From The Montreal Gazette – October 18th, 2014
Build In Plenty of Storage Spaces
When designing a new home, elements such as layout, square footage, and décor often take center stage. And while those are foundational components, there are other factors that, if given the proper attention, can help maximize the functionality of any new home. For instance, planning your home’s organization systems and storage space during the design process can have a huge impact on the overall livability of your home once you move in. Just ask Susan Portnoy, who has spent the last 15 years helping people make the most out of their space by creating custom organization and storage systems.
"I think home organization is so important that no monetary value can be placed on it," said Portnoy, founder of Organized Success, a Montreal based company specializing in the field. "To live in a calm, organized environment where you have excellent storage to put things away and don’t have to spend one extra second looking for things is the difference between a calm, enjoyable life and a frenetic existence."
When helping clients plan for a new home, Portnoy’s team of seven organization professionals first start by examining their current belongings to help them downsize for the move, and get rid of any unwanted and unnecessary clutter.
"We spend hours with them figuring out what they really love and want to keep in their new home," Portnoy said. “Then we create spaces and systems to meet their needs in just about every room of the house."
For the master bedroom closet, for example, Portnoy will study the homebuyer’s belongings to measure how much space clients need for long hanging and short hanging items, shoes, purses, belts, ties, folded clothes and so on. Then, working with the company’s closet designer, those measurements are used to create a custom closet that is built to serve the clients’ needs in their new home.
The same principle is used to create adequate storage space in the kitchen.
"We measure appliances that will be housed in cupboards, as well as utensils, trays, serving pieces and basically anything that will be put away in the kitchen," Portnoy said. "The goal is to create suitable drawer and cupboard space to house the client’s stock."
Many people neglect these preparatory steps when designing their new home as they tend to be more concerned about the aesthetic elements of their space, but the team at Organized Success focuses on function.
"I believe in one motion storage," Portnoy said. "That means when I go to get an item that I need out of a cupboard, I don’t want to remove three other items to reach the one I need; that’s how messes are created because the more items you move, the less likely things are to be put back properly."
Another goal of ¬Portnoy’s organization team is to ensure that each room in a home has proper storage for the items that are designed to stay put there.
"I spend a lot of time deciding on an item’s location, where it will live in the new home," Portnoy explained. "I want to avoid my client’s having to run downstairs to get something he or she needs in an upstairs office; the storage and organization should be a logical extension of how the rooms in the home are used."
This is as true for adult space as it is for children’s rooms. When working with kids, Portnoy said it’s important to consider safety and accessibility when designing shelving for memorabilia and storage systems for their toys and clothes.
Portnoy recommends putting toys in labeled bins on shelves, rather than in a toy chest. This serves two purposes—it removes toys from the floor and it teaches children from the earliest age, the skill of organizing.
It is so important that children be able to reach their own clothes and toys and that the closet be totally adjustable so that it can grow with the child.
"Children sleep and work better in a totally organized space," she said. “It creates a feeling of calm that can be reflected in their entire demeanour."
"I also try to make the space fun and functional because after all, it’s a child's room so it should be playful and colourful," Portnoy added. "Even in bathrooms, I like to ensure that the storage is adequate. Like items can be grouped together and labeled, but I’ll also make a point to add a fun wastebasket or hamper."
When embarking on a massive project such as designing and moving into a new home, Portnoy, who taught organizational workshops for 10 years, religiously sticks to her three P’s method: preparation, planning and prevention.
"I advise people to devote lots of time to planning their storage, and preparing their children for the move by making it organized and fun," she said. "People should set up their children’s space first, because when children are happy and busy playing, the adults will be more relaxed."
Lastly, she also advises clients to prevent their new home from being overcrowded with items they simply do not need. That way they’ll be surrounded only by the things they love instead of inundated with clutter.
While the concept may seem foreign to some, professional organizers are more common than you might think.
"When I started Organized Success in 1999, there were 16 Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) and five in Montreal," Portnoy said. "Today POC has 535 members, of which 34 are in Montreal, so the field has really grown."
Moreover, in the U.S., the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) has approximately 4000 members.
"When I worked with clients in 1999, I was often introduced as a tutor or trainer because people were embarrassed to say they had an organizer, but now people are proud of it," Portnoy said. "They love showing visitors the systems they have in place throughout their home, and it’s lovely to see them embracing our work."