Simple clutter-cutting steps to a blissful bedroom

Tracy Ross (Image: © Claire Lane Photography 2015)

The bedroom is one of the most private rooms in our home and ideally it should be your peaceful sanctuary. However, it can easily become chaotic if there is too much furniture, clothing and displaced items from other rooms.

You can follow some simple steps to make sure that your bedroom is the calm, relaxing space that you need to switch off from a busy day and get a good night’s sleep.

You can transform your bedroom one drawer at a time (Image: Mark Bowden)

Step 1. Furniture and Layout

The first step is to review all the storage that you have in your bedroom. A clear space with the right layout will create a more relaxing environment.

The amount of furniture will depend on the size of the room and number of family members sharing the space. But in general, less is more. Too much furniture can make a room feel much smaller and attract more clutter. Good storage is key to an uncluttered look. It will allow you to have key items on display and store everything in an ordered fashion, out of view. You may have inherited a piece of furniture which you love but doesn’t work for your needs or you may have fallen in love with a vintage piece of furniture and are now trying to make it work for you.

Selecting the right storage and organising your storage space will help to save you time and allow you to store the things that you need effectively.

Follow Tracy's simple steps to get your bedroom in order (Image: EloisaConti)

When reviewing your furniture and room layout, ask yourself the following questions?

• Can you easily move around the room?

• Does the storage in this room meet your requirements?

• Can you easily find the things that you need?

Clear out the chaos and create a peaceful sanctuary (Image: dit26978)

• Is the room layout making the most of the space that you have?

Step 2. Clothing (including clothes, shoes and accessories)

Once you have reviewed the furniture and layout of the room you can start to declutter the drawers, cupboards and wardrobes.

I find asking yourself the following questions a useful guideline at this stage

Do I love it?

Do I wear it?

Do I need it?

Where do I start?

When I work with a client I find the following order works well:

1. Drawers: socks/tights, underwear, nightwear, sports clothing, knitwear, t-shirts

2. Shoes: gather all your shoes together (under the bed, in the wardrobe and elsewhere)

3. Accessories: hats, scarves, belts, jewellery and bags

4. Wardrobes: after opening your wardrobe doors and before you take everything out ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have too many of the same item i.e. 10 pairs of black trousers?

• Is your wardrobe mostly fast fashion or classic items?

• How do you spend your time i.e. work and leisure?

• Can you pull together 5 outfits in three minutes?

Now take everything out of the wardrobe. You need to go through your wardrobe ruthlessly and be very honest with yourself when deciding what to do with each item. You are going to create three piles - keep, donate and sell.

You should be thinking of getting rid of the following items:

• Items that no longer fit

• Items that you haven’t worn in a year

• Good quality items that you’ve never worn but still have labels

• Outdated items (except special vintage pieces)

5. Bedside tables: bedside tables can easily become cluttered with medications, reading materials, beauty products, etc. Start by removing any items that don’t belong here. Review the items in the drawers. Keep one of each item that you need i.e. book, hand cream, alarm, etc.

6. Under the bed: unless you have built in storage under your bed, this area can easily become cluttered with things that you don’t know where to store or want to be out of sight. Before you pull everything out, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you know what’s under your bed?

• Are the items stored in random bags or ordered in sealed storage boxes?

Now take everything out. Purge unwanted items and return displaced items to the correct space in your home. If you really need to use store items under your bed, group similar items together and store in sealed boxes to avoid dust.

7. Home office: If you currently use your bedroom as a home office, consider relocating this elsewhere in your home. You don’t want a constant reminder of work when you are trying to sleep.

Organising your clothes and accessories

Once you have finished decluttering you can start to think about how best to reorganise the items that you need to store in the bedroom.

• Decide what you need to hang and what should be folded in drawers.

• Clear out any old dry cleaning hangers. Do you need to replace hangers?

• Group similar items together i.e. underwear, socks etc. Some of my clients like to add dividers into the drawers to make it easier to find the items that they need.

• You can group items in your wardrobe in one of the following ways:

1. Sort by category - trousers, tops, dresses, coats etc.

2. Sort by colour - light to dark

3. Sort by usage - work clothes, smart casual clothes, evening/special items. You may identify gaps in your wardrobe which will help you stay focused on purchasing the items that you need and avoid you buying similar items that are already in your wardrobe.

4. Shoes: create a shoe rack to store footwear

5. Store out of season items in vacuum bags

Keeping things clutter-free

There are a few simple daily routines that can help create a calm, relaxing uncluttered space:

1. Make your bed

2. Open the curtains

3. At the end of the day hang up your clothes or put into the laundry

4. Once a week review any random items that have appeared in the bedroom and return to the correct room

If you need help organising your bedroom or decluttering other rooms in your home, please contact Tracy at Blissfully Organised Home Organisation and Decluttering for trusted, confidential support

E-mail: tracy@blissfullyorganised.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/blissfullyorganised

Web: www.blissfullyorganised.co.uk

Tel: 07818 423 376