Over the years, I have met interior designers, business owners, architects, and other remarkable individuals, as clients and in daily life, whose work and lives completely inspire me. After getting to know these women and men, I have found that one of the keys to their success is organization. As a result, I decided to develop a question and answer series, The Organized Lifestyle, that showcases their work and dives deep into the daily organizational systems, products, and habits they use and incorporate into their lives.Q & A with Angela Phelps, the owner of Le Village Marche, a Parisian-inspired home decor and gift boutique with locations in Washington, DC and Shirlington, VA.

Have you ever asked your kids to help you clean and organize, and when you get started, it actually seems like more trouble than it’s worth? Getting them to pick up and organize after themselves can require so much effort, energy, and emotion. Here are some tips for kids to get and stay organized.

You walk into a store for organizing products, or type in “color coded folders,” or “best storage containers” online, and your entire world turns upside down. So many choices. So many customer reviews. It’s madness. Even I can feel overwhelmed and get distracted if I don’t filter through all the gorgeous new containers to get to the ones I know will work well for my clients, their spaces, their aesthetics and their budget. Here is how I navigate purchasing organizational products without getting overwhelmed.

My clients often dread the first appointment. They are embarrassed for me to see their “mess and disorganization.” They think I will even judge them, when I am here to help. They don’t know that their clutter is not the worst I have seen in my seven years of business, and even if it were, it wouldn’t matter.