A Fine Messer – Home collaborations

Transform your space

I’m Karen Messer. I am a researcher and consultant. I explore how our spaces influence our day-to-day lives, while working with individual and family to transform their homes into supportive, comfortable and healthy environments.

I use my knowledge of sensory design, coaching, and organization to create happier homes!

I’m ready!

About me

I love organizing. I love seeing how rooms can be transformed after re-arranging their contents. I believe our surroundings affect us at a deep level, making them an important part of our day-to-day wellbeing.

The way I work is informed by my PhD in Relational Space & Organizations, but my love of space goes back as long as I can remember. For me, decluttering doesn’t mean minimalism and I don’t believe you need to spend a lot of money to have a beautiful, supportive, space. It’s about taking the time to discover what works for you.

In many ways homes are a witness and companions to our daily life. They store our memories through objects, scents, and sounds. Like family members or close friends, they are participants in our lives. And like any relationship, the connections with our spaces need tending.Working with our space is less about perfect decor and more about making sure they support us and feel good.

I’m ready to work!

How I can help

Investing in your home or office has a real impact on your metal health and well-being. According to the Happiness Research Institute our homes account for roughly 15% of our total happiness, which is a lot! My services incorporate basic organization and decluttering with spatial coaching, re-structuring and aesthetic support. I can work with what you have and/or look for additional items that will help you and your space flourish. I come with no-judgment and am happy to tackle any type of space. It’s important to feel safe and supported thought the process.

Got Kids?
Life Transition
Home Organization
Rates

Feeling overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that come with kids? It never ends! I’ll work with you (and your space) to create a living environment that feels good and functions well for the whole family. We can tackle your kids room (with permission) to create easy-to-manage storage systems and look at ways to handle the inevitable kid-spread throughout the house.

Are you in a time of change? Maybe you’re ready to let go of old stuff? Perhaps the kids have moved out and you’re looking to re-purpose, or you’re moving to a smaller home and deciding what to bring? Life changes can be very spatial and how we navigate these moments can influence how the experience feels (ie: stressful or empowering.

You know those areas that are used all the time, but also seem to be neglected (and messy). I’ll help you declutter and organize your entrance, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, or office. Together, we’ll come up with an intuitive system that makes your life a little easier. I am not a minimalist, but I can help create a less disorganized and more uplifting environment.

I offer a free introductory consultation (virtual) to understand your needs and hear your goals. A single session (3h) is $250 and additional hours can be added at $75/h. Shorter sessions 1-2h start at $100/h. Sliding-scale pricing is available upon request and I am open to customize rates for longer term projects.

Things to consider

Do you have things you love to do, but don’t do them because the space makes it hard?
Do you have an aging parent who needs help reducing their stuff?
Do you feel like your space is never-ending chaos?
Are you making some personal changes and want your home to support you in that journey?
Are you moving (or just moved) and feel overwhelmed?
Do you have ADHD and find it difficult to keep track of your material possessions?
Do you have kids who have taken over the entire house with their things?
Do you want your space to feel different but don’t know how to start?

Check out my book on the impact of spaces on our everyday lives and work

How to Work with Space

Book Preview

How to Work with Space

Spatial Knowledge in Organizations and Research Practice

Palgrave Studies in Business, Arts and Humanities series. Series Editors Samantha Parsley & Steven Taylor

How to Work with Space draws on relational concepts of physical space as a way of understanding and framing organizational experience. Space is framed as something central and entangled, freeing it from objective, external binaries by positioning it alongside the social, inter-subjective sphere. This cultivates an emplaced, relational, and more-than-human understanding of the emotional, sensory, and atmospheric experiences that happen at work.

By tapping into personal experience, spatial theories become intwined with everyday spaces at home and at the office. This subtly shifts the discussion toward what is possible when space is interwoven into day-to-day actions. The book culminates with a case study exploring the aesthetic, sensory, and embodied relationships between a not-for-profit, youth health organization and their office encounters during a significant relocation. By highlighting before and after moments between the staff and their offices, a rich picture of their experience emerges through spatial memory, sensory knowledge, and aesthetic understanding.

Click here for more information or to buy the book. You can also request it through your local or school library.

What people are saying:

“This book transports us into a world attuned to the ephemeral rhythms, textures, lighting, and atmospheres entangled in ordinary spaces. It makes present a generative world resonating with experience meeting matter, bodies and practices permeated by powerful forms and forces ordinarily ignored.“
— Kathleen Stewart
Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin, author of Ordinary Affects
“This book is a unique exploration of workspace. It draws from a wide variety of philosophies, theories, and concepts to provide a thoughtful, nuanced, and fresh perspective on contemporary workspace and working practices. Throughout the book, Karen Messer asks all the right questions and encourages us to tune in and notice how our material environments can impact our sensory, emotional, and subjective experiences. This book will be a fascinating read for those working in interdisciplinary academic fields, designers of space, and anyone interested in the relationship between human behaviour and space.”
— Harriet Shortt
Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at UWE Bristol, Co-Editor of Journal of Creative Research Methods

Get in touch!

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