Transforming living spaces one home at a time
Ruth Njoki Njoroge is a professional home organiser who runs Ruth’s Interior Décor. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
When I was younger, I remember worrying that my late mother would pass on her obsessive compulsive disorder to me, but that obsession with neatness now earns me a living.
For most of the morning, I was at a client’s house assessing the work. Usually, we take at least four hours at each house for a basic job of rearranging furniture, cleaning and organising shelves and closets
Apart from the open appreciation which I see in my clients’ eyes after a job well done, the best part of my job is that I get to meet different people.
“For the longest time, I was that friend who got invited to housewarming parties by her friends because they knew I loved bringing order to living spaces.
Today, I work as a professional home organiser. Every workday is a chance to teach a client how to maintain order in their home, how to utilise the space they have efficiently while putting in place a workable system. In a nutshell, I get rid of the chaos.
“I was up at 5am for morning devotions after which I made breakfast and got my children ready for school. By 7am, I had seen them off and gotten myself ready for work.
When I got to the office, I set up a meeting with my team to touch base. Because of the nature of my job, most of my team is female.
“When I was younger, I remember worrying that my late mother would pass on her obsessive compulsive disorder to me, but that obsession with neatness now earns me a living.
For most of the morning, I was at a client’s house assessing the work. Usually, we take at least four hours at each house for a basic job of rearranging furniture, cleaning and organising shelves and closets
“Apart from the open appreciation which I see in my clients’ eyes after a job well done, the best part of my job is that I get to meet different people.
I actually met my most memorable client a few weeks ago. The job was to put her house together for guests she was having over the holidays and she offered to fly me and my whole team over to her house.
That she trusted my results so much to be willing to invest that much was very inspiring.
“As in any business, it isn’t always all smooth sailing. In a country that is still plagued with insecurity, a lot of people still have reservations about letting a stranger into their homes.
This means I have the task of earning a client’s trust before getting the actual job. Then there are those clients who just will not embrace change in their living spaces and will insist on holding onto old, out-of-place items, sometimes making it hard for me to do my job.
“I was back home by 6pm to help my two older children with homework and play with the baby. Then we shared dinner as a family.
I bonded with my husband George for about an hour and then read a few pages of Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari before finally turning in at 11.
I wish people would be more aware of their surroundings. There is something for each person to do out there, you just need to look.”
