Peter Walsh helps Cynthia Tobin organize her house for summer

Photo: Saverio Truglia

The winter was brutal, much to Chicagoans' discontent. But now it's spring at Cynthia Tobin's home in a leafy suburb north of the city, and the mood here is warm and hopeful. As the flowers bud outside, organizing whiz Peter Walsh, star of the Oprah Winfrey Network's Enough Already!, sorts through a slow-moving glacier of bills, permission slips, and grade school artwork threatening to take over the kitchen side counter. His goal: to make the space bright and airy—not to mention usable—for summer. You could say he's helping Tobin thaw out her kitchen.

A former financial analyst, Tobin runs her family's lives with impressive efficiency but is less exacting about their home, which, despite ample natural light, spends much of the year darkened by an intractable layer of clutter. As she multitasks to stay on top of her son's Mandarin lessons and her daughter's ballet commitments, Tobin lets the seasons pass without strategic purging; heavy coats dominate the closets well into August. She tries to straighten up each night, but too often this means shuffling papers from one counter to another before collapsing on the couch to watch whatever she's DVR'd—Modern Family, 30 Rock—with her husband, Corey. If none of this suggests hoarding tendencies, neither does it encourage the singular pleasures of summer—an afternoon spent absorbed in a book (the house needs tidying!), a spontaneous barbecue with friends (ditto), kicking a ball around in the backyard with the kids (who can find the ball?). To Walsh, organization means more time to spend with family and enjoy the extra daylight. "The words organic and organize have the same root," he says. "Organic makes me think of things that are fresh, natural, whole, and healthy—and organization brings the same mood into a space."
Messy, cluttered kitchen counter

Photo: Saverio Truglia

A Chaotic Catchall...
Walsh has been enlisted to help "summerize" Tobin's house—in other words, to de-clutter, add storage for winter items, and incorporate a few key brightening accents. As Walsh sees it, the problem is that much of the family's stuff has no permanent home. Since no one knows where to put anything, it spreads across all available real estate (the coffee table, the counters, the floor).

The kitchen, where Tobin mans her laptop and prepares meals, is the family's hub, but when Tobin enters it each morning, she feels panicked. Bills go unpaid, jury summonses ignored. She is perpetually behind and overwhelmed. "When the house is clean, I have this feeling of freedom," she admits.
Organized, uncluttered kitchen counter

Saverio Truglia

...Becomes a Bright and Serviceable Mail Center
Walsh designs a "mail center": three stacked letter trays on the counter into which mail will be sorted immediately upon entering the house. One tray is for open bills and other matters needing attention, one is for things requiring Corey's input, and one (the top and most easily accessible) is for notes and reminders from the kids' school. Invitations to upcoming social events, meanwhile, get an upright magazine file. When Tobin explains that she often abandons new mail to make lunch or grab a phone that's ringing off the hook, Walsh says, "Later is the best friend of clutter." In other words, "You can't always let the urgent take precedence over the important."
Winter storage in garage

Saverio Truglia

Add Winter Storage
Tobin's house has closets and a garage, meaning she can get by without storing seasonal stuff in the basement. But creating a designated space for sleds, skates, and outerwear "gives your closets and garage a lighter feel," Walsh explains, "and lets your space breathe." He helps Tobin corral the family's heavy coats and hang them on a canvas-covered garment rack he's set up next to industrial plastic shelving in the basement; on the shelves he places Corey's snowboard boots and helmets—which were crowding the gardening equipment in the garage—and boxes of scarves, gloves, and hats, all clearly labeled. "When the first snow comes, I'm in a mad dash trying to find mittens," says Tobin, who is thrilled to have her family's entire stash in one place, as well as extra space in the garage.
Messy living room

Photo: Saverio Truglia

Clear Your Surfaces
In the living room toys, DVDs, and issues of Architectural Digest proliferate unchecked. "Where does it all belong?" asks Walsh, bewildered by the lack of storage. He produces a clear acrylic rack for Tobin's magazines. Then he instructs her to keep only three back issues of any title.

"But—" protests Tobin, reaching for a 2007 issue of Elegant Homes.

"Your house will never look like that," says Walsh. "Nor should it. What's important is that your space works for your family."

On to the toys. Walsh tells Tobin to be ruthless. "Back in the day, you got a stick and you were happy!" he trills, tossing dolls and beeping trains toward several canvas folding bins he's provided; whatever doesn't fit has to go. "Without exception, when you throw away 90 percent of the toys you think your kids need, they come into the room and start dancing." This inspires Tobin to part with a few plastic teacups.
Bright, clean living room

Photo: Saverio Truglia

Create a Lighter Ambience
By now, the house feels—well, like it's taking a deep breath. "Think of your fondest images of summer," Walsh says. "For me, it's an open door, a blue sky, a thin curtain blowing in the breeze...." Now it's time to "bring that sense of light into the space," he says. Which means Tobin's taupe throw pillows are taken to be cleaned, replaced by a cheerier set in oranges and whites. The coffee table, meanwhile—pushed aside to make room for the toys—returns to its rightful place in front of the couch, set with a vase of fresh flowers (the quickest way to bring "clarity" to a room, says Walsh). Next to it, Tobin's new magazine rack and an additional standing lamp form the perfect reading nook. Corey's guitar, long banished to the basement, stakes out a space in the corner. The room is now a refuge for the whole family: perfect for games, relaxing with a glass of wine, watching a DVD—or leaving, anxiety-free, to spend a summer evening outside.

Peter Walsh's 3 easy ways to declutter and brighten your home for summer