Hairdresser and musician Mia Fanali was already a believer in the benefits of the KonMari Method™ before she and Christine Thorn had the conversation that would change everything.
The singer-songwriter who fronts the band Mia & The Riff had read Marie Kondo’s influential book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing and knew the home she shares with her husband in Shelton, Conn., needed the magic that has made Kondo a worldwide inspiration with her own Netflix show.
Kondo teaches people “that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again,” and when “people tidy their spaces by choosing joy,” they change their lives for the better.
“Somebody years ago told me to get the book,” recalled Fanali, who gravitated to Kondo’s method of living space and lifestyle cleansing, which begins with changing the way you think, as well as changing habits, and involves organizing and decluttering according to the tenets of the Japanese KonMari Method.
“I could just never get it together to do it myself,” said Fanali, a curly hair specialist who styles Thorn’s curly locks. “After doing her hair all these years she became a very good friend. She knows me pretty well.”
When Thorn—a Chiropractor, Reflexologist, Reiki Master Practitioner, and Acupuncturist—told Fanali she had become a certified KonMari consultant, Fanali’s response was: “Oh my God, I need you to come to my house. I can’t do this by myself.”
So, just as Thorn is a client of Fanali’s, she became a client of Thorn’s KonMari Method venture, Sage of Interiors.
Thorn structured their arrangement to meet Fanali’s schedule and budget, coming once a month, taking a break over the holidays, and now preparing to get back to work and finish. “We did the whole KonMari concept,” said Fanali, adding in reference to Kondo’s Netflix show, “That’s exactly what we did.”
Each session was five hours and the process began with a friendly, constructive warning from Thorn: “I’m not your friend today. I’m Christine Thorn, I’m your KonMari consultant.”
“She was great,” Fanali said. “She didn’t let me drift off into doing something else. Just the clothes alone was huge. You take everything out of closet and drawers. I didn’t even realize I have that much stuff. We literally went through every piece of clothing. Then you’re just plowing through the house. I wanted the main living quarters done first and we did it. We went through the whole house. She’s amazing.”
The focus of a “tidying festival” is to keep only those items which bring joy to your life. Other things need to be eliminated. And the things that bring you joy must have a “home,” in order to eliminate clutter and disarray.
The result when that’s accomplished with the help of a certified KonMari consultant like Christine Thorn?
“It is life-changing, it really is,” said Fanali. “My house is peaceful. I wake up in the morning now and I can breathe better, I can sleep better. You don’t realize how distracting it is to try to function in a messy house, a cluttered house. Your brain just sometimes shuts off.”
The tidying naturally will continue for Fanali, but only in small doses, and in the context of having a lasting lifestyle context that’s spare, comforting and joyful.
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Christine Thorn, the Sage of Interiors, creates living spaces of comfort and serenity through the KonMari Method, whose revolutionary category-by-category system yields lasting results.
As Connecticut’s first and only certified KonMari consultant, Christine guides clients in a tidying journey toward keeping things that nourish the soul, and discarding the rest.
Contact her to discuss getting started on your KonMari journey.