A 4-point guide.
You look through the home decor and interior design magazines, and think “Wow, those rooms look so nice!…
“Everything in place, nothing out of place, and so much room!”.
And then you look around at your own room, and think “Why can’t my room look like that?”.
Well, it can.
What you need to do is declutter your room.
Clear away what is not needed, and have better options for storing things.
Here is the ultimate guide to removing clutter from your room, from Bangladesh’s best interior design company.
Blog overview
How to declutter your room – guide:
- Have a process
- Organize your clothes
- Organize and store non-regular use items
- Get innovative storage furniture
- Bonus feature and bonus tip
Ready?Let’s begin!
Have a process
Do a “sweep” of your room every week. Consider every item in the room.
Take care of it as per the Three Box Method.
Don’t know the Three Box Method?
Keep reading, I have explained it in the Bonus section.
Have a vision for each space
Have a clear vision for each space in your room.
What is it meant for?
Is it being used as planned?
Think about the purpose of each room
Every room has a purpose. For example, the bedroom is for you to get refreshing sleep, which allows your body to repair and recharge itself.
Then think, what kind of aesthetic is necessary for that room to serve its purpose?
Consider each piece of furniture – what are you using them for?
For example, are you actually using that big chair to sit in the morning to have coffee and read the paper?
Or are you just dumping clothes on it?
Like this, think about every piece of furniture, and modify/move/remove it as per your actual need.
Organize your clothes
Arranging clothes is a big part of room decluttering.
- Like I said before, many people have a bad habit of throwing clothes on chairs, on the bed etc.
- Also, you sometimes have a sentimental connection with some clothes, and keep holding on to them even if you have no use for them.
Take the time to think about clothes, and plan what to do with them, and how to best store them.
Select clothes for removal
As I said, we have sentimental attachments with some of our clothes, and we keep them for a long time without wearing them.
This is a waste of space, and adds to clutter.
Clothes that you haven’t worn in the last one year – do you have a reason for keeping them?
Organize your wardrobe
For example, put short sleeved items together. Or, if you don’t have that many clothes, keep all shirts together.
This might sound like nothing, but it will free up space and make it easy for you to choose and get clothes when you’re dressing up to go out.
Organize and store non-regular use items
There are many items (like accessories) that we don’t use on a regular basis.
Often, these are simply kept on surfaces or in drawers in our rooms, at easy reach, though we don’t need them.
This is a waste of space.
For non-regular use items, keep them in boxes, and store those in your storeroom.
Keep an eye on furniture
Often we don’t realize it, but a lot of the furniture in our rooms is unnecessary.
Go over your furniture and eliminate those that aren’t serving any purpose.
This is essential to freeing up floor space, which is essential in making your small room look larger.
How to think about accessories
Here’s how to think about accessories (like luxury pillows on your bed):
- Having all the accessories that you think make your room look better – nice.
- Having a few, well-chosen accessories that make your room look better and clutter-free – better!
So, go through all your accessories and think about what to keep and what to throw away.
Furniture placement
For example, take the television.
Whether it is on the table, or mounted on a wall, your television takes up space.
So, think about which room you want to have a television in.
Many people just put a television in their bedroom.
If you think about it, having a TV in your bedroom can make it difficult for you to sleep by being present as a distraction.
So, think about moving it to the living room!
Get innovative storage furniture
Invest in innovative storage furniture. In other words, furniture that offers double use, or has extra storage space than what you think at first.
Sofa beds
A good example of such furniture.
A sofa bed can be just as comfortable as a regular bed…and you have saved a lot of space by not having to have a separate bed.
HOWEVER, a sofa may belong in the living room, while a bed belongs in the bedroom.
If you are uncomfortable having the same room as you living and bed room, you should avoid a sofa bed.
Shelves and hooks
A great example of easily installed space-saving furniture.
You can install shelves and hooks yourself.
And they can be installed wherever you feel there is space, and they won’t look bad – room walls, cupboard walls etc.
Boxes under your bed
If you DO maintain a separate bed, you can keep non-regular use items under it, neatly packed into boxes.
This expands your storage capacity beyond your storeroom.
And, as these boxes will not be in plain view, they are not cluttering up your room!
Some other examples of innovative storage furniture:
- Window seat
- Stylish boxes that can be kept in plain sight
- Dividers in drawers
Bonus feature: The Three Box Method
Have 3 boxes – keep, store and throw.
This will help you decide priority among various items.
Keep
Items you want to keep – think where you will keep them. Usually a drawer or a container works best.
Store
Keep them in one or more containers, label the containers, and move them to your storage room or storage space.
For example winter clothes like sweaters can be kept in a container, or simply wrapped in brown paper. Stick a “Sweaters” label on it and keep it in your storage space.
Throw
Try to donate whatever you can. If you’re in need of money, you can sell them to second hand dealers.
For the rest, simply throw them away.
Bonus tip: Go surface by surface
Here’s how you should plan decluttering your surfaces (like shelves, tabletops etc)
Take it one surface at a time.
For example, one shelf the first day. Then another the next day. And so on.
- For each surface, think about whether you need all the items to be there, within easy reach.
- If yes, keep.
- If not, pack into a box and move to the storage room. Or, if it’s totally useless, donate it, or throw it away.
This systematic way makes surface planning much easier.
Further reading
To better plan your room decluttering, you can refer to the following blog posts:
How you can make your room look bigger will give you ideas on how to further work on your room to make it look bigger and more inviting.
Home decor ideas for parties in 2021 is a good guide if you’re planning to have a party at home, and are decluttering for that purpose.
Doing home decor on a budget will be a big help for you if you’re planning to decorate your home.
What furniture you should keep checklist is important to help you plan what furniture to retain and what to throw away.
And finally, buying used furniture in Bangladesh is a must read if you want to get new furniture at good prices!
