. Lamborghini said, highlighting the creativity that can go into designing these spaces for their customers.
Like the name of their company implies, the couple specialize in garages and closets, making use “of every available bit of space,” in either room, Ms. Lamborghini said. “When we get done with it, customers usually have twice the amount of storage.”
Popular among their clientele, she said, is a grid wall which can be put behind a door or on a wall to hang purses, belts, ties, hats and more. Custom-made cabinets only add to the options available to customers looking for a place to store their belongings.
Having redone their own garage and closet has made the Lamborghinis realize how much of a difference storage can bring to one’s home. “It is huge because you can put your finger on everything and know where it is,” Ms. Lamborghini said, noting that she initially delayed doing her own closet until allowing her husband do a test run on theirs before he moved on to actual customers. “I’m kicking myself for waiting. There is no more shoving things around or yanking something off a shelf and having everything come tumbling down. It’s a real load off my mind.”
More Than Closets
In recent years, storage has expanded well beyond closets and into other areas of the home. Joseph Valle, CEO of The Valle Group, a homebuilding company in East Falmouth, said mudrooms have become a popular option for homeowners looking to find new, creative ways to put away their belongings.
Mudrooms can be designed to have built-in seats to store boots and sneakers, closets for clothes and cabinets and shelves for portable electronics. “Really, the whole mudroom has gotten much, much grander, and architects are focusing on being able to provide this kind of storage here,” Mr. Valle said.
Garages are another room where a small amount of additional space can offer homeowners the opportunity to put in storage cabinets and bike racks at a relatively low cost. “Space is not expensive and there can be a lot of activity in garages,” Mr. Valle said.
Those looking to redesign kitchens tend to install caddies where they can temporarily store such items as toasters, blenders and other small appliances that may not be used every day.
And closets are much more sophisticated than they used to be, he said, giving people multiple options for the way they want to lay out those spaces by using shelves and racks in multiple configurations. “They are designed to accommodate a lot more stuff,” he said.
Once you have the space you need, Ms. Murphy stressed the importance of keeping it organized. Consistency is a key component and can be achieved by using the same
types of storage bins and keeping associated items together. Finally, she said, labeling those bins will make a huge difference in not only finding items, but knowing where to put them away.