Customer Reviews

Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Organization: Unclutter Your Home, Unclutter Your Life

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is just the book I needed for my New Year's resolutions. I'm afraid that I'm a hoarder and as Lowell points out, getting rid of things isn't a physical action, "It's absolutely psychological." I'm not alone in this, as most of us have more possessions than we can comfortably care for.
His book addresses clutter in a decorating sense, not as a plan to just empty out overstuffed junk drawers. He poses questions such as:
*Does my home tell my story?
*Does this item have meaning to me?
If you sometimes find your home overwhelming and despair that it could ever look like the decorator's showcases on television, then it's time to try a book like this.
The storage solutions are things you can do yourself or easily buy in a store. The resulting rooms look good, not cheap.

Once again, Christopher Lowell goes beyond the technical side of design and organization and gives advice to those of us whom don't have a background in interior design. As a Interior Design student, I found that Christopher takes the technical side of organization and makes it "real" again. His views and eye for things is excellent, as always, and makes taking control of our environment easy and effective with step by step ideas and methods instead of putting things in a grand scope, which is how we became disorganized to begin with.

If you're overwhelmed with "stuff" and need help purging, then this is the book for you. Lowell's exceptional design skills combined with his personal charm make the book an enjoyable, worthwhile read. Lowell presents a clutter "attack-plan" that's very easy to comprehend and initiate. He describes how to first eliminate the obvious junk and then follows with a step-by-step method for letting go of items people tend to be more attached to (i.e. things we spent good money on but don't use, or gifts we don't like but were given to us by friends and family). Lowell's book discusses ways to tackle colossal amounts junk, unused "good stuff", and ways to minimize the feelings of guilt associated with the purging process. The send half of the book illustrates Lowell's design genius. Before and After photos show how remarkable a room can be after a design face-lift, clutter is removed, and functional storage systems are incorporated. If you simply need help deciding which basket would work best for your 5 neatly folded sweaters, then don't buy this book. However, if your situation is a bit more dire - for example, getting to the closet door is an obstacle course, which reveals a sea of clothing on the floor scattered with items that belong in the kitchen, den, dumpster, or wherever - then this is the book for you!

The book had very little to do with organization. It dealt with how to declutter your home, but it did not explain how to reassemble it when all of the junk was removed. Also, only half of the book was dedicated to organization. The other half contained pictures of rooms that Mr. Lowell and company designed. It is more like a picture book than anything else.

Written with humor and Christopher Lowell's usual spunk, this book contains some very fundamental key ideas to effectively change how you manage your clutter and once utilized, it can reduce or eliminate clutter (if you take it to heart and actually follow through on a consistant basis). Myself, a once "shop til you drop" and hoarder with cluttered rooms (not dirty), I experienced what it's like to relocate and move all that clutter, and it was a nightmare, so I resolved to clear out the clutter for once and for all. After watching the moving van get loaded, my neighbor's wife remarked, "How did she fit all that stuff in her house?", and her husband replied, "That's something you don't need to know!" Many of the decluttering ideas the author has outlined are things I found out by trial and error, reading lots of books on the subject and being motivated to unburden myself of things I really don't need. Still on the path to further declutter, I spied this book and picked it up. Christopher Lowell has organized some great ideas of how to initially attack the clutter into a good plan to systematically rid yourself of the clutter and change your bad habits through daily management of any further clutter once it's cleared. He also defines what clutter consists of....things we don't normally think of as "clutter", and it's amazing how eliminating all of that makes us feel....wonderful! It is not an easy journey, the emotional part will take some grit, but it gets easier and easier as you follow his lead and you may have to go back after the first round and the second round and eliminate even more.....but it does work! Buy this if you are overwhelmed with clutter and are seriously looking at where to start and how to manage it, and know that it does work when you take it to heart and work the program. It will open up new things for you!

Practical,sound advice that really works to unclutter ones life. Lowell gets to the route of the problem instead of just superficial fixes, and the usual expensive storage solutions. Although he suggests to give the book away after reading it to avoid adding to clutter, I'm keeping it......The photos are superb, I'm convinced Christopher Lowell is a true master of design and clutter.I miss watching his TV show. This book fills the gap. Looking forward to the next new book by Christopher Lowell.

I have been checking out this book from the library for years. Finally got around to getting my own copy and one for a friend. Christopher has the reasons, the method and the motivation for getting rid of excess and organizing everything.

This is a wonderfully practical book to help anyone organize their living spaces. Humorous and engaging, this book is a real motivator with step by step ideas and instructions for creating a clutter free and decor ready environment. Take it from a person whose collections generally ended up in piles and had 101 projects that most likely would have never been completed. The self esteem issues of working through the "clean out" and "clean up" phases that turn a messy room into a blank canvas ready for exciting decor (great ideas for that also) are compassionately addressed. Want to have a showcase home? This book shows and leads you through the first stages. All five of the Christopher Lowell book series are inspirational, motivating and most of all, fun! I would heartily recommend this book to anyone looking for ideas and help to create an inviting, warm and refreshing atmosphere in their home.

Just like a good friend, CL is there to take you by the hand and lead you through your home. "And we're walking...we're walking...'

This book finally got me started. With Christopher's helpful tips I am finally getting organized! This is a must have book.