A Place For Everything | News: Sally Allen shares her organizing TIPS

A Place For Everything: All the Right Moves to Make A Place For Everything

Regain control of your space and get yourself moving again.

Get Organized!
Home Staging & Redesign
Moving
Senior Move Management
Household
Office
Stay Organized!
Seminars & Workshops
APFE in the News
APFE Tips
About Us
National Affiliates
Gift Certificates
Contractor Guidebook
Contact Us

After a lifetime of dreaming of traveling the world, 78-year-old homebody Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) flies away on an unbelievable adventure, with Russell, an 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer (Jordan Nagai), unexpectedly in tow. Together, the unlikely pair embarks on a thrilling odyssey full of jungle beasts and rough terrain. Other voices include the renowned Christopher Plummer and Pixar stalwart John Ratzenberger.

Based on a true story, this made-for-TV, Emmy-winning drama stars Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis (Jeanne Tripplehorn), both named Edie Beale, who retreat from tony Manhattan society to a mansion in East Hampton, N.Y. After years in isolation, the women are thrust into the spotlight when journalists report on a series of health inspections that find the house -- and its owners -- in shocking disarray. Ken Howard co-stars.

David Fincher directs this Oscar-nominated tale of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) -- a man who was born old and wrinkled but grows younger as the years go by -- with a screenplay adapted from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The plot throws linear conventions upside down to explore love, loss and memory from the perspective of a character living under incredibly unique -- and unexpectedly difficult -- circumstances. Cate Blanchett co-stars.

"Young At Heart" is a documentary on a chorus of senior citizens from Massachusetts who cover songs by Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and other unexpected musicians. Time revises every taste and closes every gap. To observe the Young@Heart Chorus, a fluctuating group of about two dozen singers whose average age is 80, perform "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees in Stephen Walker's documentary "Young@Heart" is to be uplifted, if slightly unsettled. The movie concentrates on the rigorous two-month preparations for a 2006 concert at the Academy Theater in Northampton.

When corporate mogul Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) wind up in the same hospital room, the two terminally ill men bust out of the cancer ward with a plan to experience life to the fullest before they kick the bucket. In a race against the reaper, the new friends hit the tables in Monte Carlo, down obscene amounts of caviar and tear up the road in supercharged cars.

Odd Horten (Baard Owe) is having trouble adjusting to retirement. In the skewed vision of filmmaker Bent Hamer (Factotum), Horten's restlessness launches encounters with a host of strange characters, new behavior and unlikely adventures. He makes new friends, including a doctor he finds sprawled on the sidewalk and a blindfolded motorist, reconnects with an old flame and tries wearing heels -- all representing the end of 40 years of routine.

With aims to revive the faded career of aging author Leonard Schiller (Frank Langella), enterprising graduate student Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) makes his novels the topic of her master's thesis and raises his hopes for a literary comeback. All the while, Leonard's middle-aged daughter (Lili Taylor) remains dubious -- both of Heather's motivations and her own prospects for long-term happiness.

Carrying the scars of an abusive childhood, Savage siblings Wendy (Laura Linney, in an Oscar-nominated role) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) -- a long-aspiring playwright and a drama professor, respectively -- now face the challenge of caring for their ailing father (Philip Bosco). Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, this insightful indie drama explores the depth of one family's emotional disconnect.

Grant (Gordon Pinsent) plunges into an emotional abyss after moving his Alzheimer's-stricken wife (Julie Christie) to a nursing facility and keeping his distance for her benefit. When she turns her affections toward another man, waves of guilt for past behavior pass over Grant. Christie earned an Oscar nomination for portraying the fading yet graceful Fiona in this astute and solemn tale written and directed by Sarah Polley.

Andrew Jenks, Room 335 follows a nineteen year old college student, Andrew, who moves to an assisted living facility in Florida in search for the meaning of life. This gratifying film redeems itself in every way possible and takes the audience on an emotional journey through captivating episodes of joy and sorrow.

Haunted by his father's unsettling death, twenty-something Duncan (Joshua Jackson) tries to create a more stable life when he takes a handyman job at the senior residence where his paternal grandparents (Louise Fletcher and Donald Sutherland) live. It doesn't take long before freedom-loving Duncan feels trapped, but he makes every effort to connect with his deteriorating grandfather and finds solace with feisty caretaker Kate (Juliette Lewis).

This tale of two sisters from producer Ridley Scott and inspired by Jennifer Weiner's novel is based on the theory that wild-child Maggie (Cameron Diaz) and straight-laced Rose (Toni Collette) have nothing in common -- except for their size 8-1/2 feet. But Maggie's discovery of a long-lost grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) the girls never knew they had could be the thing that brings them together for good.

Joan Plowright takes the title role as the recently widowed Mrs. Palfrey, who moves into a hotel while she waits -- and waits -- for her 26-year-old grandson (Lorcan O'Toole) to return her calls after she relocates to London to be closer to him. Mrs. Palfrey is about to give up on her family when a fateful fall introduces her to kind young writer Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend), who -- improbably --becomes her closest friend in this engaging drama.

Two young lovers (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) are torn apart by war and class differences in the 1940s in this adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's best-selling novel. Their story is told by a man (James Garner) who, years later, reads from a notebook while he visits a woman in a nursing home (Gena Rowlands). Nick Cassavetes directs this heart-tugging romance about the sacrifices people will make to hang on to their one true love

Based on best-selling author Mitch Albom's book, this moving TV drama centers on Eddie (Steven Grayhm and Jon Voight), who dies at the age of 83, uncertain that he was able to save a girl from a horrible accident and doubting that his life had any significance. In heaven, Eddie meets five souls who, through flashbacks, show him how he affected the lives of others in amazing ways. Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels and Michael Imperioli also star.

It's 1936, and two sisters, Janet and Ursula Widdington (Maggie Smith and Judi Dench), are at their beach house in Cornwall for some rest and relaxation. But their idyll is interrupted when they chance upon a mystery man awash on the beach and decide to nurse him back to health. Turns out he's Andrea (Daniel Bruhl), a violinist who was bound for America when his ship encountered trouble. Before long, he takes the quiet fishing village by storm.

The members of the Rylstone Women's Institute of North Yorkshire are resourceful and refined -- and they're about to shock the residents of their little English town with a daringly bare philanthropy project. When one of their own (Julie Walters) learns her husband has cancer, the group decides to spice up their yearly calendar fundraiser by forgoing the usual images of the Yorkshire dales and gracing the pages in the nude. Helen Mirren co-stars.

In 1960s Texas, timid teen Walter (Haley Joel Osment) is forced to spend the summer with his rich and eccentric great-uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) on their farm, where, over time, he learns surprising tidbits about their mysterious and dangerous pasts. Emmanuelle Vaugier plays an Arabian sultan's daughter, with whom Duvall's character fell in love years ago. Kyra Sedgwick co-stars.

Anne Reid plays May, a suburban grandmother whose husband dies unexpectedly while visiting their children in London. When May goes there to tend to the tragic matter, she begins to lose her grip on her identity, stripped of her wifely duties and lost in the bustle of a world so foreign to her. But then she meets Darren, a young man who's bedding her daughter, and her life takes a turn for the complicated and the unexpected.

And Thou Shalt Honor documents an exciting new stage in our cultural development. While the huge increase in the number of caregivers in our society can be said to be a result of the success of medical technology, it also represents a breakthrough in our growth as an extended family. During the second half of the 20th Century, advances in medical technology made it possible for individuals to survive for years with diseases and chronic conditions that would have made a rapid death just a few years before. Though laudable, this created a new population of persons in need of caregiving ... and, therefore, a new population of caregivers.

Iris Murdoch (Judi Dench and Kate Winslet, in Oscar-nominated roles) was l'enfant terrible of the literary world in early 1950s Britain -- a live wire who thumbed her nose at conformity via a voracious and scandalous sexual appetite. In this snippet of her life, an aging Murdoch (Dench) faces the onset of Alzheimer's disease and the loss of memories about her younger self (Winslet). Jim Broadbent won the Oscar for his portrayal of her husband

When a bus filled with eight elderly women breaks down in the wilderness, the group of strangers is stranded at a deserted farmhouse with only their wits, their memories and eventually some roasted frogs' legs to sustain them. For several days, the women share their life stories and intimate thoughts. Director Cynthia Scott directs these nonprofessional actors delivering largely improvised dialogue to heartwarming effect.

When Mitch Albom (Hank Azaria) learns his beloved professor, Morrie Schwartz (Jack Lemmon), is dying with Lou Gehrig's Disease, he reconnects with his mentor and learns from him all over again -- but this time, they're studying life. Mitch might be a successful sports columnist and television host, but that doesn't mean he's aced his priorities. This made-for-television movie is based on the real-life Albom's best-selling book.

When a tough New Yorker (Renée Zellweger) learns her mother (Meryl Streep, in an Oscar-nominated performance) has cancer, she quits her job, breaks up with her boyfriend and moves back in with her parents to help out. But she inadvertently uncovers several family secrets, including one about her philandering father (William Hurt). Carl Franklin directs this tear-jerking adaptation of Anna Quindlen's novel of the same name.

An elderly Hume Cronyn copes with the death of his wife (Jessica Tandy, seen mostly in flashbacks) and his own fast encroaching infirmities. But he gets a new lease on life when he forms a tight, almost mystical bond with a devoted dog. The movie is a wonderful chance to see these two stage and film veterans (married for decades in real life) work together.

For decades, next-door neighbors and former friends John and Max (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau) have feuded, trading insults and wicked pranks. When an attractive widow (Ann-Margret) moves in nearby, their bad blood erupts into a high-stakes rivalry full of naughty jokes and adolescent hijinks. Will this love triangle destroy the two old grumps? Or will the geriatric odd couple overcome their differences and rediscover their friendship?

In this adaptation of Fanny Flagg's novel, flashbacks reveal the remarkable and mysterious story of soul mates Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), whose antics cause an uproar in their rural Southern town during the 1920s. Feisty Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) tells the tale to a repressed Alabama housewife (Kathy Bates), who becomes obsessed with Idgie and Ruth, and ultimately finds inspiration in their story.

This four-time Academy Award-winning story based on Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play chronicles the unlikely bond between a genteel but strong-willed Southern matron (Jessica Tandy) and her good-natured African-American chauffeur (Morgan Freeman). It's a contest of wills as they learn how much they have in common, despite their obvious differences. The bumpy road they travel ultimately leads to the friendship of a lifetime.

Family bonds are revived after a father is diagnosed with cancer in this bittersweet drama. Dutiful son John (Ted Danson) cares for his aging father, Jake (Jack Lemmon), but not without complaint. A doctor helps Jake regain his lust for life, but he loses steam when diagnosed with cancer. He spends his time reliving happier days, which turns out to be the perfect family therapy. Olympia Dukakis, Kathy Baker, Kevin Spacey and Ethan Hawke costar.

A New York playwright is summoned to Ireland to bury his father (his "Da"). While at his boyhood home, he encounters his father's spirit and relives memories both pleasant and not. Da is a 1988 film directed by Matt Clark, produced by Julie Corman, and starring Martin Sheen, Barnard Hughes, reprising his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance,[1] and William Hickey. The screenplay was written by Irish playwright and journalist Hugh Leonard, who adapted it from his play Da, with additional material from his autobiographical book Home Before Night.

After their apartment building is bought by an unscrupulous developer, Frank and Faye Riley (real-life couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy) face eviction. But the poor retirees and their neighbors receive help from an unlikely source -- a clan of tiny robotic aliens who supply free electricity and harass the developer's goons. This sentimental sci-fi drama was executive-produced by Steven Spielberg.

Geraldine Page won an Academy Award for this bittersweet tale set in 1947 about an elderly Houston woman in search of happier times. Forced to live with her rotten son Ludie (John Heard) and his wife (Carlin Glynn), Carrie Watts (Geraldine Page) decides she's had enough. She boards a bus headed to her hometown, Bountiful, and befriends passenger Thelma (Rebecca DeMornay). But the sheriff catches up to Carrie's bus just 12 miles from Bountiful.

A group of shut-ins at a rest home get a new lease on life when they're offered the gift of eternal youth by visiting aliens led by Brian Dennehy. Steve Guttenberg plays a charter boat captain who helps Dennehy and Don Ameche (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) marshal their fellow seniors (Hume Cronyn, Wilford Brimley, Jack Gilford, Jessica Tandy and Maureen Stapleton) into making the choice between perennial youth or old age.

Henry Fonda -- in his final role -- plays peevish retired professor Norman Thayer, who's making his yearly excursion with his wife (Katharine Hepburn) to their idyllic summerhouse. But a hostile teen left in their care short-circuits the couple's tranquility. After a rocky start, the old man and the boy forge a bond; can Norman do the same with his estranged daughter? Fonda and Hepburn earned top Oscar honors for their peerless performances.

Death-obsessed teen Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is being hassled by his domineering mother (Vivian Pickles) to play the dating game, but he'd much rather attend funerals, which is where he meets the feisty Maude (Ruth Gordon), a geriatric widow who's high on life. The seemingly mismatched pair forms a bond that turns into a highly unconventional -- but ultimately satisfying – romance in this comical cult favorite from director Hal Ashby.

Financially on shaky ground yet determined to send her son to a top private school, Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) teams up with her unreliable sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), to start a new company that specializes in biohazard removal and crime scene cleanup. Tired of doing all of the work for other people, whether in her job cleaning homes or in her failed relationships, Rose is finally ready to use her entrepreneurial spirit to tidy up her own life.

Below is a great list of classic movies. If you want to read the details, simply click on the movie title.