January is National Home Organizing Awareness Month and what better way to get this year started than bringing order and peace to your home. A new business has launched this month that can help do that for you. Home Love was started by local resident Jennifer Baron, a certified home organizing specialist who honed her craft as a professional staging expert and realtor.
“I really love bringing beauty and calm to people’s lives. That is what this business is all about for me,” says Jennifer. “I get excited when I see a disorganized closet, kitchen, man cave, or really any space because it’s like a puzzle for me to solve. Give me a pile of stuff any day and I will put everything in an organized place.
Jennifer became interested in home organization during her 20 plus years as a professional home stager and realtor. Understanding that the first impression of a seller’s home is made online, and the photos are crucially important, she trained with Barb Schwarz, the creator of the Staged Homes concept. Soon after she became an Accredited Staging Professional and a member of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IAHSP). As she worked with her realty clients to get their homes staged before the photographers came, she found that most people’s homes and their décor just needed to be re-organized to create a great presentation.
“I am a maximalist. The trend in 2008 was to embrace a minimalist style, but we have objects we love, memories to display, knick knacks from a trip we took, clothes we still want to wear and sentimental items we just need to keep. I compassionately help my clients edit their belongings. I don’t believe in throwing everything out and work with my clients to find a place for their important items,” explains Jennifer. “Truly good home organization is about finding a way to organize the items you have in a way that is interesting, practical and a part of your daily life, without overwhelming it. It’s the art of making a home functional and beautiful. This can be done for anything from a food pantry to finding a way to hang all that artwork into a fun gallery wall. It just needs to be organized in the right way.”
While Jennifer says she’s a maximalist, she also understands that some want to embrace minimalism in their space and will work with her clients to achieve that. Through her home staging training she says she has a mastery of Minimalism.
“Minimalism It’s my alter ego. In fact, the joke I usually tell people is that the irony of my life is that in my home staging I’m a Minimalist but in my own life I’m a Maximalist,” laughs Jennifer. “But I am just obsessed with organizing and staging. I’ve been known to walk into friends or family members’ homes, and I start organizing. It’s what I was born to do!”
Jennifer is an ASP Home Stager (accredited staging professional) and has been a member of IAHSP, the International Association of Home Staging Professionals since 2007. She became a Certified Professional Home Organizer and a member of IAPO (International Association of Professional Organizers) in 2022.
Learn more about Jennifer, her home organizing, home staging and design services, pricing and how she can help you get organized for 2023 on her website https://homelove.space/
By Julee Laurent
MOTM Contributor
