Elianna C., 

Westchester, NY

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You know the feeling - you love your home, you see its potential, you want to get it in order.. but you don't even know where to start. Or maybe you do but you can't seem to get going. I got in touch with Marla and decided we'd start with the kitchen and the pantry. 

Before she arrived, I had pulled everything out from all the cabinets and the pantry. As I looked at everything, paralyzing overwhelment doesn't even capture it. The little things overwhelm me the most. The emotional things, like cute little bookmarks the kids made. Random pictures and little notes, cards, school stuff, and on and on. I feel I will never get it done. Our dining table and large kitchen island were completely covered with food items, appliances, all our dishes, random stationary, dozens of mugs. Several large bins filled to the brim laid around. Marla arrives. Her upbeat yet calm vibe sets me at ease and I feel a little more hopeful. We start going through things but she senses my stress. She holds my hands and says - we will do this! No doubt. You will love it! We first categorize everything, then calmly look through each thing. One bin at a time, one section a time. 

I love her balanced approach - she won't judge at all if you want to keep an old scraggly thing if it means something to you. She gets it. She might gently encourage letting go, or taking a picture of it, but if you want it, she'll find a place for it.  She will tell you honestly when she thinks something could be replaced. I wanted a shelf removed so our garbage could fit into a cabinet, some cabinet pull-outs she had bought needed to be installed - no problem.  

End result - I could not believe it!  IN LOVE. Counters completely clear. I resisted at first, but even the dishrack was ditched. Pots would just sit there anyway, now we dry and put them away - it's easy to put them away because they have their spots. So easy to clean the kitchen now. Easy to unload the dishwasher because we've rearranged where items go. And we cook much faster because cooking utensils and bowls are where we need them, within reach, instead of buried in my obnoxiously low corner cabinet.  A place for everything and everything in its place. Still! I expected to have places for things after our session.. but to keep this up? I seriously doubted it.  We are 6 at our house.  Months later and the kitchen is still perfect!  Our shiny island with nothing but a bouquet of fresh flowers. The kitchen is where I go to zen out a little and get a shot of peace and joy. Looking at the clean, organized pantry with the bins Marla bought us gives me joy instead of a bad feeling for not having it in shape. Even my mother in law noticed it when she visited over the Holidays. 

And how awesome is it to have a last minute visit and not have to worry? This is our new way and it is not hard because we have amazing help. As a designer, Marla knows how to make things pretty with what you have which is really cool. We've been working steadily now, one room at a time. In between sessions, Marla sends me inspiring ideas. I'm looking forward to getting the new desk she found at IKEA - the beautiful gray/turquoise color will go perfectly with our sunroom. 

Now that we are done with the ground floor, I'm so excited to start upstairs!  After organizing all rooms, we plan on playing around with furniture and possibly replacing some to refresh things. I've been wanting to do this for years. She laughed at the number of organizing books I had. If you are on this site, I bet you have some too. Ditch them! You don't need them, you need Marla.