Naples Professional Organizing Team Offers Exceptional Organizing & Design
Sort, Store and Style is owned and operated by Esther Garfield and Melina Kervandjian, two Southwest Florida moms with an eye for style, great attention to detail, and an obsession with organization.
We interviewed Esther and Melina to learn more about them and what you can expect from a typical organizing session.
What (or who) inspired you to become an Organizer?
Esther: When I was growing up, the main source of conflict between my parents was that my mom is a “keep everything” person, and my dad is a “get rid of everything” person. I often found myself in between the two and had to negotiate a compromise.
Melina: I moved a lot as a kid as well as an adult, and because of that I’ve always basically been in “editing” mode. When you move a lot, you really have to decide what is most important and you learn not to accumulate too much and to keep things organized and clutter-free. And, according to my youngest son, I apparently have a bit of OCD (I will neither confirm, nor deny this), so when Esther approached me with the idea of joining forces to launch a professional organizing business, I was all in.
How has becoming an Organizer impacted your life?
Melina: Because we work with households and families and have to devise solutions that work for all involved, I’ve come to truly appreciate that organizing my home is not just about my needs or perspective. Whatever system I implement in my home has to work for my entire family to be truly successful.
Esther: I look at my own home very differently after helping make choices for others. It’s a lot easier to get rid of things when you know that’s what you’d expect from someone else.
How has your past career or education tied in to becoming an Organizer?
Esther: All my past positions have related to creating some kind of visual order or organization. Sometimes it was on a printed page, sometimes it was on a screen. Now it’s in a 3D space.
Melina: I have a PhD in art history and have worked with museums in various capacities for most of my professional life. Design and aesthetics are elements that have always been key concerns of my work and my life in general.
Who are your ideal clients (or what is your niche)?
Melina: We’ve really enjoyed getting to know all of the clients we’ve worked with, and we’ve been able to achieve amazing results even when on a tight budget. But, in the best of all possible worlds, we would always have a flexible budget when it comes to product—the right products really take a space to the next level visually and often even functionally. That said, I love a good bargain, and I’m always obsessively looking for ways to save our clients money.
What drives your clients to hire a professional organizer?
Esther: Our clients hire a professional organizer because they don’t know where to begin, they are overwhelmed with choices, or they are too busy with other areas of their life to go all in and really make a change to their spaces.
Recent projects by Sort, Store & Style.
Is there a popular season or off-season for professional organizing in Southwest Florida?
Esther: “Season”—and we actually call it exactly that—in Southwest Florida is whenever it’s cold up North. So during the winter months there are a lot more potential clients in town who have winter homes and want their spaces to be peaceful and stress-free so they can focus on recreation and socializing.
Tell me a little bit about how you approach organizing--or your philosophy?
Esther: Melina and I try to balance the pragmatic with the perfect. You may want a Pinterest-worthy space, but that isn’t always the best solution for your lifestyle. Sometimes a more relaxed approach is required. On the flip side, if you only focus on the pragmatic, you miss some of that wow factor that really motivates you to keep up with your newly organized systems and prevents you from adding clutter to your beautiful spaces. It’s a push and pull that the two of us work though to create something that is just right.
What sorts of challenges can you help with?
Melina: We work with all kinds of spaces, from kitchens and pantries to closets, offices, and garages. We also work with business and commercial spaces. Recently we organized a beauty salon. It was a great experience because it required us to really educate ourselves about a salon’s needs, products, and workflow.
Esther: We’re up to most any challenge as long as the client is ready for it.
What opportunities are individuals likely to miss if they try to complete the organization work themselves?
Esther: Clients who try to complete the work themselves will cut corners—they won’t empty a space out completely; they’ll assume they need everything in a box or in a drawer; they’ll put things back where they were, etc. Their old habits and choices will keep them from changing enough and really doing things differently. We start fresh, with an open mind, and without a preconceived notion of how things “should be”.
Melina: I think it’s often difficult to solve a problem when you’re too close to it. Having somebody with a different perspective, and in our case, with the added benefit of experience and training, will help you find better, more creative solutions. Not to mention, we ultimately save them a lot of time and energy.
Is there anything you wish your clients knew before contacting you?
Esther: Clients who contact us should know that we love what we do and we’re really excited to start on their project—whatever it is. We love every new challenge and have a great time doing our very best for them.
Are there any current projects or services that you’d like to highlight?
Melina: Season is about to start in the Naples–Ft. Myers area, so we’re getting excited about the possibilities. We’ve also recently started exploring partnerships with local closet and cabinet companies, so we’re looking forward to being involved in creating even more dramatic transformations for our clients.
To find out more about Sort, Store and Style, visit their website, sortstoreandstyle.com; follow them on Instagram or Facebook, @sortstoreandstyle; or drop them a note at info@sortstoreandstyle.com.
