My Biz: Cedar Rapids company designs the next stage of life

CEDAR RAPIDS — Christine Smart has long had an interest in interior design.

After getting her degree from Kirkwood Community College, she worked for several retail outlets. But after helping her husband's parents relocate from Ohio to Iowa and helping her grandparents move closer to family, she saw the opportunity to take her interior design skills elsewhere.

Smart founded Designing Moves, LLC in October 2008. With the assistance of three part-time employees, Smart helps seniors plan for aging in their homes, along with downsizing, moving, unpacking, interior design and estate dispersal. They work with clients to figure out what to do with all the stuff they no longer want or need, by recycling, donating, selling items at auctions or estate sales, even getting items into the appropriate museum collections.

'People have a lot of stuff they just don't know what to do with,' Smart said. 'We stay on top of what the landfill takes. It's pretty rare that we actually back up a dumpster and start pitching stuff. Most of what people have we can recycle or get back into the community. People don't realize the great amount of vetted resources we have.'

Smart said the company often is contacted by clients who need to move to a retirement community, or children cleaning out their deceased parents' home.

'With these types of projects, the emotions get tangled around in everything which can slow things down,' she said. 'We can get it done quickly because we are a neutral third party.'

Smart said it has been important for her business to change as it grows.

'We work with professional movers who hire employees and one big thing that has changed has been that I oversee movers packing instead of Designing Moves doing the packing.'

She said the company also used to sell clients' items but have gotten away from that because of a saturated downsizing market.

'Things aren't selling for what they used to,'

Smart is accredited through the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), an organization she found online when she was just starting out. Today, she serves on the organization's board of directors. She said she is grateful for the education she continues to receive from the organization and the important ethical backing they provide.

'I have taken a lot of classes and continue to take them. It's important to me that I stay educated. We owe that to our clients,' she said, adding that the organization has a code of ethics.

'And we have a code of ethics at NASMM,' she said, noting that next week kicks off National Senior Move Manager Week. 'We feel that the person in transition is our client and we act as an advocate for them. They are losing their choices in a lot of ways but they should feel like they still have a voice.'

Designing Moves works with a variety of clients around eastern and central Iowa, sometimes for a few short weeks, other times for longer periods of time.

Smart said she has even started working with some baby boomers that want to get a handle on organizing their home. 'You've taken decades to amass the stuff in your home so spending two or three years tackling the task can be really worthwhile.'

'And we (as an industry) really see the boomers staying in their homes, aging in place and that is really where my design skills come in, helping them move stuff out and make sure they can get around.'

Her background in interior design continues to help her serve clients well, as she designs the spaces they transition to, working to maximize comfort and functionality. Today, Designing Moves works mostly with downsizing clients, estate clean outs and working with trust departments.

She is currently working with a client to help her get her important papers in order. 'We are particularly passionate about this,' she said. 'We tell our clients they are able to make some of these choices before their family does it for them.'

Naturally, Smart said she learns a lot from her clients.

'Many of my clients were also business owners so they have offered advice and support,' she said.

'One thing I have learned is that families have the best intentions of getting a house cleaned out but because they are paralyzed over not knowing what to do, it can drag out for years,' she said. 'An unoccupied home usually is not insurable and damage from weather or old pipes is costly. Even families that function well under stress can sometimes fall apart in this process. It isn't for the faint of heart.'

'But it takes a very compassionate person,' she added. 'You have to let the client go through the process because you don't want to feel like you are forcing them. And sometimes you go into someone's home and they are gone already. We do everything we can to respect their wishes and put things in order. You feel like you are on sacred ground.'

AT A GLANCE

Name: Christine Smart

Title: President

Company: Designing Moves, LLC

Address: 222 Third St. SE No. 525, Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 377-6891

Website: www.designingmoves.net/

Know a company in business for more than a year that would make an ideal My Biz? Contact Francie Williamson at francie.williamson@thegazette.com