Underneath the bedside table (or next to it, if your bedside surface is the top of a chest of drawers), use baskets to organize books, magazines and slippers. The items are still there, Mathison says, but the chaotic mess is gone.
-Closets
Carendi says most closets are poorly designed: "A shelf over a bar, I find that to be the worst use of space ever invented. There's so much negative space over the shelf." Rip out what's there and "customize according to your needs... with the Elfa system or something similar," she says. "You don't have to spend a fortune to reimagine your closet."
Closets in guest rooms and babies' rooms, says Flynn, are often haphazardly stuffed with items that are rarely used: "Things going into that closet often are decorative, like Christmas decorations, wrapping paper, ... or things like guest linens, guest towels, books, magazines."
Take the closet doors off, he suggests, then paint inside of the closet the same colour as the room or an accent colour. Add a modular wire shelving system, then "style it like it's a photo shoot," he says. "You stack three towels on top of each other, and then books on a shelf, drawers with smaller things, guest slippers. It looks so good. You've totally taken something that could have been major mental clutter and now it's something beautiful."
And if your linen closet is overstuffed, says Flynn, display a half-dozen towels rolled up in a galvanized metal bin in your bathroom.
In every room of the house, say these designers, eliminating what you no longer need or want is a crucial step in battling clutter. If packing things up for donation or removing large furniture or appliances seems like a daunting task, Flynn suggests placing an ad online.
"These guys professionally get things for free on Craigslist and sell it later," he says. "If you show them things you have, they're like hungry dogs. They'll take anything away."
