Live Q&As

If there is no clear visual break, I think I would keep the hallways a consistant color throughout the house. Both colors you are considering are fairly neutral, so sounds like either one would work. 

Hi! I recommend spending at least 30 minutes each day on getting organized. Whether it's putting stuff away or working on an organizing project, 30 minutes is a good amount of time to dedicate to decluttering. I consistently do this each day so I don't have to spend my whole Saturday "cleaning up." If you do this, use a timer! My favorite timer is Time Timer (www.timetimer.com)

Alejandra has a YouTube video about all of her favorite organizational dollar store finds. She linked it above.

Hi! These are the exact closet dividers I use (and showed on HGTV) --> Store Supply Warehouse. They are $.34! When was the last time you saw an organizing product for $.34?! Enjoy!

I don't' have access to my paint books because I'm at the Design House, but if you write in again next week, I'll try and get to your question then. Thanks.

Has anything major happened in your life? A lot of times "big things" happen in our lives that affect other things in our lives aka physical clutter. For example: getting married, divorce, new baby, illness, going off to college, new home, relocation, new job (stress), etc could all be reasons for the change in habits.

There are so many things that go into picking the best paint color that it's difficult to say without seeing your space in person.  That said, if you're looking for a nice white, Benjamin Moore's White Dove is always a safe choice; it's a soft and warm white with a bit of gray.

Are you using the space underneath the beds? That's prime storage real estate that many people don't maximize. Many retailers, such as Container Store, Pottery Barn, Target and Ikea, sell underbed storage bins, some with casters to make accessing the contents even easier.

Hi! Is the problem with the abundance of shoes and nowhere to put them OR is it getting your family to put their shoes away in the right spot? I've worked with tons of moms and usually the problem is around putting shoes away. My best advice is to make your "shoe system" as EASY as possible. If you're using a big shoe bin, avoid lids. Lids are bottle necks and shoes will never make it inside if a lid has to be removed to put them away. If the problem is around "too many shoes," have you considered down-sizing? Less really is more.

How about using bins in the back of the shelves to store out-of-season items (keeping in season items in front)? You could also get shelf dividers to help keep your folding clothes from toppling over.

YES!!! A lot of times the "physical stuff" is a result of what's going on internally. My best advice is to look within yourself first, identify what's really going on, THEN once you fully understand the root of issue, tackle the physical stuff. If you tackle just the physical stuff without getting to the root cause, you will without a doubt slip back to your old ways. No question about it.

You could always do touch-ups with paint. If you're using flat paint, you won't be able to see where you've done touch-ups.

This is a common problem! How often do you do laundry? I suggest doing one load per day instead of trying to tackle ALL of it at once and overwhelming yourself (for example- saving Saturday as laundry day). When you do one load per day, make sure you finish it completely meaning washed, dryed, folded AND putting it away. Most of the time people get stuck when it comes to the folding and putting it away (I don't like doing it either!). However, it's more manageable if it's a smaller load :)

This was/is my exact problem, and why I called Alejandra for advice. Some of the best ideas I got from our meeting include: using painter's tape to mark off small sections around the room, decluttering one by one; being ruthless when deciding if I really need to keep something and deciding yes or no (no maybes!). 

Hi! I suggest using over-the-door shoe pockets for containing art supplies for the kiddos. Anything that needs to be out-of-reach (paint, scissors, play-doh) store  in the top pockets and anything that needs to be accesible, store in the bottom pockets. I LOVE door pockets because they maximize vertical space (space is limited in my house too) and they are super easy to keep organized. My favorite door pockets are made by Simply Stashed (click link above) --they have cute colors and various sizes :)

You could post them on Freecycle. I'm sure someone would love to take them off your hands.

Are you installing wall-to-wall carpeting or area rugs? If it's wall-to-wall, then you dont need to apply any finish on the floors.

Maybe you could just add a quick dusting of the shelving into your morning routine, that way the dust wont ever have a chance to build-up.

The million dollar question that everybody asks- how to organize your spouse! It's hard to answer this one over chat because I have a lot of suggestions, however, here is something to think about: It's all about having the correct systems in place. However, it isn't always easy to setup the correct systems. Why? Because what works for one person doesn't always work for another person. For example, you might have a system for organizing your mail and while it works for YOU because it suites your "organizing personality," it might not work for your spouse because it wasn't setup around his "organizing personality." And when an organizing system doesn't suite our personalities, we are less likely to use it and follow it (aka leave things on counters, floors, etc).  Does that make sense? My suggestion is to find out what your spouse's organizing style/personality is and then design systems around that. Again, it's all in the systems (the correct systems).

If you go to Alejandra's Web site and watch the video with her home tour, you'll see she uses clear containers to store dry goods in her kitchen.  I think she gets her containers from the Container Store, but watch the video for more info here.

First off, don't quit. If you continue, you will see results eventually but you can't quit. I know its easier said than done but hang in there. Usually when we are going through a break-down, a break-through is around the corner. 

Have you written everything down that needs to be done? A lot of times we have this long list of stuff to tackle and we keep it inside our head (imagine a hamster running on a wheel). Getting it down on paper is the first step. Once you have your long list of stuff written down (btw- don't let a long list of stuff stress you out- focus on one thing at a time), you have to prioritize. Start with the project that is time-sensitive, absolutely needs to get done OR is bothering you the most. Don't start another project until the first project is 100% complete. When you start multiple projects at once, it's a recipe for disaster because it causes stress from being overwhelmed. The key is one project at a time broken down into small managable tasks. You can do it! :)

Check out the Web site of local professional organizer Kacy Paide The Inspired Office, for lots of useful tips.

Moving is the best time to get organized! My best suggestion is to down-size/purge/etc BEFORE you begin packing and moving. You will save yourself time and money since you won't be moving "extra uneeded stuff." Plus, if you are using a moving company, most of them charge by weight. The less stuff you have, the lower the costs :)

Hi Katie! My favorite spot to organize is the pantry :) Before you begin, ask yourself what types of food do you always buy. Design your pantry around that. For example, we always have lots of snacks in the house, so we have a large snack bin. We never eat cereal so we didn't reserve a "breakfast shelf." Understand what your habits are then design your space. Regarding making the space beautiful: Yes, add paint! Or you could line the back wall with adhesive shelf liner which can be found at Target or Home Depot :)