OrganizingLA Blog

John Trosko's February Surprise, Funny Appearance on The Bonnie Hunt Show

Last February 5, 2010, my best friend Scott and I attended the Bonnie Hunt Show at Culver Studios, a purely leisurely visit. Nothing to do with my business, or so we thought.

The day before, show coordinators asked Scott and I to acknowledge "National Wear Red Day" by wearing red clothing and showing the audience it's okay to speak up about heart disease. Before we left for the taping in Culver City, I updated my twitter account that I was being forced to wear red, a color I am not particularly fond of (but I'm always a good sport and listen to directions). Throughout the show, Bonnie kidded me in good fun about my twittering, my haircut and my red pants (which I am proud to say are fabulous tailored slacks from New York City-based Bonobos - and yes, I did have people asking me where they were from). Towards the end of the show, I was surprised with a celebrity doppelganger with a split screen of myself and Donald Trump.

We received a TON of blog and Twitter followers from our "appearance" as the "professional organizer" in red because Bonnie mentioned my full name several times. Well we finally got the tape and are excited to show it. Share your comments below, but please be kind!

Read More:

The Bonnie Hunt Show - official website

John's Twitter account - follow him

John's YouTube video account - see more videos

Bonobos - fabulous tailored men's pants, polos, shorts and more

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Donald Trump and his desktop filing system

Donald Trump teaches us to build a connection to a charity - to get organized

Experts Guide Series with contributing author Donald Trump

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Russell Brand Organizes Social Experiment @ Beverly Center in Los Angeles

Some people shop to live. Some people live to shop.

What happens when your trips to the department store spiral out of control into an addiction? Maybe you're not that extreme. But maybe you've been guilty of replacing something too soon only to let the perfectly good slightly older item sit on the shelf unused and unloved? 

 

British Comic and Actor Russell Brand is hosting a pop-up and exchange shop at Los Angeles Beverly Center on Thursday May 27. He wants to raise awareness in a social experiment on consumerism and the re-use and recycling of perfectly good stuff. Here's what the website says:

"The shop will initially be stocked by donations from Russell, his friends (some celebrity) and companies prepared to contribute end of the line / out of season items. We are also welcoming donations from the public.

On the day Russell will act as vendor greeting customers and managing exchanges. Ideally we'd like the day to serve a genuine purpose and therefore hope that customers will bring items of some value, not in terms of their financial worth but with regard to their function. However, don't let this put you off bring your unwanted items and get prepared to swap."

As a professional organizer, we feel this is a fascinating idea and we applaud Russell for innovating this experiment. Our two missions are aligned, we're all about keeping the things you love and letting go of the things you don't serve you anymore--but let them go in a responsible way. If we're able to attend Thursday, we'll share what we discovered on our Twitter account. But in the meantime, what kinds of items would you swap if you could? Share with us using the comment section below.

image above of Russell and fiance Katy Perry courtesy Now Magazine.

Read More:

Buy Love Here - website

Russell Brand - official website

Russel Brand - Twitter

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Photos from the Fifth Annual Los Angeles Organizing Awards Red Carpet

Here are some pictures of the amazing Peter Walsh, the lovely Linda Koopersmith and yours truly organizing the Red Carpet at the 2010 Los Angeles Organizing Awards last January.

The Awards celebrate the best and brightest in the organizing industry. This year's celebration was held at Raleigh Studios Hollywood, one of the oldest and most historically significant film and video production centers in Los Angeles.

Besides being an author, Office Max and California Closets Spokesperson, Peter Walsh (above left) is the former star of Clean Sweep on TLC. He's busy casting for his Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) show to premiere later in 2010.

Linda Koopersmith is known as the original Beverly Hills Organizer and starred in Clean House for the Style Network. Besides authoring her own book, Linda has also also been busy filming organizing and interior design makeovers for the Insider and Entertainment Tonight.

photos courtesy NAPO Los Angeles and photographer Paul Redmond

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Candy Spelling Gives Us Brilliant Attic Organization Tips

When we first called Candy Spelling The Mother of Home Organization in 2006 (over four years ago), little did we know she would open up her private life and home to the discerning cameras of 2010.

Besides being the largest home in Los Angeles (56,000/square feet) we highlighted her stellar organizing skills and her passion for gift-giving in her now famous gift-wrapping room. In fact, our article was so popular, our piece was picked up in a closet organizing feature on Glamour.com.

Now... the Attic:

Lately, it's been really fascinating seeing her Holmby Hills home she calls the "Manor" in the media. She's even talked on national talk shows about her tendency to "hoard" and collect possessions. In a new blog post on Shine, Spelling opened up even more and shared pictures of her massive 17,000/square foot attic. And this professional organizer has to be honest, we're savoring every word she writes.

Here is Candy's 17,000/square foot attic. She says there is "too much of our lives up there to be stuffed, piled and forgotten" and she actually looks forward to going to the attic at least "four or five times a week, and sometimes every day." How many of us can say that?

 

"I have almost a hundred different kinds of light bulbs (for everything from koi pond reflectors to French lampposts), plus unique duplicates of every carpet, wall covering, upholstery fabric, stone, and paint used in the house. Everything is labeled..."

Candy's Organizing Tips:

There's a lot more in her post including 6 exclusive expert organizing tips from Candy. Tips include her thoughts on why you must be discriminating, the importance of labeling everything, protecting your valuables, placing photos on the boxes, and most of all checking in every so often to maintain (and enjoy) the system.

Whether you think Mrs. Spelling is over the top, or not, you have to admit she seems to have tackled life's treasures... all within reach and certainly all for enjoyment. As Candy says "Life moves very quickly, and there’s no reason to shut out the past."

Thoughts?

Images from People.com, and Yahoo Shine

Related Posts:

Candy Spelling: Mother of Home Organization (July, 2006)

Closet Clean Out by Actress Tori Spelling (July, 2006)

Read More:

A peek at Candy Spelling's colossal 17,000-square-foot attic—plus, how she conquers all that clutter (Shine.com)

Candy Spelling (Official Website)

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Does Your Storage Look Stylish?

My friend Denise Wakeman is an avid runner and snaps all these great photos when she is out and about in Los Angeles.

At night and on the weekend, Denise closes the door to her online marketing advisory company (she's also our business blog coach), and runs all over the city for fun, and on occasion, enjoying half-marathons. This weekend she posted some shots around the Hollywood Hills, the original Mullholland Hwy, Lake Hollywood and the Hollywood sign.

Denise posted this picture of a garage door somewhere near Lake Hollywood- and we loved it so much we had to share it. We're not sure if the design was painted, printed or transferred. But isn't it marvelous? Reminds us of the garage door we discovered in Beverly Hills, with glass doors.

Check out Denise Wakeman, Founder of the BlogSquad, where you can see more pictures of her exploits this past weekend.

Do you have a garage door in your neighborhood that's particularly amusing? Let us know about it in the comment section below.

Related Posts:

Karl Rove's cluttered garage

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