Space: Katie Aubuchon’s new frontier in the business world
By Alice Crann Good / Photo by Kate Treick Photography
While showing a guest around a grand historic brick house with its sprawling oak trees and lush lawns, Katie Aubuchon’s happiness is as distinctive as her striking red hair and blue eyes.
Her spirit soars as she opens French doors that open onto long, screened-in porches featured on the first and second floors.
The exquisite landmark on Pensacola Naval Air Station is now home for her, her husband, Bryce, two daughters, Allie and Kenzie, two dogs, Sully and Finn, and one bunny, Teddy.
Bryce Aubuchon is a commander in the U.S. Navy and is currently serving as Executive Officer for the Blue Angels 2024-2025 seasons. He’s gone 300 days of the year.
“We previously lived in Jacksonville and moved to Pensacola in 2023 for Bryce’s current position,” Aubuchon said. “We rented for a year on the outskirts of Perdido Key before moving into this historic home on base in June, which has been absolutely wonderful.”
Before Pensacola, the Aubuchons were stationed at Whidbey Island, Washington, for two and a half years.
Born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Aubuchon has one younger sibling, her brother Aaron Smith, now a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy serving on the USS Mississippi in Pearl Harbor.
The siblings, who are “very close,” hail from a military family and all it encompasses. Their parents, Mike and Sandy Smith, played a huge role in their lives and career choices, Aubuchon says.
Her father retired with 23 years in the Army as a chief warrant officer and a helicopter pilot. His career took them to Giebelstadt, Germany, and to several cities across the United States. Her mother was a preschool teacher and dental technician.
“Growing up in a military family, moving was a constant rhythm of life,” Aubuchon said. “The military packed us up, and my parents handled the unpacking, but what always stood out was how they transformed every new house into a home right away. There were no lingering boxes in corners or half-finished rooms, and each space was fully set up, warm and ready to live in from the moment we arrived.
“My mom always made it look so easy; I never saw her struggle.”
But unfortunately, that was not her initial experience as a military spouse, Aubuchon shared. With all the packing and unpacking, Aubuchon said she became prone to feeling anxious and overwhelmed.
“After moving seven times during our marriage, unboxing things I never really liked or didn’t need became an unnecessary chore, followed immediately by the question of where it was going to be stored,” Aubuchon said. “Keeping and trying to display or store unnecessary things became frustrating and made me very introspective on how to avoid this in future moves. The clutter was creating so much visual noise that it was actually causing me to feel anxiety and overwhelmed.”
Letting her positive side take over, Aubuchon regrouped.
“Organization helped calm the anxiety and, in turn, the decluttering process turned into a sort of therapy that helped make each move easier,” she said. “The question of ‘keep or donate?’ and ‘display or store?’ and ‘heirloom or junk?’ turned into a checklist of sorts.
She said she enjoyed the results so much that she decided to create a business out of it to help bring the same feeling of peacefulness to her clients. Thus, her business, The Redhead Minimalist Home Organizing & Staging Services, was born.
Another move to another city became the impetus she needed to keep on track. When her husband received orders to move from Jacksonville to Whidbey Island, their only option was to sell their house.
“After years of having kids, pets, and moving, we had collected a lot of things and had a great deal of furniture, wall hangings, etc., that were purchased to fill a specific space in our old home,” she said. “Things we picked up here and there were filling our cabinets, closets, drawers, wall space and rooms. We held onto things because we thought we might have a place for it in the future, or maybe we could make it work in a future home. However, keeping stuff that may or may not be used made our home look disorganized and randomly assembled. I knew we simply had too much stuff.”
Aubuchon said that was her “Ah-ha moment!”
“We couldn’t sell our home with all of our stuff on display,” she said. “I had to ruthlessly weed through each room and make some hard decisions on what to keep, toss and donate. I did it, and our house was on the market one day before we received a full-price offer.”
Along the way, Aubuchon says she “unofficially became a minimalist.”
“Staging that house made me realize that once I got rid of everything that I thought I loved about the house, I didn’t miss it! The simplicity was actually homier. It was an enlightening moment for me.”
Aubuchon says she adopted the one-in-one-out method. For each new item she brought into the house, one item had to go.
“And I created seasonal capsule wardrobes so I could rotate my outfits instead of getting sucked into buying new things,” she said. “Fast fashion was out, and sustainable pieces were in.”
Dumping out kitchen and bathroom drawers became a monthly tidy-up session, with duplicates, samples, broken items, expired and worn out things being tossed or donated.
“Items had to earn the right to take up space in my containers. Do I still have a junk drawer? Sure, but I know everything that’s in there.”
And it’s been a clutter-free life ever since.
In December of 2023, Aubuchon worked with a blogging coach to help create her website, theredheadminimalist.com. After a great deal of reflection, work, trial-and-error and advice, The Redhead Minimalist was born.
“I now have the amazing opportunity to work with clients and teach them how to create a space they love while letting go of things they don’t need,” Aubuchon said. “I organize, declutter, and edit spaces.
“I also work with individuals and families to create vision boards that allow us to decorate and space plan to optimize their rooms for function and leisure,” she added. “I help people realize what they actually want. It’s surprising how many people know that a change needs to be made, but they don’t know where to begin or even what needs to change. That’s where I come in.”
Aubuchon says her empathy truly helps. She knows first-hand that decluttering can be an emotional experience for many, women and men alike.
“More importantly, I stay with my clients until they’re satisfied with what we’ve created,” Aubuchon said. “Their happiness with the end result is why I do this, because I know what that happiness feels like. I couldn’t be more excited to share that with others. I am on Cloud Nine.”
With a university degree in early childhood education and years of teaching various grades reflected on her resume, in many ways, Aubuchon still teaches important lessons.
“As I reflect on what I want to pass on to my daughters through our life of minimalism, my goal is simple: to show them that it’s OK to like and want things,” Aubuchon said. “But that doesn’t mean we need to own everything we admire.”
She created a great strategy for what to do when something new catches their eye.
“I take a picture of it and save it on my phone. More often than not, the item is quickly forgotten. If it lingers in their minds, it can become something they save for or a wish list item for a birthday or holiday.”
This way, Aubuchon says, her children know that she values what they love, while teaching them the power of pausing before purchasing.
“I help people realize what they actually want. It’s surprising how many people know that a change needs to be made, but they don’t know where to begin or even what needs to change. That’s where I come in.”
— Katie Aubuchon, owner of The Redhead Minimalist Home Organizing & Staging Services.
