Aside from Organizing for a Vision impaired Client, organizing a Mortuary’s beauty supply items was definitely a unique experience I will not soon forget. Yes, I was among friendly folks, it was very quiet and no one talked back! You cannot imagine the jokes I’ve endured from my family🤪.

After discussing my Client’s needs during the initial Discovery call, I knew a follow-up on-site walk-through was necessary. Upon visiting, my concerns were eased by the peaceful and gorgeous establishment. However, going into the mortuary called for a different prayer. I had to shift my focus from my location and place greater focus on the area needing organizing, the staff’s needs, and increasing function and aesthetics. My D’Vine way—Organize, Simplify and Style.

The most surprising elements during this visit were:

1.The amount of cosmetics retained; in their world they are not focused on cosmetics expiration… think about it!

2. The vast product categories beyond cosmetics— from accessories (gloves, jewelry and tiaras) to hair styling and barbering tools. Literally, imagine a beauty supply store.

After leaving, I planned the best approach for organizing the overwhelming quantity of products. My approach: initial visit— organize and categorize items. Then, simplify by discarding products that were broken, no longer useful or needed. Final visit would be to Contain and Style.

During the 1st session, I had the opportunity to observe the funeral director, mortician and mortuary cosmetologist in action and concluded that:

*Tugging at drawers while searching for their needed products made for messy drawers and furniture. Installing large industrial shelves would eliminate the need for many different and impractical storage solutions.

*Assembling items neatly in drawers was not effective, they needed open containers on shelves to reach-in, grab items and go.

*Creating zones and LABELING every container would increase efficiency for the staff and maintenance.

As a result, I then shopped and selected smoke-colored plastic bins for ease in cleaning, function and style. Armed with a list of identified products (30+ categories requiring labels), I then created black labels to match bins and wall color aesthetics.

Final day; always my fav! Styled space—created zones (i.e.,clothing, hair, cosmetics, disposable items, hardware tools), contained previously categorized items and labeled containers.

Although this was a unique space, my usual approach to organizing still applied. In the end, function and aesthetics increased, the project was fulfilling, the client is pleased and all are at rest. 😉