A Messy Makeover

A self-confessed pack rat who only recently found the fortitude to let go of her own Brownie uniform, Natalie needed to purge and reorganize on a seismic scale. Her previous attempts had proved futile: "I bought all the organizing stuff and then hoped it would organize itself," she says. So then she hired Jill Matson and Caren Kaplow, partners in the Los Angeles-based life-organization agency Done, which helps clients streamline their material world. The agency also oversees moves and can draw together detailed inventories of a home's contents—invaluable for clients with multiple dwellings.

Done knows how to, well, get things done. Jill and Caren emptied out Natalie's office on a Sunday night and had it itemized, inventoried, painted, and back together—minus 60 percent of its contents—by Wednesday afternoon.