Are houses really as cluttered as they show them to be on TV?

I'm often asked if houses really are as bad as they show on the television, or if they have been made worse for the drama.  This client is real, and so is her 40 years of clutter, unfortunately...

 

 

 

Latest makeover - Master Bedroom

Here's the Master Bedroom.  The rooms were very narrow in this house, so I had to be careful not to emphasise this.  I'm often asked about lighting in my 'before' and 'after' photos - why do you cheat, and put the lights on for the 'after' photos???  Well, I take the 'before' photos as the room is shown to me.  No-one ever puts any lights on for me, so that's how I take the photo.  I would always turn the lights on for a viewing, it brings the rooms to life, so that's why I have them on for my 'after' photos.  That's not cheating, is it?

There will be another bedroom transformation in my next blog entry - another double room in the same house - here's the 'before':

What's causing all the clutter -Part one...

Part one - one of five new de-clutter clients this week.

Main cause of clutter - open shelving units for storage.

In the shops they look like this:

In reality they look like this, or worse:

Open shelves are for display items only - not storage!!

The de-clutter drought is over!!

What on earth has happened this week?!! I've only had a handful of de-clutter clients in the last 6 months, everyone's been concentrating on home staging and budget makeovers. BUT, I've got FIVE new de-clutter clients booked for next week! Wow! Looking forward to it.

Put all your clutter on display...

An ex-declutter client of mine has just shown me this link.  A Chinese artist, Song Dong, has put 10,000 of his mother's posessions on display in an exhibition in London - five decades of clutter! 

http://m.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/14/chinese-artist-clutter-london-exhibition?cat=artanddesign&type=article

BBC1 would like to hear from compulsive hoarders

BBC 1 are looking for Compulsive Hoarders for a sensive documentary

I've just been contacted by Emily Flack from the BBC, asking if I knew of any compulsive hoarders who would be willing to take part in their new documentary. Here's the link for more information.      http://freepdfhosting.com/53c78750d4.pdf