Back in 2021, sisters Carolyn Hoffman and Emily Freund set out to work their way through a reorganization of Carolyn’s home.
“At the time, I didn’t really know where to start and I would get emotionally attached to things and then just be at a stand-still with it,” says Hoffman. “So, my sister started coming over and she would give me guidance and help me come up with ways to better organize things.”
The two sisters quickly discovered that they made a good team of organizers, one they would later turn into Two Sorting Sisters.
“We really worked efficiently together and played off of each other’s strengths,” Hoffman says. “We started to realize how enjoyable it was and truly got satisfaction our of creating solutions and making it look nice.”
Freund had always wanted to get into interior design, and Hoffman, who comes from a business background, always shared that interest as well.
“Carolyn has always had that kind of entrepreneurial mindset,” says Freund.
“It was kind of an ‘aha’ moment for me where I realized that we could actually do this for a business,” says Hoffman. “Between the two of us, we have seven kids, so we’ve been busy raising them. But we now have three in college, so we started having some more time on our hands, and we just figured, ‘Why not now?’”
Fast forward to March of 2022, and the two officially launched the upscale organizational business that caters to residents in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Since then, they have taken on a number of projects, including an interior designer’s office, a home schooling area, walk-in closets, pantries, mud rooms, and kitchens.
“Think Khloe Kardashian’s pantry,” says Hoffman. “We want it to look organized, but also step it up a little with that interior design aspect. That’s really our niche.”
Divvying Up the Work
Hoffman takes the lead on the business and marketing aspect of the company, and Freund is responsible for crafting solutions for clients.
“When we go into a client’s home, she is always doing the measuring and visualizing what solutions are going to work best for the family, yet also look beautiful,” says Hoffman.
“We go into these homes and have seen all different levels of organizational needs,” says Freund. “For the most part, people just have too much, and they’ve sort of thrown their hands up and given up.”
“We see these families being affected in their everyday lives by not being able to find things,” says Hoffman, adding that that creates angst.
The two sisters are big on the idea that everything has a home.
“Our system is really purge, sort, contain, and find a home,” says Freund. “If everything doesn’t have a home, it is our job to find it a home.”
“We’ve actually had two separate clients refer to us as organizing fairies,” Hoffman adds, with a laugh.
The sisters offer a free consultation as part of their process. They meet with the client to discuss what’s needed. They then coordinate a time to come back, if they are hired.
The two have learned over the past year that there seems to be a domino effect when it comes to home organization.
“The home for something may be better served in the basement or in a closet or cabinet that is currently being used for something else,” says Hoffman.
Many times this leads to things being done in stages.
“We had one client who had use do their pantry, kitchen, bar area, and mud room on the main level,” Hoffman says. “And now we’re going to come back to tackle the basement.”
The business has provided a way for the sisters to spend time together.
“It’s fun to share this with my sister,” says Hoffman. “As stressful as it can be, we have a lot of laughs and a lot of moments where we’re making memories. We’re five years apart, so we were not super close growing up. Since having our kids, we were able to share that together, and now moving on to this next phase, it’s another thing that we can share together and are really enjoying.”
Feature image courtesy Two Sorting Sisters
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