How to Decorate a Messy House
A messy house can be a huge source of stress; disorganization can cut down on living space and cause you to lose track of valuables, documents and other important items. Your family may even leave things out in the open because they fear they will not be able to find them again. Giving each important object a storage space that doubles as decoration can help. Another decorating key is to decide the purpose of each room and decorate it with that purpose in mind. There are several ways you can decorate your messy house and organize it at the same time. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Trash bags
- Bins
- Paint or wallpaper
- Waste baskets
- Recycling bins
- Self-stick cork board
- Ribbon
- Thumb tacks
- Clothes pins
- Baskets
- Racks
- Magnets
- Small pottery bowls
- Throws
- Pillows
- Area or scatter rugs
- Clear storage bins
Instructions
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Go through each room of your house with a trash bag. Throw out trash and any objects you do not use. Dump dirty laundry in a hamper and place dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Decide how you use each room and which objects need to stay in which room. Sort the objects according to whether you can use them as decorations, whether they must be close at hand or whether they can be stored within sight, and place them in bins according to these criteria.
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Paint or paper the walls in each room with a neutral color such as white, light yellow, beige or gray. Pile scattered books with similarly colored spines in stacks to create different blocks of accent colors around a room. Paint the room and window trim in white, and arrange each room's furniture symmetrically for a less cluttered look. Add colorful waste baskets and recycling bins where needed to match or accent each room's decor.
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Clear off work surfaces by hanging papers and pictures on self-stick cork board on the wall, or tack a length of ribbon on the wall, and clothespin loose papers and artwork to the ribbon. Secure important reminders, quotes and other little decorations to metal surfaces with brightly colored magnets. Place scattered jewelry in small pottery bowls on a vanity table.
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Put anything that needs to remain close at hand in decorative baskets and racks. Replace any scattered blankets and comforters in living areas other than the bedrooms with throws and pillows that accent the room's decor. Pick up any objects scattered on the floor, store them and put down small area or scatter rugs.
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Use each room's natural storage spaces, such as book shelves, closets, raised hearths or cabinets, to store clear bins that hold objects that need to be in the room, but that can be stacked and stored until used again. Stack bins that are out in the open to create a visual design such as a checkerboard pattern. Label each bin on the side so that the objects are easy to find when you or your family is in a hurry.
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References
Resources
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