Alys Daniels-CreaseyLearning how to organize your room without sacrificing convenience can be a daunting prospect. How do you create a homely area that is both efficiently structured and uniquely personal? This can be a difficult balance to strike, but with a bit of thought and creativity, you can create a room that is both clean and casual. Here are ten simple tips on how to organize your room while adding eye-catching style.
As always, our main store at FROY has curated a tight selection of furniture and decor to help you stay organized, so check us out! Enough banter – let’s get started. It may seem obvious, but making clever use of your walls can dramatically improve the organisation and beauty of a space. So, this is where we will start, with step number one…
1. Use a wall planner
For the first step in learning how to organize your room, purchase a wall planner to keep all your events and easily forgotten things in one place. If you are someone who constantly writes notes and dates on endless scraps of paper, this will help clean your desk: a chic and economical way to easily conceptualize upcoming proceedings in your busy schedule.
For those who crave some added creativity, you can attach colorful clipboards (via 3M interlocking adhesive strips) or stick colorful tapes to create a giant planner that looks great with Post-It notes!
2. Hang a pinboard
Now that you’ve got your planner up, your other walls may look a tad barren and dejected. Fear not! A pinboard can save the day. The beauty of this medium is that it can be as utilitarian or artistic as you like. Letters, receipts, lists, photographs, tickets, postcards… The options are endless. The entire board is an outlet for creative expression, so try to diversify color and content. You can also lean a soft plywood board against your wall for a free-floating DIY alternative.
3. Shelving and displays
To tie your wall organization together, dedicate a third area for shelves and displays. Wall shelves are a great way to organize heavier belongings and decor. Items to consider include beautifully bound books, candles, accessories, plants, and art prints. Even placing folded clothing (like jeans with a light sweater) can look really good while reducing clutter.
If your room already has a shelving solution (like a traditional bookshelf), try creating a photo collage instead. For those who like to keep their administration separate from their memorabilia, creating a photo collage on your wall, distinct from your pinboard, adds intimacy. Nostalgic and personal, be inspired every day by your favorite moments captured in stills.
4. Woven baskets for clothes
One of the key contributors to messy rooms is scattered worn clothing. Sure, you can get an old fashioned laundry bag or hamper, but they’re often ubiquitous and ugly. Two or three woven baskets, particularly ones with lids (like this one from our store), not only give you a chance to organize worn clothes based on rules (whites, colored, etc.), but they also offer aesthetic appeal. The texture and personality of these baskets will surely attract attention and incentivize you to use them.
5. Pots, boxes, and trays
A major challenge when learning how to organize your room is to balance practicality with good design. To introduce a creative flair to your room, mix and match several pots, boxes, and trays to store your pens and smaller trinkets. A little token of originality and personal charm, yet it can help eliminate clutter entirely. Some ideas for these pen holders include painting empty jam jars with sparkly paint or spending a day sourcing ethnic pottery. Avoid generic desktop storage from office supply stores – instead, seek out pots and boxes with a dash of ethnic flair.
6. Good ol’ bookcase
If you struggle with keeping your desk space organised, it may be a good idea to invest in a room divider and use this as extra shelf space for folders, notebooks and anything else that should be conveniently stowed near your work area. This is a sophisticated, visually pleasing way to keep your items divided into clear sections. Each compartment of the bookcase can feature decorative organizers itself, like boxes or pots from the previous step.
7. Plan your wardrobe or closet
Sections within your wardrobe may increase your feeling of organisation as well. Perhaps you think practically, in which case order your clothes by type of clothing, or thematically, in which case colour-coded areas may work better. Explore what works best for you and stick with it. It’s amazing how a clear wardrobe can help you have a clear mind when you are trying to decide what to wear in the morning.
If you have a sizable room, don’t be afraid to put your everyday favorite wears on display with an industrial chic rack. Not only will you have easy open access, but it can let your fashion choices decorate your home.
8. Stow away off-season items in bins
If you are lucky enough to live in a predictable climate where you have the knowledge that it will be hot all summer, or never crawling into the positive digits on the thermometer in winter, it would be wise to gather up boxes and sort your clothes seasonally. Then, stow away the boxes labelled for other seasons so they’re out of sight.
The large space under your bed is perfect since your sheets will likely hide everything. Assess your belongings for items that you rarely use – you’d be surprised by what you’ve hoarded over the years that you keep but never need. If you can’t part ways with them, at least store them away.
9. Get rid of unused belongings
Now that you’ve organized everything, note anything that you feel has been unused for the past four weeks. Chances are, you’ll find a ton of legacy belongings in your home that you do not need and will never use. Between the old clothes that you no longer fancy, magazines or catalogs you’ve hoarded, and everything in between, you’ll be able to clear up a lot of space.
Separate these things into three piles: dispose, donate or sell and then follow through with it. For donation, you can contact your local Salvation Army. This is as much a psychological exercise as a physical one, and you will be surprised by how much decluttered and refreshed you feel once this process is over.
10. Commit to a plan
If you followed each step in this guide, you should now have all the tools for learning how to organize your room. To keep your room clutter-free for the long-term, you’ll have to commit to a plan and actually use the planner, pinboard, shelves, baskets and other pieces you’ve setup.
To be successful, you’ll have to change old habits: stop collecting and hoarding objects you’ll never use (catalogs and magazines are the common culprits). When returning home to change, don’t just throw your clothes on your bed or couch – either throw them in the woven baskets or place them on a shelf. Live minimally.
I hope this post helped enlighten you to the various methods on how to organize your room. The goal was to keep it simple so you’re inspired to start organizing immediately. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get it all done in one go: clearing out, tidying, designing and putting into action new ideas all take time, so remain patient and, before you know it, you will have evolved into a champion of organisation!
