Moving to Milan can feel exciting right up until the moment the boxes arrive. Suddenly, settling into a new city also means working out where everything belongs, how an unfamiliar home should function and what you actually need to keep. Even after the last box is opened, a home can remain technically unpacked without ever feeling truly settled.
The same can happen after years in the same home. Possessions accumulate, routines change and the space around us can stop reflecting the way we live now. I came to this realisation recently in my own home and wanted to clear things out, reorganise and make it feel lighter. That was when I asked Nina Barberis, a Milan-based space designer and professional organiser, to help.
Moving to Milan: unpacking and setting up your new home
For international residents, setting up a home in Milan often happens at the same time as everything else: starting a new job, registering paperwork, finding schools and learning a neighbourhood. Unpacking can quickly become an exercise in simply finding somewhere to put things, especially when an Italian apartment has a different layout or less storage than the home you left behind.
Professional unpacking and home organisation can make that transition easier. Instead of moving possessions straight from boxes into cupboards, the process starts with how the household will actually use the space: what needs to stay close at hand, what belongs in the cantina, and what no longer makes sense in the new home.
Nina can help with the hands-on part of a move as well as the decisions around it: unboxing, setting up rooms, organising wardrobes and storage, and creating systems that make the home functional from the start. For someone arriving from abroad, that can shorten the awkward period when an apartment is livable but still feels temporary.
Decluttering and home organisation without judgement
Decluttering is often described as getting rid of things, but the harder part is deciding what still belongs in your life. Some choices are straightforward; others are tied to memories, relationships, children or earlier stages of life. Nina has also worked with clients sorting through belongings after the loss of a family member, when the process requires particular sensitivity and patience.
I was embarrassed by how much I had accumulated, which is probably one reason I had postponed dealing with it. Showing someone the cupboards, drawers and storage spaces you normally keep closed can make you feel surprisingly exposed. What I appreciated most was that I never felt judged. Nina was practical, respectful and non-invasive. She helped me make decisions without making them for me.
There is also a very physical side to the work. Boxes have to be opened, cupboards emptied and things sorted. Nina is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and get involved, which matters when the job feels too large to begin alone. The aim is not a perfect minimalist home, but a space that is easier to live in and maintain.
A professional organiser in Milan who understands expat life
Nina’s mixed Russian-Italian origins and her own years living abroad give her an understanding of international life that is useful for expat clients. She spent many years in Spain and knows the experience of building a life away from home. She speaks Italian, English and Spanish, and is a native Russian speaker, while also being deeply familiar with Milan.
That combination of international experience and local knowledge is especially useful when settling in. A new arrival may also need cleaners, repairs, moving help or interior advice. Nina can draw on a local network of professionals, helping clients connect the practical pieces of a home set-up rather than having to find every contact from scratch.
Home organisation with an eye for interiors
Nina’s background in fashion and visual merchandising is apparent in the way she looks at a room. Her work combines organisation with space design, so the aim is not only to create order but to make wardrobes, kitchens, storage areas and living spaces function more logically while still feeling considered.
That distinction mattered to me. I did not want my home to look clinically organised or like a showroom. I wanted it to feel lighter while still feeling like mine. Often that does not require buying something new; it comes from removing what no longer belongs, using existing space better and allowing the things you genuinely like to be seen again.
Nina follows a clear sequence when organising a space: season, selection, visibility and maintenance. She starts with the season you are in, both in the year and in your life, then helps decide what should stay. From there, the focus is on visibility – making sure the things you keep can be seen, reached and used – before setting up a system simple enough to maintain over time. It is a practical method, but also a useful reminder that good home organisation should adapt to the way you live now, not force you into a system that only looks good on the day it is finished.
Leaving Milan: decluttering before an international move
The same support can be useful at the other end of an international move. Leaving Milan may mean sorting through years of belongings in a matter of weeks: deciding what travels with you, what should be sold or donated, what needs to be packed and what has simply been kept because there was never a reason to deal with it.
Packing is also an ideal moment to declutter because almost everything has to be handled anyway. Making those decisions before the boxes are sealed means paying to move less, arriving with less to organise and avoiding the familiar experience of unpacking something in a new country and wondering why you brought it.
Making your home feel like yours again
My own project taught me that the biggest benefit of decluttering was not a more organised cupboard. It was becoming more conscious of what I wanted to keep around me and what I was holding onto simply because it had always been there. Sometimes the home itself has not changed, but life has, and the things around us still belong to an earlier chapter.
For international residents, home can carry particular weight. It is where we create familiarity in a new country and where the different stages of an international life gradually accumulate. Whether you have just arrived in Milan, are preparing to leave or simply want your home to work better, creating order can be a practical way to feel more settled.
A fresh start does not always require a new address. Sometimes it begins by opening the boxes, deciding what belongs and making enough room for the home you already have to feel like yours.
About Nina Barberis
Nina Barberis is a Milan-based space designer and professional organiser who helps clients declutter, organise, unpack and set up homes and other living spaces. Her approach combines practical organisation with an eye for interiors and the individual needs of each client.
Find out more: ninabarberis.com or follow @nina.spacedesigner
Article by Easy Milano editorial staff
Featured photo by Dina Badamshina
