A beautifully designed home is a source of happiness for many, but clutter can pile up and hide its beauty no matter how well it is designed. It is easy to keep putting off decluttering – after all, it isn’t fun, and often there are more pressing things to do that take priority. But if you take it one step at a time by targeting the top clutter areas, the project becomes manageable, your house becomes more functional, and your life gets easier!

The Process
For each space you tackle, keep in mind that things will likely get messier before they get cleaner. You should pull everything out–whether it be a closet, drawer, or cabinet–and sort the items into piles of “Keep,” “Donate/Sell,” and “Garbage.” This will immediately affect the amount of stuff you have to store afterward. If you are having a hard time figuring out whether to keep or get rid of something, use the one-year rule: if you haven’t used or thought about it in a year, you can most likely part with it without regret.

kitchen design Sarasota

5 Top Clutter Areas

  1. The Kitchen: Our kitchens aren’t just used for eating these days–they are areas for doing homework, entertaining guests, sorting mail, sometimes playing a board game or two. All of this activity leads to a lot of clutter that can quickly pile up. You can help decrease it in a few ways. Store items close to where you use them to make it easier to return them to their proper place; for instance, keep oven mitts in a drawer or hung next to the oven as opposed to a drawer that’s on the other side of the room. Use a basket to keep mail contained until you have time to sort it.
  2. The Entryway: We’ve all done it at least a few times–you walk into the house, drop the items you’re carrying, and move on with your day. Over time, you start tripping on shoes, and the pile of items collecting on the hall table gets taller and taller. Since entries and halls are usually small, using vertical space is the best way to declutter. Add a shoe rack with multiple levels, hooks to hang coats and bags, and bins to keep items like papers, keys, and dog-walking items contained.
  3. The Closets: Whether it’s a storage closet or clothes closet, stuff builds up in these spaces that we put away then may forget about for years. Make it a habit to go through your closets once a year and remove items you no longer use or need. Donate clothes you’ve outgrown, and purge the least-used items from your craft closet. For those items you don’t want to part with but rarely access, move them to your attic so they aren’t taking up space needed for more regularly used things.
  4. Your Desk: While organizing papers isn’t fun at all, it is critical to stay organized and will make things like taxes and other legal proceedings much easier. Keep a drawer with filing sections for bills, insurance documents, investment reports, whatever you need.
  5. The Pantry: It’s easy for items to get lost in the pantry until they’re found years after their expiration date. To help declutter these areas, consider getting risers to raise items in the back higher and make them easier to see. If your cabinets are tall, the odds are that the shelves are spaced wider apart than you need them to be. Add an extra shelf or two to make better use of the space.

Sometimes simple changes can do the trick – but other times, you need a complete renovation to bring your home up to the specifications you desire. Call West Coast Design Build Florida today if you need a new kitchen, bathroom, or outdoor living space.