Preparing Your House for Sale!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — September 1, 2017
You only have one chance to make a good first impression and this is especially true when selling your house!
Blog: A Diva's Point of View
Organize... BEFORE you move!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — August 1, 2017So you've decided to move and you're ready to take steps to simplify your stuff!
Life Without a Basement
by Gerine de Jong, Toronto Southwest — July 15, 2017Never in my life had I seen a basement work so hard for a home-owner. It sported a pool table, a wall unit, comfy sofa and chairs, half a dozen garment racks filled with half a dozen decades of favoured garments, a wine cellar, a tool room, an office, a pantry, overflow storage for shoes, grandmother's dishes, paper files, office supplies, photo albums, family archives, supplies to do with entertaining, gardening, gift-wrapping, flower-arranging, photo-framing, and of course, seasonal decorations.Life Without a Mantel
by Gerine de Jong, Toronto Southwest — June 14, 2017The house I used to live in had a modest basement fireplace, complete with electrical outlet, to power some kind of small electric heater, long gone. The wood mantel was designed in the 1920's, one of my favourite design eras, and was easily detached from the wall, painted and re-purposed in an upstairs bedroom, as a headboard.Spring Clear, Start Today!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — March 24, 2017English textile designer and writer, William Morris had it right… “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”.
Letting Go - Furniture Bank helps you downsize
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — February 22, 2017Guest blog by Dan Kershaw, Executive Director, Furniture Bank
Navigating major life changes can be exciting, but more often than not, stressful also.
Holiday Decoration Storage - Eight Tips that Work!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — December 23, 2016Do you enjoy decorating your home for the holidays?
If you love setting out holiday decorations but hate putting them away, check out our EIGHT tips for creating a holiday storage system that works:
Less Can Be More
by Gerine de Jong, Toronto Southwest — December 22, 2016One of the best moments of any downsizing project is the moment when the floor plan falls into place: a well-loved table finds a spot, a favourite chair, a useful chest of drawers. A good floor plan will allow one's life to continue on smoothly, in its different dimensions.Holiday Gifts…think outside the bowl!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — December 19, 2016Throughout the year, there are lots of reasons to celebrate with family and friends and, it seems, most of these celebrations include gifts!
The time to simplify is now!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — November 21, 2016No matter where you live, it seems you’re always bringing stuff into your home. The upcoming holiday season always seems to bring new things into your house!
Cottage - Life Lessons
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — October 17, 2016We learn life lessons from everything we do!
As we prepared to sell our family cottage, there were a lot of lessons to be learned. Here are SEVEN of them:
Meet the Original Downsizing Divas
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — October 5, 2016Karen Shinn and Gail Shields first talked about how they could work together at a conference for Professional Organizers in Canada (what a surprise!).
Moving... for the first time in years?
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — September 12, 2016When you have lived in the same house for 20, 30, 40, 50 or more years, planning your move is a HUGE project.
Celebrate the Moments!
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — September 6, 2016In 1949, Mum received a cedar chest as a Christmas gift so it had been part of her life almost forever. Now, it might have looked like just another piece of furniture, but, as my brothers and I soon discovered, it was really much more like a “treasure” chest.
Remember...
by Karen Shinn, CPCA, North York + Toronto East — November 11, 2015An important Canadian tradition involves the wearing of Remembrance Day poppies each November. Today, I want to share a story about one of our clients who shared a family keepsake that became an important historical find.
