Make Your Stuff Look Good

Except for the hard-nosed subscribers to the minimalist movement, people have a lot of stuff- and they’re not getting rid of it. And if your stuff is important to you, why hide it away? Believe it or not, there are solutions to the ever-present and growing stuff situation in your home.

The first and most important way to make your things exist comfortably in your home is to keep areas dusted and cleaned. Sure, you’re gonna have a little more surface area to clean, but keeping your stuff tidy has a positive effect on your mental state when entering a room with a lot going on.

The next step is to rule out items that can’t be easily displayed or stored in your room’s viewable space. Ruled-out items can be stored under a bed, sofa, or in a closet using bins or containers that can be stacked or layered. This gives your stuff a place it can be safely stored while also preventing it from spilling out into pathways.

Grouping like-colored or similarly-designed things for display is a sneaky strategy for getting your stuff organized in the space. This grouping of items in an appropriate manner is far more pleasing to the eye than smushing together stuff that doesn’t make any sense. Color-coordination plays an influential role in basic design principles, and layering things with similar design elements gives the room depth.

Be thoughtful with adding storage pieces to your home. Shelving should be hung in a patterned, sensible manner so that your stuff can occupy wall space rather than floor space. In the same vein as grouping like items together, your shelves should also be arranged so that they don’t become a mishmash of color. Bookshelves can be unwieldy, but organizing them tastefully can give the room a unique feel. Instead of piling books in every square inch of the bookshelf, create a few spaces where a trinket, collectable, picture frame, or plant can go.