How to Declutter and Remodel an Unorganized Room
Almost every home has a junk room, but it doesn't have to be that way. The following are some tips on how to declutter, organize, and decorate your worst junk room nightmares. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Time
- Paint and paint brushes
- Storage options, such as a bookshelf and totes
Instructions
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The first step to cleaning, organizing and remodeling your junk room is to take everything out of the room ... and I mean EVERYTHING. This can be difficult, as you are going to be sacrificing the look of another room as you move the stuff out. When doing this, you should begin to sort through your items. Make a pile of the items that you absolutely want to keep, a pile of the things that you would like to keep if there is room, a pile of the items that you would like to donate to a charity (such as Goodwill), and finally a pile of things that should be trashed.
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Once everything is out of the room, you should pick a paint color for the room. Now, this room used to be nursery and later my bedroom. The walls were a very light pink and there was a blue ribbon border close to the ceiling. When picking a paint color, you should take into consideration what the room will be used for, who will be using the room, and how much natural light the room has. I was redoing this room into a craft room where I could sew and do scrapbooking. I wanted a relaxing and more grown up theme. So the colors I picked were a light tan for the walls, and a chocolate brown for the trim.
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Once you have the room painted, you should decide what furniture you want in the room, and how you want to arrange it. Originally in this room was a large entertainment center/shelving unit. I decided to keep this shelf in the room, but because the color of wood was so light, I painted it the color of the trim so it would match better with the new color scheme. The other furniture that I decided to use in the room I got from other places in the house. I took an old sewing table and added it to a corner and a bookshelf that was left over from me redoing a different room. Finally, I needed a table for working on my scrapbook. After shopping around, I decided that the easiest thing to do would be build a worktable. I built a long table and added customized sized drawers. I made some drawers the size to fit 4x6 photographs in so we could organize our many photos, and then I made some longer drawers to place other things in. After I finished building the table and putting it into the room, I put two small filing cabinets underneath the table where I could put all my scrapbooking paper in. Now, while this table took some time to build, it was actually cheaper than buying a table. I used cheap wood, only buying a nice piece of laminate wood for the top of the table. I painted the back of the table chocolate brown to match the trim, and I used ribbon to cover up the exposed raw wood.
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Once you have the furniture in the room, we get to what I think is the most fun of the entire project. The organizing and placing of items back into the room. This is where you can get really creative. I didn't want the room to look too cluttered with everything lying around, so I wanted most things to be in containers, much like the saying- Out of sight, out of mind. For the entertainment center, I picked up a couple of cheap canvas totes at Wal-Mart to place items in. To cover up the items inside the tote, I simply placed a piece of colored felt on top of the items. After this, I realized that there were still a lot of larger items that I needed to have places for. After some consideration, I decided the best idea was to make a couple of Ottomans. Now, if you are not handy, you can buy Ottomans at the store, but they are going to cost you a lot more money. Ottomans can serve a number of purposes (decorative accent, storage, and extra seating). If you are interested in making your own Ottomans, check out my Ehow article on how to make them (link listed on left side).
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Another way to created storage while still having a decorative touch was through the use of Mason jars. I had a couple of unused Mason jars laying around the house, so I simply took these jars, filled them with things like buttons, spools of thread, and hot glue sticks. To make them look decorative, I cut a piece of fabric and glued it to the lid of the jar, and tied a piece of raffia around the jar.
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After a room has everything back in it, it's time to add the final decorative touches. For the craft room, I bought wooden letters and painted them chocolate brown. Then I hung them on the wall to spell out the word "Imagine". Above and below the letters I hung large cork boards where I tacked on pictures of places that my family has traveled to with a label of the state where the photo was taken in. Candles can also be a great decorative touch.
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Sit back, relax, and enjoy your new clutter free room!! (Just be sure to clean up after yourself so you don't end up falling back into old habits)
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Tips & Warnings
Be realistic. Don't try to overhaul your organization. Be sure to place things in a manner that you will be likely to maintain the organization.
Don't be afraid to shop around your own house. Find an old piece of furniture that you are no longer using. If you don't like the color ... paint it! You will be surprised at how many of your old items can be recycled.
Remodeling rooms is a learning process. Don't be hard on yourself. You are going to spill and drip paint. Things may not turn out as planned. Just remember that you can always change things around if you don't like how it turns out.
I used latex paint on the walls. However, when refinishing furniture, it is usually best to use oil based paint. While it is more difficult apply and is tougher to clean up, when the paint has dried it has a much stronger/hard surface that will be able to withstand more wear and tear.
Be sure to use a sheet to cover carpet before painting.
If you decide to refinish furniture, be sure to wear protective eye wear when sanding and to wear gloves when using oil-based paints.
