Inside design: Hellen Buttigieg

Hellen Buttigieg is a good organizer – a pro, in fact – but some would argue that as she guides clients through the sometimes painful process of purging, planning and putting away, she's also acting as something of a therapist. (Is it any wonder that one of the other hats she wears is that of life coach?) On her show, Neat (HGTV Canada), Hellen hand-holds the distraught and disorganized, urging them to physically and emotionally let go, guiding them to more orderly homes with a firm hand, sharp wit and more than a few time- and space-saving strategies. We asked Hellen, an Oakville, Ont.-based member of the Professional Organizers in Canada, to share some of her secrets for controlling the chaos of that clutter hot spot – the kitchen.

S@H: Why do you think it is that kitchens are such a magnet for messes?
HB: The kitchen is the most used room in the house. We go there to cook, eat, entertain, even do homework. It becomes a receptacle for all sorts of things. And because we spend so much time in our kitchens, we find it hard to resist all manner of gadgets – many of which we end up not using. I mean, bread makers – it seems everyone has one and no one uses them. And don't get me started on mugs – why do we need to keep mugs from every stage of our life and every place we've ever been? But the biggest contributor to clutter is duplicates. I go into people's kitchens and find three slotted spoons, two can openers, a couple of bags of sugar. These things all add up to create disorder.

S@H: What are ways to transform kitchen disorder into kitchen order?
HB: It's all about the purge, and lots of people have problems with that. Some people have trouble saying no to gifts, others to sales – they're impulse buyers or shopaholics, so they accumulate all sorts of things that they don't really need. (Ironically, the most disorganized people I know own every organizing book ever written!) But I find that for every 10 things you throw out, you may end up regretting one.
After you purge, you've got to sort through the remaining items and ask yourself, Where will I use each item in this kitchen? As a general rule, most kitchens can be divided into three main areas: work, storage and serving, and clearing. So you need to group your stuff accordingly. Put the message centre near the phone, the coffee maker beside the sink, and the toaster near the plates. You've got to make it as easy as possible to put things back in their proper place.