10/23/03

By JoAnn Boatwright

The Argus

"Help!" wrote Tammy Ellingson of Hillsboro to producers of KATU's "A.M. Northwest" producers in her pitch to win a makeover for her home office.

She was willing to risk mortification in order to get orderly.

Ellingson, a wife, mother (Isaac is 2 1/2 years old) and fledgling day care provider, is also a woman passionate about cooking, arts and crafts projects, and writing. She had plopped everything from wrapping paper to candles to family memorabilia into her house's "home office."

The computer was there, surrounded by loose papers, stacks of books and an assortment of odds and ends that didn't seem to fit anywhere else in her family's home. "The room had become this catch-all for years of stash-and-dash cleaning," Ellingson wrote.

Once chosen, the former language arts teacher put herself (and her room) into the hands of Vicki Norris, a professional organizing consultant who does monthly segments on "A.M. Northwest."

Norris operates her own Sherwood home-based business, Restoring Order, and is the current president of the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Organizing Professionals.

She and a crew of three -- Kristi Dibbern, Dawn Grillo and Katie Skagerberg -- arrived last Thursday and put Ellingson through an extensive interview before entering the room she hoped would become "multi-functional and streamlined so I can enter with ease and sit down to work in ergonomic splendor."

The intake assessment may be the most important part of the organizing project, said Norris. "We have to find out what is and isn't working and how Tammy got here."

Norris is quick to point out that she does not run a counseling service, nor does she run a cleaning service.

In a nutshell, she's a coach who teaches messies who are ready to change their ways how to "restore order."

Norris' trademarked philosophy is, "When the chaotic life you're living in your personal or business world isn't the life you want, it's time to Reclaim Your Life."

She and her crew and Ellingson cleared the home office of everything and Tammy and her husband, Steve, took the opportunity to paint the room a soft sage before the Restoring Order gang returned. They sorted Tammy's life into household management, cooking, crafts and day care business categories and then moved items from each category to where they would be used.

Cookbooks went to the kitchen. Labeled daycare items went to a cupboard just outside the cheery play room. Labeled craft items went into stacked plastic drawers the Ellingsons already owned. Household files were placed right next to the computer.

Drawing from Ellingson's own artwork and collectibles, Norris and her helpers streamlined her office, while still giving it a sense of her personality and interests.

"They didn't throw anything away and we worked with them to set priorities," said Ellingson, who says the new system, from filing to tidying, is one she can work with. "I'm thrilled with the results," a happy Ellingson said Monday after the television crew left following a live 8-minute broadcast from her new office.

"Vicki and her team were never judgmental," Ellingson said of her messy-to-tidy conversion. "They were really on my side. Winning the services of Restoring Order was such a tremendous gift."

"Every time I walk by the open door, I want to come in and sit down and DO something!" she added. "I knew the clutter and chaos were stifling me and creating stress around undone tasks, but I really had no idea just how liberating it would be to have this in order."

Now, since order has been restored, Ellingson can get busy promoting her new daycare business, doing volunteer work and running after Isaac.