You decided to host the big holiday gathering. Now you’ve come to your senses and the reality of this big-time commitment is slapping you in the face! You’re saying to yourself, “Oh crap (OK – you’re using some ‘choice’ swear words, but this is a family-friendly blog, so I cleaned it up) my house is a cluttered disaster!”

Your mind wanders to the ‘state’ of your guest bedroom, your pantry and your mudroom entryway (areas your guests will…

After you dropped Jack off to start his freshman year at Ohio State it finally hits you. Unless his older brother Jim or sister Stephanie ‘boomerang’ back you’re finally an empty nester. And since Stephanie is due in a few short months, living in Chicago, and game fully employed (Thank God) the boomeranging child effect is unlikely to happen – at least with her.   

Somehow you thought being transformed into an empty nester would feel more…

It’s fun scrolling through Pinterest looking at glamour closets of stars like Khloe Kardashian. How cool would it be to have a room dedicated to your shoe, purse or jewelry collection (even if you’re jewelry is more costume than real)? 

While you may dream of such luxuries, you have waaaaay too many practical needs to deal with first.

Your son is demanding a new bookbag. Your daughter wants to buy a hot new prom dress she saw at the mall. “It’s…

Has your first (and hopefully last) worldwide pandemic made you want to S-C-R-E-A-M at your home because it’s sooooo disorganized? Is your frustration boiling over? Can you relate to the following?

• You ‘attempted’ to manage those Zoom calls for work from your make-shift home office (AKA your kitchen table). Your dog was barking and your ‘little angels’ (AKA your kids) were fighting in the background. Not exactly the professional image…

Your walk-in pantry looked soooo nice BEFORE you moved into your home.

There were so many more shelves than your last place. You wondered, am I ever going to fill these shelves up?

And then life happened.

You had 2 beautiful kiddos (OK, at least they’re beautiful when they’re not fighting like cats and dogs as your Mom used to say). You swear they’re hooked on every surgery cereal and snack food known to boy or girl.  

Your pantry started getting…

I’ll admit right up front I have no stock in Ikea and (crazy as it may seem) I don’t like they’re Swedish meatballs (although I do LOVE their crispy oatmeal chocolate cookies!).

And I’ll even admit on a few occasions my custom closet design and installation company has lost sales to our Columbus Ohio Ikea mega-store (and I’ll even share an example in this article why Ikea made more sense than buying from my business – bummer).

And while there…