Fun Fact: I am not organized. True story. It only APPEARS that I am organized. When in reality, you open any one drawer in our house and you will find a hot mess inside. I am 100% Monica from friends - anyone else?

So, I have always referred to myself as an “organizational enthusiast”. Meaning, I am very, very enthused about organizing, but fail to actually implement organizational techniques to make our household and my office run smoothly on a daily basis.

Turns out, I am big on ideas, but short on time! So I would need about a full YEAR off from work to actually organize our home. Not gonna happen. Instead, I’m taking the house by storm, little bits and pieces at a time. It’s not gonna be pretty, but with the new year, I’m really feeling the “out with the old”. I really want to cleanse our house of all the crapola - toys, shoes no one wears, books no one reads, blah blah blah. However, it sounds so overwhelming and daunting. I’ve been tempted to hire a professional organizer - I think it is money well spent if you can swing it.

In the meantime, I’d love to start with the office - home to LS Interiors Headquarters. Us designers can be a little bit hoarder-ish in our offices! I’m generalizing, but we tend to be very visual and tactile, meaning that we need our SAMPLES and papers, etc. in order to work. It’s true - the most daunting task of keeping up an interior design office -whether it be a huge firm or a home office - is the maintenance of the sample library. Hiding in all of my baskets are fabric samples, paint samples, stone and tile samples, carpet samples, the list goes on! It’s virtually impossible to design without these and I’m constantly referring back to them.

And don’t even get me started on the catalogs! Catalogs, catalogs, catalogs. I literally receive every mailed catalog known to man, from the most obscure randoms to The Sharper Image to Restoration Hardware Baby and Child, etc. etc. They come faster than I can look at them, but I can’t bear to throw them out because I’m afraid I’ll miss something good! So they quickly pile up in a huge basket in the office. It would be a dream/goal to dig into those, tear out my favorites and pin them to pinterest, but I need me an intern for that! (Anyone looking? We’re hiring!)

I’m really not big on New Year’s resolutions. I believe that they’re just a set up for failure and disappointment in oneself. So I’m not calling this a resolution, but instead a goal to become more organized in 2019. I’ll be attempting the office small chunks at a time, and will keep you posted on the progress. Also keep me posted on yours, and if you have any thoughts or advice, please free free to send them my way!

By the way - the pics in this blog here are all staged for instagram, so they only look neat and organized. Again - Monica Closet. Take one look inside these baskets and you’ll be wowed at the atrocity of their disorganized contents. Hah! What I need are some true systems that work both organizationally and aesthetically. What those are yet, I do NOT know, but as soon as I figure it out, I’ll share!

For some inspo, I’ll leave you with a round up of some beautifully styled (and seemingly organized) offices to nerd out on. Enjoy!

~L.S.