Skip to main content

How to Declutter: 5 Home Clutter Culprits to Fix Before (and After) You Move

If you’re staging your home for sale or have just moved, you probably love the fresh look and feel of a decluttered home. But after some time, life happens and you find yourself accumulating (and overwhelmed by) stuff.

Well, home clutter no more! We’ll show you how to declutter your space by looking at the most common home clutter culprits and how to fix them, before and after your move.

Clutter culprit 1: Crowded kitchen countertops

The biggest home clutter culprit is often the kitchen countertops. Why? Items left here have nowhere to hide and are the first thing you notice. Instead of appreciating the gorgeous and well-thought-out selection of Quartz surface, you see the vitamin collection or stack of bills. Here are some ideas on how to declutter the most visible part of your kitchen for a fresh and open kitchen space.

how to declutter a kitchen

Minimalist farmhouse chic. All items have a place in the cabinets or shelves for an open, expansive feel. Image: Cadence Homes

How to declutter your kitchen:

  • To maximize cabinet and drawer storage, focus on kitchen organization items that store behind closed doors.
  • Avoid overloading the walls, open shelves and pot racks with items.
  • Select smaller countertop appliances that store easily or choose under-cabinet mounted styles.
  • Use attractive boxes and baskets to hold smaller items that must stay on the countertops.
  • Consider creating an appliance “garage” by adding a door that hides appliances when not in use.

Check out how this home conquers kitchen counter clutter:

clutter free kitchen ideas - freshome.com

The secret to this uncluttered kitchen is all the hidden storage, shown below.

A hidden appliance garage hides small, everyday items and appliances. Corners are tricky to use so the designer installed corner drawers for silverware, spices and more. Images: Flavin Architects

Clutter culprit 2: Crowded, dusty bookcases and shelves

Bookcases are the perfect organizational furniture. Whether you’re living in a small studio or a large home, chances are bookcases or wall shelves are an important element in your home. But over utilizing your bookcases by loading them creates a crowded, cluttered effect. Luckily, there are simple design secrets to maximize your bookcases and shelves — while still displaying your belongings artfully.

how to declutter bookshelves

A collection of strategically placed books, objects and art is displayed on the shelves for an uncluttered look. The walls behind the bookcases are painted an accent color to flow with the room’s design. Image: Hoister

How to declutter your bookshelves:

  • Get rid of anything you haven’t used in more than a year.
  • Sort the bookcase items by size and type. Make piles for books, magazines, decorative objects like vases or photos, and small items.
  • When placing items on a shelf, leave some open space to visually lighten up the shelf.
  • Arrange your books back in your shelves by size or color. Be sure to use no more than half of each shelf for books.
  • Place magazines or smaller items that don’t need to be displayed in decorative boxes and arrange them in the lowest and highest shelves.
  • Place odd-number groupings of your objects like vases, candles or photo frames in the empty space you’ve left next to the books.

Here are some other ideas on how to organize your bookcases or shelves:

how to decorate bookshelves

A quick way to successfully redo your cluttered bookshelves is by organizing items by color. For every three shelves or cubbies you fill, be sure to display a single item in the next one. Image: David Jensen

how to declutter

Colorful orange boxes hide small objects that may add a clutter effect. Remember to leave open space in your shelving layout. Image: Room and Board

Clutter culprit 3: The drop-everything entryway

The entry area might be the busiest place in your home. It’s likely to house a collection of shoes for all seasons, kids’ backpacks, sports equipment and more. A cluttered entry hall makes it harder to find your keys and other things you need in the morning. But with a little planning you can declutter and beautify your entrance, no matter the size.

how to declutter a small space

An open, airy entry area can be created by finding a place for everything. Image: Closetmaid

How to declutter your entryway:

  • Start by adding a small or narrow table, bookcase or bench to hold keys, chargers and other items. One with drawers or doors makes it easier to hide clutter quickly.
  • Identify what items “live” in your entry and add a basket or two to catch them.
  • Add hooks or a coat rack to hold jackets, bags and backpacks.
  • Create a charging station by adding a multi-outlet charger for all your devices.

Here are other ideas for how to declutter and organize your entry:

how to declutter

Homeowners added built-ins to maximize and declutter their entry area. Image: Terracotta Design Build

A bench for getting ready and some hooks are a simple way to organize the entry. Add a large market basket or two as shown to hide smaller items like scarves, chargers or shoes you want to keep handy. Image: Scott Sanders

Clutter culprit 4: Overloaded closets

An overloaded closet creates a couple of problems. It makes getting ready or finding what you need harder than it needs to be. And if you’re closet is overloaded, chances are, some of its contents are lying around the room. At worse, things that can be stored in the closet for a clutter-free home end up in plain view.

One solution to a clutter-free closet is to only hang or display the current season’s clothes and store the other seasons in boxes until needed. Image: Wokai Design

How to declutter a closet:

  • Get rid of everything you haven’t used in the last year. A handy trick involves placing clothes on a hanger on the rod backward. Set the date to check back a year later. Whatever hanger was not pulled out in the last 12 months and still remains backward holds an item you haven’t used and should be considered for donation.
  • Once you’ve edited your closet, consider upgrading to a smart, closet organization system. These systems are usually affordable and make good use of the smallest of spaces.
  • Shelves, baskets, boxes and drawers make better use of space than hanging rods.
  • Box or bag larger or seasonal items and store in the higher shelving area.

This is one of the most organized closets ever. Steal some of these ideas for yours:

clutter-free closet ideas

Plenty of boxes, shelves and drawers hide away items that create a cluttered effect. Color-coordinating the items you can see creates a clean look. Image: California Closets

Clutter culprit 5: A garage where only boxes park

Do you have tons of boxes filled with items you rarely use in your garage? Is there a treadmill or a collection of bikes and sporting goods collecting dust? Do you wish you could actually park your car in your garage? Much like the tips on how to declutter a closet, an organized garage starts with deciding to toss, sell and donate items you rarely use.

garage decluttering ideas

Make the most of the walls in your garage to free up floor space for your car. Image: Closet Innovations

How to organize and declutter a garage:

  • Once you’ve edited your garage items down to the essentials, store them in labeled plastic bins. Cardboard boxes tend to attract critters and don’t stack as easily as plastic bins.
  • If you have many boxes, add a garage shelving system to place them in.
  • Add hooks to hang items like bikes.
  • A pegboard system is a good inexpensive way to hang tools and other items on the wall.

Other ideas to declutter your garage:

garage organization ideas

A pegboard wall can be modular. Use as many panels as you need to hang tools and gardening supplies. Image: Flow Wall

Invest in a garage cabinet system to find a place for everything. Cabinets with doors keep the items from getting dusty and dirty while creating a clean and sleek look. Image: Flow Wall

Take some time to reorganize these five zones and you’ll be living in a clean, clutter-free and organized home — pre- or post-move — in no time!

The post How to Declutter: 5 Home Clutter Culprits to Fix Before (and After) You Move appeared first on Freshome.com.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hackers Help: How to attach headboard to ESPEVÄR mattress base?

I’m trying to figure out if a headboard can be attached to an Espevar Mattress Base , and how to accomplish that. I’m looking at a standard metal headboard (because I just prefer the look of curved metal to what IKEA offers) and am not interested in a slat base with just a mattress on top, and a wall mounted headboard is not an option due to renting. Thanks for any help! ~ Amy *** Hi Amy I’ve not seen the ESPEVÄR in person but I believe it is possible to attach a headboard to it. From the website, the ESPEVÄR looks like a regular wooden slatted mattress base under a bed base slipover. As to how to attach it, that will depend on the fittings on the metal headboard. So you will just need to get the right hardware to secure the metal headboard to the wooden frame. And make some small openings on the slipcover to let the fixtures to go through. Jules Photo: IKEA.com Try these free-standing headboards for size A lime green and white headboard that takes centerstage in the r...

Kitchen renovation reveal: Rhombus wall steals the show

It’s been a while since I did a home tour. If you’ve missed the previous reveals, you can catch up with my Master Bathroom remodel and Guest Bathroom reveal . Today, let’s focus on my kitchen renovation. Hands down, this is the most used room in my home. I spend crazy amounts of time in here, even when I’m not cooking. Just off to the side of the kitchen I converted an awkward space into a reading nook . In the mornings, I sit and read or pray and meditate, before it gets too warm. And on the other side, there’s a work-in-progress plant wall / indoor garden which also takes up a lot of my time. So, all in all, lots of traffic in here, and that’s not even counting cooking and eating time. The kitchen is definitely my favourite room, because the transformation is huge and I love how it turned out. Kitchen renovation: The before House 17 when I first got it, actually had 2 kitchens, which is a very common “Asian” home concept. First, the “dry kitchen”, which is where you make simp...

IKEA sofa with genius armrest storage

Bet you never knew your sofa armrests were prime storage space. Ok, so the guys at IKEA are the masters of hidden / secret storage everywhere. In fact, one of the things I most loved about the  ESKILSTUNA sofa series was the undercover storage on the chaise lounge, but… what? More than 80 liters of storage space wasted on the armrests? NO WAY! I really don’t understand how they didn’t take that opportunity with several different armrest modules. Mobile chargers, cup / can holders, foldable tables, refrigerators… there’s SO MUCH space in there. I can’t stop thinking on different options! For myself, I went for two designs. First, a “full space” design on the (right) side of the chaise lounge. (The cavity fits two foldable chairs). Second, on the left armrest — a flip open section for “mobile charger / remote control storage / etc.”. Below that, a full-depth pull-out drawer, tall enough to store A4 sized magazines. This is the final result: Full space design, rig...