It’s not often that I see an approach to organizing that is totally novel, but it happened when I worked in LA last fall. I helped a client organize a home office that was adjacent to her master bedroom.  As I was frittering away with supplies in the office, she was slowly covering her bed and bedroom floor in at least a dozen piles of paper, each no more than a couple inches thick.

Creatives, especially artists, get a bad rap for not being organized.  I know one though who is quite organized now that we’ve worked together, and was fairly organized before we met. She’s also an art teacher who is in a relatively new position.  With that new role, she reached a critical mass of teaching materials for school, teaching materials for various other classes, and her own work over the years.

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!”