There are few things more infuriating or baffling than clutter. One day, your home will be sparkling and clean, ready to grace the pages of a magazine… and the next? Where did all this stuff come from?
Clutter can come in all forms, too. There's the obvious kind, like too many tchotchkes or books or toys or all the things you said you were going to put away and then totally forgot about.
But then there's the other less obvious variety of clutter. Something about your home just seems untidy, even after you clean up the mess. So what gives?
There are plenty of tips and tricks for cutting down the clutter, and many of them — like these surprisingly simple tricks using magnets — are great. But sometimes, the clutter runs deeper than that.
Sometimes, it's actually the way a room is decorated and furnished that gives it that overstuffed feeling. And that's something you have to remember.
Luckily, we've come up with a few simple, but style-changing tips to make your home look more streamlined instantly.
Try them out, and you might find your house feeling a little open!
1. Plan Out Your Space
Don’t just push all your furniture against the walls. An unplanned room looks messy, even if it’s not.
Really think about how you want to use a room and place the furniture accordingly. If you’re about to buy furniture, draw up a plan first.
2. Plan Out Your Wall Decorations
You don’t want your walls to be bare, but putting too many things all over the walls can be overwhelming.
If you’re hanging pictures, try to get similarly styled frames and images that go together in terms of colors and themes and really think about how they should be arranged.
3. Get Furniture That's Similar In Scale
The mismatched look can be eclectic and cute, but it can also make your house look like a warehouse for forgotten furniture if you don’t plan it.
You can still have a mismatched look, but the key to making it look designed rather than thrown together.
Make sure the seat heights of couches and chairs are about the same, and make sure that each piece relates to the others.
4. Fluff Your Pillows
It sounds silly, but a fluffed pillow rejuvenates a couch or chair like nothing else.
A squished pillow looks worn and sad, so get to fluffing! This includes the seat and back cushions, as well as throw pillows.
5. Organize Your Cabinets And Pantries
When you have a place for everything inside the cabinets, the space outside the cabinets will remain cleaner, since you won’t have to pull out all four million spice jars looking for the one you want.
A great way to keep pantries and cabinets neat is by using dry goods containers instead of lumpy bags.
6. Pay Attention To Your Entryway
Sure, it’s where you kick off your shoes and hang up your coat, but the entryway is also the first place in your house people see. So don’t forget about it.
If you have room, consider getting a wall-mounted cubby to organize coats, bags, and outerwear. You can also throw some decorations on it!
7. Labels Are Your Friends
Like with the cabinets, storage bins and baskets don’t serve much use if you have to rummage through all of them to find what you’re looking for.
Organize your storage and to make your life much easier, label them clearly so you know what’s where.
8. Clean Up Your Cables
Your home might be spotless, but a tangle of cables on the floor is going to ruin it.
First, go through all your cords and make sure you really need all of them. If they’re not connected to anything, store them away.
Gather long cords into bundles with a zip tie or rubber band and hang them from command hooks from the backs of furniture. No more snaky pile of cables!
9. Corral Your Knickknacks
You don’t have to go completely bare and minimalist, but too many tchotchkes can make a home look messier — plus honestly, they’re a pain to dust.
Consider only keeping your absolute favorites and getting rid of some of the others. Give them as gifts if you’d like to keep them close. Also consider their placement and arrangement.
Try keeping them in a curio cabinet, china closet, or shadow box to protect them… and keep them from multiplying!
10. Invest In Floating Shelves
Especially in a small room, a towering bookshelf can look overwhelming and cramp your space. But you have to put your stuff somewhere, so why not consider floating shelves?
They’re lighter and more minimal than a regular shelf unit, and they have the added benefit of being completely customizable in terms of placement, so they’ll always accommodate your belongings.
Will you be giving any of these tips a try? Let us know in the comments below!
Now that you know the secrets to de-cluttering your space, SHARE these tips with someone who feels like they're constantly straightening up and make their life a bit easier!
