Room Design for a Clutter Free Home

Good room design is important when it comes to having a clutter free home. You may think built-in cabinets, shelving, and more space is the answer but room design for a clutter free home begins with knowing how to designate and maximize space. What you will come to learn is that room design begins with you, the room designer. Let’s try it.

Assess Available Space

Think about how you and your family move through the rooms. Are there clear pathways to the doors and adjoining rooms? Assess your rooms for their clutter free potential.  

- Take a good look at how much space is available and how you are currently using it.

- Clear away any existing clutter and see the space increase before your eyes.

Prioritize and Designate

If possible, remove everything from the room and look again. When you are ready, prioritize your items before putting them back in. Everything you bring back should serve a purpose and have its own designated space. In the kitchen, the space below your sink is most likely cluttered due to its open layout. Now think of the spice drawer. That is where you put and find all your spices. You won’t find dish washing liquid there. The same holds true for the space in your closets, bathrooms and bedrooms. The answer does not lie in adding more space but designating and maximizing the space you have.

What’s It Worth?

Think of your rooms as an investment. A builder friend told me: “For a 10’ x 10’ room you paid $150 to $200 per square foot. That amounts to $15,000. Add property tax, the cost for heating, cooling and insuring it. Then ask yourself if what you have in that room is worth it.” 

Know a Room’s Purpose

Too much or too little furniture in a room can be detrimental to staying organized. Take room measurements and scale furniture appropriately to the size of your rooms. Furniture with legs or a glass top takes up less visual space than solid pieces that extend all the way to the floor.

Don’t forget the flooring, walls and windows in a room. Comfortable, easy to clean floors keep you energized, not dead on your feet. Art or wallpaper can add character to your walls but covering them with sticky notes will feel cluttered.  Windows are a room’s natural source of light. Don’t fill the sills with books and other clutter. Let the sun shine in.

Always keep in mind the purpose of a room. By respecting your space, you respect the activity that goes on there, and yourself for designing it. If you need help achieving your vision of a clutter free home, I help people do just that.