Overstuffed

Too Cute For Their Own Good

Like so many aspects of childhood, things are rarely good or bad often they are both. Nowhere is this concept acuter than when it comes to stuffed animals. Some call them plushies but my son calls them stuffies. Stuffed animals are soft, cute and perfect for squeezing. The challenge is that rarely does a child simply have one stuffed animal in their room usually they are legion. When a baby is born everyone wants to get the little bundle of joy his or her first teddy bear which results in multiple teddy bears before you even get home from the hospital. Another factor is that for the most part, stuffed animals are not expensive. The price factor creates an environment where most people tack one onto shower gifts and newborn gifts. Once you include all the animals from carnivals, amusement parks, and vacations kid’s rooms become zoos. While this zoo doesn’t require feeding and waste removal it does need a place for all the animals and that place is often the bed. The last challenge is in facing reality. Most kids do not actually play with stuffed animals they are decor.

Stuffie Solutions

One great way to deal with this cuteness crisis is to prevent it from starting. A good way to tell grandparents and well-meaning friends is to steer the discussion to medical issues. Newborns aren't supposed to have anything in their cribs when sleeping and too many stuffies collecting dust can lead to asthma. If you notice your child has one particular stuffy they love, buy two if you can in case of loss, dog attack or drool damage. If your child is old enough explain that there are many kids around the world that have no stuffed animals at all and help them pick ones to send to them. Local libraries often have donation drives specially for stuffed animals and there are many national campaigns. Lastly, some stuffies may be keepsakes and it may be time for them to leave the room and live with the other sentimental items.

Marie Kondo

Joy Indeed

Many of you have heard of Marie Kondo the Japanese decluttering guru. Her two books “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and “Spark Joy” are hot on best seller lists.  After attending her lecture this past January at the Japanese Society in New York City and reading “Spark Joy”, we recognized that at H2H we already incorporate some of Kondo’s methods. Here are 5 of Kondo’s tips from the book “Spark Joy” which we feel are especially useful.

“The key to success in tidying (organizing) is to finish discarding first"

We find it much easier to plan for systems to help you organize when we know the quantity of what is being kept. At H2H with our efficient, sort, simplify and store process we help you determine what to keep and then make good decisions regarding how and where things will be stored.

“It might come in handy is taboo"

At H2H we realize that keeping objects because they “might” be used someday usually creates much more clutter than needed usually in closets and garages. We gently help you to understand how to sort through and keep what is useful, practical or sentimental.

“Don’t throw away things that bring you joy simply because you aren’t using them"                                                                                                                                    

If something puts a smile on your face when you wear it or see it, relax! Don’t listen to that friend who says, you don’t need or haven’t wore it in ten years. We won’t encourage you to part with anything that brings you happiness. We will help you find homes for your special items.

“The words tidying (organizing) and cleaning are often used synonymously, but they are two completely different things"                                                                                             

Many clients find themselves overwhelmed by the two and cannot separate them. As mentioned before the closets tend to get cluttered during cleaning. At H2H our expertise will help you with the 3 S’s sort, simplify and store. We will also recommend cleaning tips to maintain a beautiful home.

“Make accessory storage as attractive as possible"                                                        

Kondo suggests using items from your home such as attractive boxes or dishes to store jewelry or accessories. At H2H we believe in utilizing storage compartments or holders from your house if possible. If necessary, we will recommend outside storage solutions, but you would be surprised how little you have to buy. We want to leave you with an attractive and organized systems, which will help you to love the space you are in.

Interview – Kate Koeppel of Koeppel Design

Koeppel Design is a graphic design studio based in San Francisco, CA. In 2013, Koeppel Design launched a line of handcrafted products for the home, designed and manufactured in San Francisco.

-Can you discuss your background and how you first got interested in storage solutions?                                                     I've always had an interest in collections (buttons, stamps, ephemera, vinyl) but as I've gotten older I've realized the tendency to collect is a slippery slope towards disorder if I, or anyone really, is collecting without reflection. I didn't plan for my design career to be so closely informed by my love of music or by my tendencies towards order and structure;but it happened very naturally! I consider myself very lucky to have built this funny job of design + organization + music, because it hits so many of the right buttons for me.

-You have mentioned you believe a well-organized collection is going to be a well-used one, can you expand on that?
Sure, I think that its much easier to enjoy a collection if you know you're not going to be frustrated by it. If you can't find what you're looking for, or you've forgotten whats on your shelves, it is harder to invest quality time in that collection. I get a lot of pleasure out of listening to vinyl, because it forces us to take a break from work, our phones, etc. This is something that my husband and I enjoy together, and our friends and family often come together to spend time listening to music, socializing and unwinding together. Our vinyl collection is large, and it could be intimidating, but it is easy to access because it is organized with a clean visual system- any friend can stop by and pull out a record, which makes it more fun and social. We get to share what we love with the people we love.

I think a collection, (no matter the content) says so much about a person's values and interests-- I am often so delighted to be "invited in" to other people's collections- whether they collect a certain genre of music or time period, its like a little museum of that person's life! I design products to help others engage in more active, analog experiences, because I hope that my work encourages more people to pause more often to enjoy whatever media format they collect-- and if it happens to be more organized and looks good, even better!

-Can you discuss the importance of products being handcrafted?
For me, it is important to know and understand where I am investing my money, because I want to understand the full life cycle of a product. I'd rather have only few things that are well made than lots of possessions that are poorly made, or will need to be replaced. I really respond to objects that I know were handcrafted, it feels more meaningful to know where something came from, and how it was made. When I launched our first collection of products, I wanted to make the products that didn't exist on the market, and I wanted to make useful, durable products that I would use in my own home, and would be easy to incorporate into other people people's home aesthetic. In business we try to honor the values that we think makes good community- we work locally, we support other small businesses, and we try to use all our resources and materials very carefully and responsibly. 

All our products are made with a high grade european birch wood. Panels are laser-cut and engraved by machine, however every other part of the production process is done completely by hand. Every product we produce goes through multiple rounds of inspection to ensure we're delivering the strongest, cleanest and most useful product we can. All of our wood products are hand-sanded to ensure a clean, smooth finish.

-How does the custom creations process work?
We offer quick and simple customizations of individual record divider panels, (this will be available starting Oct 1-Nov 10th only)  but if a client has a large collection they need help with, we also do fully customizable design.

We work with clients to help customize systems that will work with their home, library or personal system. We can make dividers for any kind of media, storage system or space. We can do any size or shape panel, and we can laser-engrave just about anything! We usually start with a conversation about the collection, and after getting all the necessary measurements the process is pretty simple- We'll mock up a design, then once it is confirmed we'll move into design and and production. The whole process for a custom set usually takes about 3-4 weeks depending on the size of the order, and how busy our production team is (this is available year-round, expect in December).

-A lot of our clients don’t know what to do with their vinyl records, what are your best recommendations?
For me, taking the time to listen to vinyl is an immersive experience that you have to be present in. The format dictates that you have to be physically present to move the needle, flip the record, and be ready with the next LP. Listening to a full album is about taking a break, and actually focusing on the experience of music- physically being present and engaged as opposed to a possibly more passive music experience, say in streaming music.

I think knowing what is in your collection, is a big step towards actually using and appreciating it, no matter what you collect. If you've got a ton of vinyl LPs, CDs, or DVDs I think the first step is to put them in a place where you can see them, and then organize in a way that makes sense to you. The method doesn't matter so much, whether it is alphabetical, by genre, or artist, but that way you can see what you have, and its easier to find the things that you love. I've personally found that I'm more likely to spend time listening to my music collection when I can see it, and when its easy to access.  Our products also help preserve and protect collections, which is really important for vinyl collectors.

-What are your most popular products and why?
Our record divider collection is by far what we're best known for. Our record dividers allow our clients to build a organization system that works with their collections, no matter how they like to organize. Alphabetical organization (and our A-Z dividers) tends to be the most common way vinyl collectors organize, but I don't feel like there is one right way to catalog- its more about finding a system that works for you. Many of our customers also love genre panels, so they can use a mix of genre dividers and alphabetical dividers together.

Around the holidays, we offer gift certificates which is a pretty popular way to give the gift of organization to collectors in your life! We offer wood gift certificates in any denomination.

Product Review - Mifold Booster Seat

Give Me A Boost

It is possible you may have already seen or heard of the Mifold booster seat. The crowd-funded innovation has certainly generated a lot of buzz. Many have noted that the seat is a game changer and when one realizes it is basically the first new child booster seat design in over fifty years you feel like agreeing. Inventor Jon Sumroy had an if you can’t bring the man to the mountain, bring the mountain to the man moment. When my wife first told me about the Mifold (and after I saw the size) I kept asking the same question about our oldest son’s height. Once she repeated the concept a few times it finally sunk in. Instead of raising the child up in typical booster seat fashion, the Mifold lowers the seat belt to the child (see here).

The Mifold’s greatest strength lies in its portability and if anyone has ever looked over in traffic to see a youngster not in a booster seat you start to really appreciate the feature. The Mifold earns the name by folding to the size of an Amazon Kindle for use in grandma's car, taxi or the new carpool dad’s impulse purchased Porsche. Once unfolded the lap and shoulder belt are slid down and fed through the base. It should be noted that the Mifold was a little difficult at first for my 7-year-old to figure out, but now he is an old pro. However, since he is now at a different non-raised angle in the car he mostly points out airborne things of interested which are mostly clouds.

Over the years, I have noticed many car seats and booster seats collect in the garage especially in large families who have a wide age gap among the kids. The Mifold certainly provides a nice alternative to the traditional phone book model booster seat. And as an Organizer I think you know how I feel about phone books.