8 Clever Ways to Get Clutter Free

Cheers for three-day weekends! I hope your weekend was lovely, and you’re enjoying the extra day off today. Thanks for all your comments on Friday’s Sugarplum Style post…I’m thrilled so many of you found new outfit ideas!

As much time as I spend online, browsing Pinterest, blogs, and shops, I still love a good old-fashioned magazine. Sure, most of the stories are available online, but sometimes nothing beats a few quiet moments, flipping through the pages of my latest mailbox delivery.

In fact, my bedside table is currently piled high with magazines, each with countless dog-eared pages that inspired me with one idea or another. I came across a great article in January’s Family Circle, with inspiring ideas to get clutter-free, and thought I’d share them with you. And not just because I happened to be one of the ‘favorite design bloggers’ featured in the article. Okay, maybe a little of both. #shameless

1) Strategically Reveal, Don’t Conceal
Every kitchen can benefit from open shelving. If your most-used items are hard to reach, simply remove a few cabinet doors or mount floating shelves. Increase efficiency by grouping like objects together so you can easily grab everyday glasses, coffee mugs, and serving pieces.  ~Melissa Michaels, The Inspired Room

2) Practice Shelf Love
Never underestimate the holding power of a bookcase, in any room of the house. Think part practical, part beautiful for filling them up…titles organized by size or category, a collection of pottery, framed prints and fresh flowers.  ~Gabrielle Blair, Design Mom

3) Work Your Walls
Hooks help you take advantage of often overlooked vertical real estate. Try hanging pots and pans in the kitchen, or hats and jewelry in the bedroom. Mount a bunch of hooks in your entryway to keep jackets and bags accessible when leaving the house. And don’t forget the backs of doors or inside closets.  ~Emily Henderson, Style by Emily Henderson

4) Avoid Typecasting Furniture
Broaden your search for the perfect nightstand to include nontraditional options. Standard bedside tables are on the smaller side, and tend to skimp on storage, so consider an entry console or even a dresser. Both have multiple drawers for personal items, and a larger tabletop that can double as a desk if you pull up a chair. ~Cassie Freeman, Hi Sugarplum!

5) Make the Necessary Arrangements
Picture ledges are the new gallery walls. For a pulled-together look, stick to a limited color palette or similar types of frames, but vary the size, height, and orientation of your artwork. Since ledges are essentially shallow shelves, they’re great above a sofa or bed, and offer a handy solution for kids’ books in a playroom, a collection of plates in the kitchen, or craft supplies in a workspace.  ~Emily Henderson, Style by Emily Henderson

6) Contain Yourself
For total clutter camouflage, nothing beats a roomy storage ottoman. Kids can snack on, sit on and even crash into these hardworking pieces. But the big selling factor is that they can live right out in the middle of a room, while secretly storing toys, photo albums, and games inside.  ~Sherry Petersik, Young House Love

7) Bin There, Done That
When you’re trying to quickly whip a room into shape, decorative boxes and baskets are your best friends. Families come with all sort of gear, and bins make for cute, useful additions in a foyer, tucked under a coffee table, or on a shelf for keeping baseball gloves, umbrellas, and more, out of sight.  ~Gabrielle Blair, Design Mom

8) Keep it on the Down-Low
A window seat is a super-efficient use of space since it maximizes the area right up against a wall, and provides a hidden storage zone below. These built-in benches work especially well in a kitchen by holding fancier table linens, holiday or seasonal items, and sporadically-used small appliances, which frees up valuable counter and cabinet space.  ~Maxwell Ryan, Apartment Therapy

See? Some great ideas for utilizing spots around the house to contain the clutter! Our clutter seems to breed, regardless of how often I purge! How about yours? What tips and tricks do you use to keep it in check?

And it wouldn’t be an American holiday without big sales, so here’s a few worth checking out:


Anthropologie // extra 40% off sale with code XTRA40
World Market // up to 50% off Furniture & 25% off lighting and baskets
GAP // up to 70% off Winter Clearance
Old Navy // up to 30% off with code BIGSAVER
Nordstrom // major markdowns on Winter Sale, including up to 40% off Uggs!
Pottery Barn // Buy More, Save More event

*Thank you, Family Circle and Danielle Blundell, for including me in your inspiring article!