From an early age, Kacy Paide sought order out of chaos. Growing up, she enjoyed helping her parents clean and organize the basement or garage. By age 13 she had created her first filing system. In college, each year her dorm room became the canvas for a new theme.  Given her passion for organization and love of a good challenge, it was only natural that after graduation she became a professional organizer. A few years later, The Inspired Office, her D.C.-based personalized organizing business, was born.

People and Paper

Paide focuses her efforts on clients that represent eclectic interests, working specifically with creative business owners and the self-employed to create beautiful workspaces that match their personalities and goals. “I am an expert on the quirks and needs of this specific group,” Paide notes. “I like people with many different interests.”

Paide’s past clients, 80 percent of which are women, include a raw food coach, an art historian, a sommelier and visual artists. She enjoys the “cocktail of challenges” that each client presents and, “Working with people willing to change.”

Though Paide has worked on hundreds of projects, her biggest project to date involved a researcher working from home. The researcher had accumulated thirty years worth of paper. Working together, they removed an average of five bags of paper a visit. The end result: transformation of decades’ worth of clutter into an efficient and beautiful workspace. It is intimate work, she mentions, with many of her client relationships evolving into lifelong friendships.

Workspace = Beautiful

For potential clients who feel overwhelmed by their workspace disarray and are ready for help, Paide recommends writing down your vision and asking yourself “How do I want to feel in my office?” Her favorite organizational tool? The Container Store’s elfa Mesh File Cart, great for out of sight, out of mind filing and organization.

Intuition led, Paide bases each project on a personalized design plan. Each plan involves a ten-step process that emphasizes clarification, grouping, sorting, tossing and recycling. And, “Every office should have one piece you love,” Paide says. She also stresses the importance of desk space and light, and often incorporates plants into the workspaces. “I love nature and light,” she says.

Don’t live in the D.C. area? The Inspired Office also offers Virtual Organizing. To learn more about Kacy Paide and her work, please visit theinspiredoffice.com.

Written by Jacey Blue Renner for Moxy Magazine, April 2011. Image courtesy of Kacy Paide.