The thing I love about “organized” is that it’s (almost) as fabulous as redecorating but far, far cheaper. It makes me feel clean and productive. I find cool things I forgot I had and throw out stupid things I forgot why I had.
The thing I hate about “organized” is that it’s hard to achieve with three kids and a life, despite my heroic efforts and a label maker. Kids can’t read labels. Nor can teenagers, evidently. Plus, I didn't do a great job of it.
Meredith Goforth shares my concerns and has a knack for taming the teeming detritus we cram into closets and desks. She founded PRIM Living (PRIM) to address the messiness in our lives and make the wayward areas of our homes tidy and - confirmed by a perusal of her website - elegant.
When I first asked Meredith to come to my home and transform a drawer full of never-used-but-I-might-need-someday utensils, I suddenly noticed my kitchen though the eyes of a fastidious outsider. Every crack, stained dishtowel, and ugly appliance seemed larger and more offensive than it had appeared moments before. Surely someone as neat as Meredith would scoff! When describing this newfound insecurity to her she quickly explains, “I like things to be in place, but I’m normal! If you came to my home on a Sunday night [after a weekend with her three young boys] I’d have a panic attack.”
Meredith used to be a bookings editor, managing thousands of details for cover shoots and fashion stories. So organizing thousands of things: pantries, playrooms, closets - pretty much anything but personal photographs - comes naturally. Making everything look lovely, well, that’s the great luck of having good taste.
The first step is a consultation. Meredith arrives with a fellow organizer, “We’ll figure out a plan and get a sense of the client’s aesthetic - modern, classic, chic, traditional…” she says. Like everything else, containers and other organizational products come in a myriad of styles.
Next, they come in and remove everything from the targeted problem area. “We go in with a plan, but it’s more like exploratory surgery,” she explains. “We never know what they’ll have.”
Then edits. Even if the client thinks they’ve edited… well, the usually need another one.
Lastly, PRIM does its thing, arranging items by color, style, product. Labeling containers, baskets, or bottles. She figures out “intuitive, designated spot[s]” that “work wonders for maintenance,” even in rooms that kids frequent, and where they’re expected to help clean up.
Once the organizational dust abates, the client is left with everything beautifully in its place, which the client can easily restore when mayhem, once again, ensues.