Saturday, January 28, 2006
They pitch in, pitch out
With professionals helping, a houseful of clutter is put
in its place and a garage is reclaimed.
By THERESA WALKER
The Orange County Register
WESTMINSTER - There was no camera crew hanging around to film an hour-long prime  time TV show. No hunky home-design guru with his signature "Good Morning" wake-up call. No going to extremes.
That was just fine with the Spaldings of Westminster.
They weren't looking for a big show. They simply wanted help clearing out a cluttered garage and reorganizing the family room.
Their mini-makeover came courtesy of volunteers from the Organizers Network of Orange County. The organization took on the Spalding home as its project for Get Organized Month in January.
The family was chosen through the Wishland Kids Club, which helps Southern California families dealing with a child's life-threatening disease.
The elder of the Spaldings' two boys was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia two years ago. Jennifer Spalding quit her job to care for Tyler, 8, who gets oral and intravenous chemotherapy.
"I just spend more time doing family things than housework," she said.
Jennifer and Terry Spalding share the home with Terry's mother, Priscilla Holtzman, and his younger brother. Jennifer Spalding tried to de-clutter - two yard sales and six trips to donate items to charities in the past two years - but she didn't make much of a dent.
So the mini-makeover loomed large in her eyes.
"It may look small in comparison to the TV shows, but, you know, it's huge," she said, surveying the work in progress as the volunteer organizers sorted through dozens of boxes, bins and bags that lined the 60-foot walkway from the garage to the back yard.
Beth Flarida, who runs her own organizing business, Get It Together, coordinated the effort with 12 organizers who came to the Spalding home over the past week. She secured donations from local businesses - including three walls of built-in cabinets, a library unit, a closet and a two-station computer desk installed by Closet & Storage Concepts in Anaheim.
The makeover totaled between $10,000 and $15,000, Flarida said.
"They had originally asked for the kitchen and garage," she said. "When we got there, they asked instead for the family room and garage. We decided to do all three to keep everybody busy."
Before the organizers went to work Monday, the garage was packed.
"You couldn't walk through it," Jennifer Spalding said. "Well, I mean you could get to the washer and dryer."
By the end of the first day, two employees from Closet & Storage Concepts had installed the first of three walls of floor-to-ceiling cabinets. Out on the driveway, a jumble of old standalone cabinets, shelving and desks waited for the folks from 1-800-GOT-JUNK to haul them away.
The contents jamming the closet in the family room were sorted into bins and crates.
"I didn't realize it had gotten that out of hand," Jennifer said of all the toys, many of them given to Tyler during and after hospital stays.
Even Tyler, who picked through his toy cars along with his brother Brody, 6, noticed a big difference already.
"I like it because me and Brody can get into our stuff easier," he said. "It used to take us, like, 15 to 20 minutes to find a toy."
By the time everything was done Friday, the castoffs filled half a dump truck and a 1,000-pound trash bin.
"She was really good about getting rid of stuff," Flarida said.
Jennifer Spalding and her mother-in-law were particularly pleased with having a spacious garage for a change.
"I never thought this garage could look like this," Holtzman said.
Jennifer Spalding is committed to keeping it that way.
"We tell her we're going to check on her every month," Flarida said.
That sounded OK to Jennifer Spalding: "I'll welcome you, because I'm going to stick to it."
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