Project Profile: Type A in Andover

This family in Andover was not our typical client – they are self described "type A" people and their home was very organized, even by our high standards. There were no piles of paper, cluttered countertops, or stacked up packages by the door. They had things pretty well handled on their own, but knew that it could be better (and more easily maintained). Our team was initially hired to tackle their basement storage space, but we saw a lot of opportunity on every floor. We knew from our first session that we would be doing closet makeovers all throughout the house. They were great clients for lots of reasons, but they made our lives easy by making quick decisions and doing all of their homework - plus extra credit!

A lot of our work in this home was adjusting what was stored where. When a family moves into a home, things tend to stay where they first land even if those placements are not functional long-term. You will see in the photos below that many items stayed in the home, but moved location and storage solution. I will highlight some of our favorite shifts!

I love starting in a basement storage space because it so often becomes a dumping ground. If we address the low-hanging fruit first, it helps ease our clients into the challenging process of sorting and purging their belongings. Organizing "bottom up" means that the spaces that are generally the most difficult for clients to go through (closets, memorabilia) will generally be reviewed after they have had lots of practice. This also makes our organizing process easier throughout the house – as we sort and purge, any "keep" items that don't immediately have homes can be moved into the basement storage. This will require returning to that space at the end of the project to reassess the storage but it makes it much easier to create tidy spaces throughout the house while these final homes are still being determined.

Basement Storage

The basement storage room is not our usual super polished after photo - we did not purchase any product for this space. We were able to reuse bins and shelving that were in use throughout the house! This storage room is now much more clearly categorized and labeled to make it as functional as possible for this family.

This storage closet was the perfect space for storing out of season sportswear but it was not laid out efficiently. You will see many more of these simple wire shelves from the before photos – the house was full of them. They can be functional at a basic level, but they are not adjustable and have very little flexibility for adding additional storage components. We were thrilled to be able to upgrade to Elfa in this space – we added significantly more shelving as well as drawers and gliding shoe shelves to make use of every inch. Everything has a place to make seasonal switchovers easy. Now this family can spend more time doing these activities instead of digging through piles of supplies!

Kid’s Craft & Study Space

We were so excited to re-think desk space for the growing twin boys in this household. They were getting too big for their craft table and reading nook, so we proposed shifting things around a little and making a double desk for them to share! Elfa’s flexibility really shines in cases like this – as the kids grow, the shelving is very easily adjustable. This family will be able to use this system for years and make adjustments as needed.

We were also able to sort and purge their toy closet to make it more functional for the whole family too.

Garage Storage

If you’ve been around for awhile, you know how much we love to work on garages! This one looks even more beautiful in the after photos because our handywoman, Mariana, gave the whole space a fresh coat of paint. Two full walls of Elfa, plus some utility hooks, made this garage much more spatially efficient and visually pleasing.

First Floor Drop Zones

These two closets were begging to be Elfa’d! Neither were designed in a way that was functional for this family. We were so happy to get to create a bunch of additional storage with door racks and lots of shelving. We also reallocated some items from the coat closet into this new cleaning closet to make more space for coats, accessories, and shoes.

Second Floor Closets

Much like our first floor closets, these wire systems just were not serving the needs of this family. The twin’s closet was maximized by taking advantage of the vertical space and installing some drawers. These shelves will easily be able to be adjusted as they grow!

While we did a lot of purging, the biggest change on this floor was shifting clothing and linens around between these closets and the primary closet. The guest closet used to hold overflow long hanging items from the primary, but lots of things were forgotten in there and it didn’t have much space for guests! We created dedicated empty hanging space for guests to use, and organized the rest of the closets to store seasonal linens. Each of those beige cloth bins holds a category of linens - this will make it super easy for this family to do seasonal switchovers.

Primary Closet

This was the space that our clients were most excited to transform! They saw the potential for additional vertical storage and decided to elevate this closet beyond the Elfa systems that we installed throughout the rest of the house. We designed this closet with California Closets, so they were able to customize the finishes and hardware to get the exact look they wanted.

Despite its modest beginnings, this ended up being a pretty big project for this family and for our team! We were so happy to create so much more space for them and to create systems that will be easy to maintain and adjust as their lives change.