Meet Our Bloggers
Joan
As a professional organizer in Boston, Massachusetts, Joan strives to create spaces and systems for her clients to fit their organizational style and decor. A transplant from Ontario, Canada, Joan resides in Boston where she’s grown to appreciate the city’s historical architecture and proximity to the ocean. She shares her less-than-800-square-foot, transitional-style, old brownstone apartment with her husband, Jerry and their papillon, Duke. In addition to organizing, Joan loves to read, write, garden, travel and spend quality time with her family and friends.
Simple Effects
Professional Organizing Services &
Personal Life Coaching
www.simpleeffects.com
Recent posts by Joan:
It’s November and that means the countdown to the holidays is on. It seems a little crazy to be talking turkey left-overs before the bird is even in the oven, but this critical tip for organizing your left-overs would come days too late should I not share it in advance.
I’ll be honest that [...]
Posted by: Joan 11/2/09 at 5:23 pm
One of the most unused, inherited valuables I find in people’s homes is the silver tea set. Gone are the days (for most of us) when a formal tea is served in our homes. So what to do with this family heirloom?
I’ve come across a few neat ideas for re-purposing your silver tea set so [...]
Posted by: Joan 10/26/09 at 11:05 pm
I know I’ve been going on and on about storage containers the past few months (call it an occupational hazard or fall nesting syndrome) but I’ve been running across so many great ideas for decorative storage that I have to keep sharing them. The latest is using cups to store small stuff.
Using pretty tea-cups and [...]
Posted by: Joan 10/19/09 at 10:29 pm
I am visiting my family in Ontario, Canada this week to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. My sister (the country mouse) put on a lovely turkey dinner (as per usual) with all the fixings. I thought I’d just share the beautiful table she set for our feast. One does have to get creative when it’s a table [...]
Posted by: Joan 10/12/09 at 12:30 pm
In order to keep our homes running smoothly it can’t all be about buying and displaying decorative objects. We need some basic functional pieces as well to help us keep our other stuff in order. At least that’s what I keep telling my clients who are struggling with clutter and chaos.
But you can still have [...]
Posted by: Joan 10/6/09 at 9:39 am
The number one question I get asked, as a professional organizer, is “what should I buy to better organize my home?” My number one essential for an organized home is shelving.
The most basic type of shelving you can buy is a standard bookcase. But there are all kinds of shelves to consider like the floating [...]
Posted by: Joan 9/29/09 at 9:44 am
Just in time for the Holidays, HomeGoods has brought in all kinds of great gifts for the pet and pet lover alike. Duke and I went to HomeGoods on Saturday to check it out and I was thrilled with our finds.
The first thing to land in our cart was this darling “Good Dog” towel. We’ll [...]
Posted by: Joan 9/21/09 at 11:25 pm
A few posts back I shared an example of storage as a work of art. This week I’m looking at storage ideas that are created out of re-purposed items. I think this old dollhouse is a classic example of very clever re-purposed storage. Once a child’s toy, it now houses supplies in the laundry room. [...]
Posted by: Joan 9/15/09 at 9:07 am
A few months ago I wrote a post about my experiences as a part-time paint stripper. Well, after the wood was stripped the hinges and knobs were still covered in layers of paint in the hard-to reach places. I was dreading the fiddly work of trying to clean them up with paint stripper when I [...]
Posted by: Joan 9/9/09 at 9:43 am
“Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” - William Morris
I came across this great photo on a set of greeting cards for knitters. I absolutely love the clever use of this metal pitcher for storing knitting needles and I can imagine how the [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/31/09 at 11:05 pm
I left my petunias unattended for a few days while I went to my nephew’s wedding. Imagine my shock and dismay when I returned home and discovered that all my lovely bloom was gone. These petunias have been blooming non-stop for 3 months now and I couldn’t imagine how it had so suddenly come to [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/25/09 at 9:40 am
Kermit the frog’s song, “it ain’t easy being green” echoes in my brain each time I deal with trash that isn’t quite trash, you know the stuff I mean? The stuff that’s not really good enough to donate but still it seems a shame to just throw it out. So, if you are clearing out [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/19/09 at 9:41 am
Many hotel designers have come up with great ideas for storing towels in the bathroom that you can duplicate at home. Maybe you’ve spotted some on your vacation this year?
Hanging hand towels from a towel rod mounted right below the sink is one of the emerging new trends as seen in this hotel.
Posted by: Joan 8/10/09 at 8:10 pm
Last month I was wandering through HomeGoods and came across the Williams-Sonoma SALAD recipe book on sale for a great price. Salads make such a great summertime meal when it’s just too hot to cook and I’ve been having a lot of fun trying out recipes from this book for the kinds of salads I [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/3/09 at 11:09 pm
With a very rainy spring here in New England and a busy work/travel schedule I’ve been very slow to get our roof deck outfitted for summer but at long last it’s finally ready to enjoy.
Last summer my husband replaced the deck floor and this year I’ve had the fun of furnishing and decorating it. Let [...]
Posted by: Joan 7/27/09 at 10:43 pm
Well, we HG Bloggers have all been having great fun this week taking the Stylescope quiz on the HomeGoods website. Deb and Cathy have already shared their results and I think the quiz described them both to a “t”.
According to the quiz, a well-organized home makes me happy. This picture was one of many [...]
Posted by: Joan 7/21/09 at 8:13 am
On my recent trip to France I visited several of the gardens in and around Paris. I thought you might enjoy coming along on a virtual tour. Hopefully these gardens will inspire you to dream big things for your own garden. This first picture is taken outside the Cathedral in Chartres – the simple country [...]
Posted by: Joan 7/13/09 at 10:57 pm
On a recent trip to Paris I ventured outside of the city to visit the cathedral in Chartres. While I was there, I fell in love with this charming little town and couldn’t resist capturing some of the examples I saw of the French-country curb appeal
If you’re going for the “French country” look yourself, shutters [...]
Posted by: Joan 7/6/09 at 9:38 pm
My sister and I are the quintessential city mouse and country mouse. While I like the city lights and transitional decor, she enjoys small town living with a country flair.
Over the past few months she and her husband have been turning their dated parlor into a country gathering room and I knew that some of [...]
Posted by: Joan 6/30/09 at 7:57 am
Last week I wrote about outdoor decorating with birdhouses and wouldn’t you know this week I pulled into a mobile home park to turn around and there was another adorable example of outdoor birdhouse decor. Thought you’d all love to see it. Too cute! (You can click on the photo to enlarge)
Doesn’t it just make [...]
Posted by: Joan 6/23/09 at 9:32 am
On one of my recent jaunts to the garden center I spotted a delightful collection of birdhouses nestled above this front door and just had to stop and ask permission to take a picture to share with you all. I loved all the bright colors, so eye catching from the road. Got me thinking about [...]
Posted by: Joan 6/16/09 at 9:31 am
My husband and I are in the process of renovating a small studio in one of Boston’s historic old buildings.
You could blame it on the beautifully stained wood in the main lobby, or blame it on a genetic predisposition to take on large, unwieldy projects without first counting the cost, but whatever possessed me I [...]
Posted by: Joan 6/9/09 at 12:43 pm
Has knitfitti hit your neighborhood yet? Here’s the latest to appear in my local park. (you can click on the photo to get a better look)
What do you think? Love it or hate it?
Would you knit decor for your outdoor space?
Posted by: Joan 6/4/09 at 10:47 am
“Patience — Faith — Openness, is what the sea has to teach. Simplicity — Solitude–Intermittency…” Anne Morrow Lindberg, “Gift from the Sea”
One of my all-time favorite summertime books to read (and re-read) is “Gift from the Sea”. Reflecting on different kinds of shells she finds on the beach, Anne Morrow Lindbergh uses [...]
Posted by: Joan 6/2/09 at 9:13 am
All we have of freedom, all we use or know -
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
~Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue, 1899
Happy Memorial Day — may we always remember!
Posted by: Joan 5/26/09 at 12:19 am
Last week we organized our drawers and this week I thought we should tackle under the kitchen sink. With all the “extra” plumbing that can end up in our cabinets, it can be hard to know where to put your stuff so that you can get to it when you need [...]
Posted by: Joan 5/19/09 at 7:30 am
Drawers are a wonderful way to store many small items. However, drawers can easily become catch-alls for all sorts of random bits and pieces. Do you have any drawers that are so stuffed to the brim so that they are difficult to open and shut,never mind try to find anything you need? If [...]
Posted by: Joan 5/12/09 at 2:59 pm
My Mother’s Garden
My Mother kept a garden,
a garden of the heart,
She planted all the good things
that gave my life it’s start.
She turned me to the sunshine
and encouraged me to dream,
Fostering and nurturing
the seeds of self-esteem.
Posted by: Joan 5/5/09 at 10:04 am
My organizing buddy, Joan R. treated me to a day at the Proven Winners Gardening Seminar last Saturday. What a fun, interesting and informative event (thanks Joan)!
I picked up some great tips from gardening experts for creating and maintaining beautiful container gardens with annuals which I’m delighted to pass along to you.
Posted by: Joan 4/28/09 at 6:40 am
I was visiting my folks over Easter holidays and we decided it was time to take their blah bedroom and brighten it up a little. They have lived with your basic white walls for the past 10 years so we began this transformation with a gallon of paint. If you are enjoying this [...]
Posted by: Joan 4/21/09 at 7:45 am
I love decorative door knockers, don’t you?
I was wandering the streets of Boston’s Historic Beacon Hill admiring the incredible variety of old and newer door knockers and I got to thinking that maybe you would love to see them too. So, I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures. [...]
Posted by: Joan 4/14/09 at 6:00 am
Believe it or not, Boston is finally beginning to bloom. Since it was such a gorgeous day this past Sunday I was keen to get out and wander around the city to steal a few ideas get some inspiration.
This darling row of bunnies hopping through the garden sure caught my eye [...]
Posted by: Joan 4/7/09 at 6:00 am
My husband’s home office has a part-time night job as our guest room. I’ve been talking about the guest room half of the story here and here, but this is what the other half of the room (the home office half) looks like by day. Of course it didn’t always look like this.
Posted by: Joan 3/31/09 at 5:34 am
A simplified and organized home and life is a state of being I’m trying to capture and create as a constant reality throughout the year for both myself and others. It’s a concept I’m excited to be able share in my weekly post as part of the team here at the HomeGoods Openhouse Blog.
As a [...]
Posted by: Joan 3/24/09 at 7:58 am
On a recent vacation in the Caribbean, I was delighted by the subtle use of the pineapple motif in our room’s decor. The pineapple has long been considered a symbol of welcome and hospitality.
Posted by: Joan 3/17/09 at 2:12 am
I’ve always dreamed of having a lovely hotel-suite style bedroom for guests to enjoy but the reality is that our guest-bed is a fold-out futon in the home office.
Last summer I started to gather ideas for getting organized for guests and you all shared some fabulous tips on things you do to make your guests [...]
Posted by: Joan 3/10/09 at 9:08 am
On Saturday my husband and I went to the New England Home Show. There were lots of great vendors with lots of great products and ideas but I was especially drawn to those who were encouraging folks to put a “new face” on their uglies. There was everything from Kitchen Cabinet Refacing to [...]
Posted by: Joan 3/3/09 at 1:31 am
Just in case you’ve forgotten, I was the crazy blogger who started redecorating her living room over the holidays and we’re not talking about the tree. You can see phase one here.
Phase two was to rearrange the furniture to give a more open feel to the room which meant first replacing some of the [...]
Posted by: Joan 2/24/09 at 9:06 am
Thank-you gifts are tricky. Go too “over the top” and you’ll make the recipient feel uncomfortable. Go too cheap and you’ll appear insincere. So what is the perfect thank-you gift to show your hostess, a neighbor, a colleague, or a friend how much you appreciate what they’ve done for you? Think [...]
Posted by: Joan 2/17/09 at 9:41 am
We had ONE mild weekend here in Boston and that’s all it took to get me thinking of Spring. I went browsing through my photos looking at my window boxes from previous years and reviewing my notes on each plant (what it was, how it grew or didn’t grow etc.) and then [...]
Posted by: Joan 2/10/09 at 1:35 am
Several of my clients like to tear recipes out of magazines or print them off the internet. The problem is that the recipes get lost in piles of paper and can’t be found when needed. So, here is one solution I created for a client to help her “file in style” in the kitchen.
Posted by: Joan 2/3/09 at 1:06 am
Just heard about the closing of Domino magazine. Gosh, that’s 4 or 5 Decorating Magazines snatched off my magazine rack in the last few months. Word on the street is that folks aren’t decorating in the failing economy. REALLY? SERIOUSLY? I very much doubt that. I mean even our new President [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/29/09 at 11:05 am
There’s nothing quite like the sight of decorative hand soap to turn me into a kid again. I can recall one set I was given as a child with 3 little lambs one pink, one white, and one blue. I adored handling those little carved soaps they were so smooth to [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/27/09 at 9:18 am
Victorian women took great pride in their linen closets. Piles of sheets, pillowcases and towels as well as table linens would be neatly arranged for display topped off with a sachet bag filled with lavender. I’m not a big fan of housework, but I figure if I’m gonna do it, I may as well take [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/20/09 at 9:37 am
You see this beautifully organized linen closet? Looks just like what you’d expect of a Professional Organizer doesn’t it? If you are thinking it looks sort of “Martha Steward-ish”, well that’s because it is. I can only dream of having such a glorious linen closet one day (hey, we organizers like [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/14/09 at 3:47 pm
These days digital cameras have made the organizing, storage and sharing of photos a lot easier than it used to be, but most of us still have bags and boxes of prints from the days when film was the fashion. Our photos prompt our memories of special people, places and events and [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/11/09 at 12:48 pm
If you’ve ever watched “The Sound of Music” you’ll be familiar with Maria’s list of favorite things she recalled during bad times. Making a list of your favorite things is a great idea for getting your home organized as well.
Sometimes, even though a room feels too cluttered it’s hard to know what to [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/5/09 at 11:54 am
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
January brings the start of a new year. A time for fresh beginnings. It seems appropriate that the National Association of Professional Organizers chose this month as the official month to Get Organized!! So, I’ll be sharing some simple organizing tips this month and please feel free to ask me [...]
Posted by: Joan 1/1/09 at 1:29 pm
One of my Christmas presents from my niece was these darling “I’d rather be in Paris” pillow cases. They are going to be a great complement to my new guest bedding (stay tuned) but in the meantime they got me thinking about what I would slip them over. Our current guest pillows have been [...]
Posted by: Joan 12/31/08 at 11:21 am
One of my favorite gifts to give and receive is a thoughtfully chosen gift card. But to make it fun to open, it’s important to find a creative way to present it.
I tucked this HomeGoods gift card under this little tree and I chose the word, “Joy” on the pot [...]
Posted by: Joan 12/20/08 at 8:43 pm
I love to decorate for Christmas, but living in a small space means that finding space to put up decorations can be a bit of a challenge. However, we have lots of windows so I decided to dress them for the holidays.
I chose pre-lit artificial Christmas wreaths which I hang inside with ribbons [...]
Posted by: Joan 12/14/08 at 8:35 pm
I do know that decorating blogs this month tend to be about holiday decorating and not actual home re-decorating. In fact, I probably should have saved this post for AFTER Christmas, but I’m so excited about the re-decorating we’ve been doing in our living room/dining room the past few weeks that I just had to [...]
Posted by: Joan 12/8/08 at 10:54 pm
There’s nothing quite like the onset of the holidays to highlight the areas of our lives that lack organization. Spare bedrooms that need to be dug out for guests, refrigerators, freezers and pantries that need to be cleaned out to accommodate extra food, and piles of paperwork on the dining room table all [...]
Posted by: Joan 12/5/08 at 11:33 am
For many of us, this is the weekend to pack up the Thanksgiving decorations and pull out the rest of the Christmas decorations. Which also makes it the “perfect” time to organize your holiday items for re-storage.
It’s also a great time of year to purchase bags and boxes for storing everything from your wreaths [...]
Posted by: Joan 11/27/08 at 3:17 pm
Christmas is on the way and for many of us, that means sharing some special holiday times with our dogs and dog-loving family and friends.
I was shopping in Homegoods this weekend and spotted some of the most adorable doggie gifts. As you can see from the picture, I just had [...]
Posted by: Joan 11/15/08 at 8:24 pm
“Light is good from whatever lamp it shines.”
I’m on the hunt for a new lamp for the living room which got me thinking about the lamps I already have. By far, my favorite is this little lamp my mother passed on to me when I got a place of my own. It is [...]
Posted by: Joan 11/8/08 at 10:01 am
I love looking at beautiful rooms in design magazines but I always find myself wondering, “where do they put all their stuff?” You know, papers, toys, craft projects, half-read library books and magazines, video rentals…. Real rooms , if they are going to stay beautiful, require adequate storage for the everyday stuff of our [...]
Posted by: Joan 11/2/08 at 3:41 pm
Usually when I think about putting together a ‘food’ basket for Christmas I have adults in mind. But I was browsing through Homegoods yesterday and the “trick or treat” theme was sitting in my subconscious while all the while I was thinking about Christmas being less than 2 months away and how I’d better soon [...]
Posted by: Joan 10/27/08 at 10:57 am
I enjoyed reading Susan’s post on Cooking up a Storm. She suggested an “inventory” of all one’s cookware and location with a shopping list for missing items. This is great advice for those with large kitchens and multiple storage options for their cookware.
But here, in my small galley kitchen, the inventory process went a [...]
Posted by: Joan 10/20/08 at 11:03 am
My husband and I traveled to Ontario this past week with our dog, Duke, to join our families for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. I wanted to share this holiday tradition with you.
Posted by: Joan 10/12/08 at 3:56 pm
I’m on the road this week, visiting friends and family in my “home and native land” of Ontario, Canada. I visited my dear friend, Sharon, yesterday and oohed and ahhed over her newly installed kitchen. I knew you’d all want to see this dramatic before and after transformation.
Posted by: Joan 10/6/08 at 9:37 am
Shades of purple are appearing everywhere this fall and a good client of mine has given me permission to share some of the amazing before/after pics of how we created her Lavender Dream bedroom.
(click on photos to enlarge)
Posted by: Joan 9/30/08 at 3:26 pm
How do you organize your books? I tend to organize mine library-style. Grouping the books by non-fiction/fiction, then sub-grouping them according to genre or subject. Sometimes I place them alphabetically after that by author, but usually the final grouping is by size.
Posted by: Joan 9/23/08 at 5:36 pm
I found a wonderful autumn display at a hotel in Orlando, Florida. They had several simple glass vases placed around a large round table in the hotel lobby. I immediately decided to bring this idea home to my small space albeit on a slightly smaller scale.
Posted by: Joan 9/15/08 at 2:29 pm
I recently took the “What’s your Style DNA?” quiz over at My Deco Design Boutique. It’s a picture quiz and really quite a lot of fun to do. I tried it a few times and it always came out the same. Apparently my style is “Town and Country” which means, in part, that I [...]
Posted by: Joan 9/9/08 at 12:54 am
Cupcakes, are making a big comeback. I haven’t thought much about these small cake creations since grade school, but when I came across these darling nest cupcakes by Tracey at A Cottage Industry, I got inspired.
This is really quite funny because I’m not a baker and my last attempt at icing a cake was really [...]
Posted by: Joan 9/2/08 at 10:29 am
It’s only 4 months until Christmas so I’m in “gift gathering” mode. If you purchase your gifts at the last minute, you can end up spending far more than you planned, so it’s a great idea to shop year ’round and tuck these treasures in a designated bin or [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/25/08 at 8:14 am
This summer our home renovation project has been replacing the flooring on our roof deck. We finally said good-bye to the pressure treated pine and hello to one of those trendy new hardwoods from Brazil — Cambara Wood.
Posted by: Joan 8/20/08 at 3:27 pm
Our small space doesn’t afford the luxury of a beautiful guest bedroom so we usually sleep a guest or two on the fold-out futon in the office. At the moment, the room looks much more “office” than “guest room”.
I’m on a mission to create a more guest-friendly environment and I started this week by [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/12/08 at 4:40 pm
A couple of cool rainy days here in New England combined with some savvy marketing from the fashion industry and a style quiz got me thinking about my fall wardrobe. Which of course means the inevitable change-of-season bedroom closet overhaul. I figure that some of you are thinking about this too, maybe for your [...]
Posted by: Joan 8/6/08 at 12:04 pm
I just LOVE to garden but living in the city I have to content myself with container gardening on our roofdeck. At the moment I have eleven windowboxes and a couple of larger pots which I fill with annuals each spring.
Even container gardening requires some garden tools and for the past few years I’ve struggled [...]
Posted by: Joan 7/28/08 at 10:43 pm
Summer is my favorite time of the year because of its inherent simplicity. A simplified and organized home and life is a state of being I’m trying to capture and create as a constant reality throughout the year for both myself and others. And now it’s a concept I’m excited to be [...]
Posted by: Joan 7/24/08 at 10:02 am
