San Francisco has many aces up its sleeve, from the strong job sector to the lively entertainment scene and some of the most spectacular natural surroundings in the country. Recently named the best city in the world in the 2021 Time Out Index, San Francisco outranks many other renowned hotspots in terms of the urban living environment, including walkability and environmental friendliness (including investing in all-electric transportation and a ban on single-use plastic).
In the same vein, homes in San Francisco benefit from some outstanding architecture and trendsetting interior design offerings. Decorating options are endless, from luxury designer items to exquisite flea market finds that can quickly render any home unique.
But challenges can often sprout from high expectations and an abundance of possibilities. Then there are space constraints that many residents are confronted with as apartments here are some of the smallest in the country. New San Francisco apartments have under 770 square feet of living space on average, which poses a few difficulties for fans of organized homes. One thing that can help maximize space is decluttering regularly and putting some of the less frequently used items away in storage. A 10×10 storage unit in San Francisco rents for about $212 per month and can allow you to enjoy a neat and airy home with things like ski equipment, holiday decorations and other seasonal or bulky belongings out of the way.
Once you’ve decided which possessions stay and which go, there still remains a question of organizing space. In fact, big or small, every home can benefit from a specialized eye.
Working with a home organizer to find a place for everything is a big help. It will save you a lot of time and trouble if you don’t have to create a system yourself; not to mention the solutions they provide are often ingenious, and no Pinterest board can replace the clever ideas they come up with for your space.
If you’re wondering where to start in your quest for the perfect professional organizer, we’ve done the research for you. We’ve scoured the local market offerings and selected 10 of the best local home organizers based on criteria such as services provided, online accessibility and customers reviews. Check out the list below for some of San Francisco’s most popular home organizers that will transform your home from plain to fabulous in no time:
1. Bella Organizing
Isabella Guajardo, a.k.a. Bella Organizing, founded her home organizing business almost 15 years ago. She and her team will help you organize and redesign your space so that your home becomes comfortable, functional, and stylish. Bella Organizing deals with cluttered closets, rooms, garages, offices and even storage units. Her team helps customers seamlessly navigate various life events, from relocating to downsizing, creating more space at home for your growing family’s needs and so on. Bella Organizing also has a division that provides moving services, called Move Management, so they have the resources and the expertise to seamlessly move you into your new life and organize your home, providing you with a great start.
2. LMW Edits
This boutique home organizing company based in San Francisco is helping its customers virtually, which saves both money and time. The engine behind LMW Edits is Lucy Milligan Wahl – she will help you through every step of the process and will come up with organizing solutions tailored to your specific needs. Virtual appointments are easy to fit in your busy schedule, which means you get the chance to organize your home even you don’t have a lot of time. Short and to the point appointments dealing with a particular area of the home can be very productive – you’re solving your home organizing issues one by one, without having to dedicate a big chunk of your time and energy to the task. LMW Edits also offers a variety of free online resources for helping you think like an organizer and becoming proficient at keeping your home neat and tidy.
3. Liberated Spaces
Liberated Spaces’ creator is Debra Baida, who started her home organizing career in 2007 after working as a photo editor for about two decades. She says that her previous work experience editing images translated easily in working with people who want to “edit” their homes and reclaim living space.
Liberated Spaces focuses on helping people declutter and reorganize their homes and workspaces, prepare for moves and renovations, organize, and edit and archive photographs and other memorabilia. As the first professional organizer to become a certified San Francisco Green Business, Debra has become a primary resource for those seeking best practices for integrating sustainable choices in their lives. Debra Baida is also offering virtual organization appointments, ideal for people with busy schedules.
4. Balance
Nancy Castelli, the founder of Balance, is a certified professional organizer with over 25 years of experience in the field. The services provided are tailored upon the needs of the customer, from coaching-oriented individual organizing to personal organizing support or guidance during big projects, such as a move or a remodel. Balance website also contains a treasure trove of ideas and advice on how to organize your space and how to prevent your home from getting cluttered.
5. Andrea Wait Organizing Services
Andrea Wait launched her organizing business in 2009, influenced by her lifelong interest in organizing stuff and her desire to help people. Her company provides organizational services for homes and businesses, on-site or online. Andrea also helps with special projects, such as preparing your home for a new baby or any other type of life change you might be experiencing.
6. Pick It Up
Pick it Up was founded by Erin Becker, who believes that the way our homes look and function affects how we feel. Her goal is to turn customers’ homes into calm, relaxing and efficient spaces, where they can focus on things important to them instead of stressing and feeling overwhelmed by space. Going green is another important aspect of Erin’s agenda – Pick It Up is a certified San Francisco Green Business. Erin offers both on-site and virtual organizing that starts with an initial assessment and is continued by organizing sessions, where she works with her clients to find the most efficient ways of using their space at home. In addition to that, Erin is also offering time management and productivity consultations.
7. Life Well Organized
Life Well Organized and its owner, Pam Parker, have been in the organizing business for over 24 years. Her services are not only about organizing homes but also about organizing family life. Pam helps her clients create “family command centers” that help streamline everyone’s schedules. Her organizational philosophy centers around putting simple, realistic and easy to maintain systems in place and personalizing said systems for each family. Life Well Organized is also working with businesses, helping them achieve an organized office environment that reduces stress and increases productivity.
8. Next Highest Good
Lauren Winter West, founder of Next Highest Good, is passionate about organizing and about zero waste. Besides helping her clients achieve decluttered, streamlined interiors, she dedicates herself to keeping every possible item out of landfills and ensuring it goes to its “next highest good” through sustainable disposal. Services provided by the company include organizing & decluttering, moving & relocating, zero waste offloading and concierge services.
9. Zen Habitat
Keith Bartolomei, a certified KonMari Master Consultant and a member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO), created Zen Habitat with the goal of helping people obtain calm, clean and functional spaces. Keith offers in-home decluttering and organizing services based on the KonMari Method® and specializes in ADHD-friendly organizing strategies.
10. Clean Slate
Julie Siegel turned her passion for organizing into a business in 2017 by setting up her san Francisco-based company Clean Slate. A Philadelphia native, Julie has moved over 24 times in her life, a fact that, says she, helped her become an expert in the field of moving (in and out) and home organizing. The services she provides include online consultations to review the organizing needs, full home organizing and shopping for home products and accessories.
Holiday Decoration Storage: A Guide for Every Season
Taking down the holiday decorations is never as exciting as putting them up. One minute, your home is looking wonderfully festive, and the next, you’re trying to remember which box the Christmas ornaments came in while wrestling with a string of lights that managed to tie itself into a dozen knots. With every holiday bringing its own collection of decorations, a good holiday decoration storage system helps you keep a growing collection under control.
Where to Get Moving Boxes in Philadelphia
Philadelphia’s historic charm can put your patience to the test on moving day. Between cobblestone streets, narrow rowhouse entrances and the occasional pothole, you don’t want to worry about not having enough boxes on top of it all. Start gathering your moving boxes early and you’ll have one less box to check off on packing day. Luckily, you have plenty of places to get your boxes from.
Art Supply Storage from A to Easel
Paint tubes, brushes, sketchbooks, scraps of paper, beads, half-used rolls of tape and that one very specific pen you swear you just had in your hand. Building up an art supply collection is rarely a neat process, and each new material brings its own storage needs.
Scary Good DIY Halloween Decorations That Won’t Haunt Your Wallet
A few floating candles in the hallway, a family of ghosts by the front door and a suspicious number of bats climbing up the bedroom wall can make October feel a whole lot spookier. While Halloween stores are full of tempting finds, some of the best DIY Halloween decorations can come from things you already have tucked away in drawers, closets or the recycling bin.
Suburban Giants and Urban Risers: Where America’s 100 Largest Metros Fall on the Self Storage Map
Self storage has long been a suburban story. Across America largest 100 metros, 59% of the inventory built over the past decade sits outside city cores, largely preserving the ratio of the total existing inventory.
Sweatshirt Storage Ideas Worth Keeping Up Your Sleeve
Sweatshirts are great until you realize how much room they take up. A few thick hoodies can fill a drawer fast, with lighter crewnecks getting squashed underneath or pushed somewhere you forget about. Good sweatshirt storage can make that pile much easier to manage without requiring a bigger closet.
Living Room Storage Ideas: 28 Ways to Reclaim Your Hosting Space
If a living room is where most of a household’s living happens, good storage should be the top priority for setting up or revamping the place. After all, think of how easier it would be to have people over when tidying up the place is just a matter of putting things in their right place (in a time when fewer and fewer people are entertaining friends at home(opens in new tab)). The trick is making room for all those wayward clothes, blankets, chargers and other small things that end up on (or, inexplicably, in) the sofa. Here are 28 living room storage ideas to get you started and make tidying up a quick affair.
25 Mudroom Storage Ideas (And Mistakes to Avoid)
When you come home with muddy boots, an armful of bags and a coat you can’t wait to take off, it’s nice to have somewhere to put it all. With a mudroom, you can leave the outdoor mess at the door instead of carrying it through the house. Traditionally, you’d set aside a separate room, but you can just as easily use a hallway, an entryway closet, a laundry-room corner or a stretch of wall near the entrance.
Is Your Home Office Worth the Rent? What Coworking and Self Storage Could Save You
Every square foot of your apartment comes with a price tag, and a home office claims more of them than most renters expect. It starts with a desk. Then come the second monitor, the printer, the filing cabinet and the overflow boxes. Before long, the corner you set aside for work has turned into a small room you are paying for every month.