The Fall 2019 BHG One Room Challenge Week 4

The Magic of Tidying Up Before The Renovation

One Room Challenge Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5| Week 6

This week was the hardest one of the BHG one room challenge. Heading into week 4 we fell behind. It was especially disconcerting after such a strong start with week 3, the one where we focused on adding elements of feng shui into the design plan for my son’s room.

All of the furniture arrived and has been assembled. However, we did run into a couple of snags where there were some missing pieces. Heading into week 5, I have much work to do. I’m not even sure I’ll get it all done. To help move things along in preparation for photos, we focused on helping my son use the KonMarie method in his room. It took most of the week to do so. The results, however, came out astonishingly well.

If you haven’t heard of the KonMari method, then you’ve probably been hibernating under a rock. Just kidding. Seriously though, most people either love or hate the method. To give you a brief overview of Marie Kondo’s style, I would say that it involves breaking up with your stuff. As in, telling your things goodbye in a manner that’s similar to breaking up with a spouse.

Every designer knows that in order for a plan to come together, the space to be renovated must be clean and organized. This was a long time in the making for my son. He’d held on to several years worth of clothing and toys and games and action figures. If there was a boy’s toy to be had then he most definitely owned it.

I wouldn’t recommend the Marie Kondo method for every client. I thought it worked well for my household. It took a little longer then we planned. I read an article by one blogger who was totally against the method. Basically she thought it was unrealistic because the Japanese believe in minimalism and therefore have less stuff. While we here in the United States watch shows devoted to us hoarders.

I could understand that blogger’s viewpoint. Yet my closets were not going to organize themselves. I had tried many methods in the past and read several books and bloggerly advice designed to help hoarders like myself. No success. No luck. Enter Marie Kondo and 6 months later my room has been totally KonMari’d.

I was happy to move on to my son’s closets. What began as looking like a maelstrom had taken place in the space wound up transforming into this organized delight.

Pretty big difference right? One fab thing I noticed about the room was that the extra space we had designed into the plan had worked. This new open area gives us room to finish the last few projects. And believe me when I tell you that those plans are pretty darn ambitious.

Here are my 3 main takeaways on organizing a space using a method such as the Marie Kondo one:

Number one… Don’t try to be a super organizer. You will get overwhelmed if you try to imitate the timeframe and process they use in the Marie Kondo Netflix show. Take your time. The house isn’t going anywhere and neither is the stuff.

Number two… Stick to Marie’s recommended plan and tackle one junk category at a time. The first time I tried this method, I was convinced that tackling one full room at a time was the best way. Wrong! Overwhelm found me pretty darn quickly. Don’t do this. Tackle one category at a time. An exception would be where time was of the essence or most of the house had already been KonMari’d as in our case.

Number three… Only keep the things that you are going to use. I cannot stress the importance of this tip. I found myself saying: “ I might use this at some point again.” Nope. Those things are now in the second batch of items to be donated.

Keep these three tips in mind you will be successful with the Marie Kondo method.

Week 5 promises to be the best one yet. Even though I’m behind schedule, I can still both feel and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We’re down to the last two weeks of the challenge.

Will we make our deadline?

Tell us about your decluttering method.

Would you recommend the Marie Kondo style of decluttering to your clients?

Sound off in the comments below and don’t forget to stop by the official BHG One Room Challenge website to take a look at the other participants’ spaces.