We're all in favor of displaying things we love, but we also know all to well how innocent little collections can morph into obsessions that threaten your sanity (see above). If you're there already, don't despair, we have a few tips to help you restore order and make your pared down collections proud...
How to: Regain Order When Collections Turn Into Clutter
• Step 1. The hardest part of any organizational project is deciding where to begin. To help you do this, take a picture of the wall, shelf, haphazard pile where your collection currently resides. This may seem a bit unnecessary for the impatient— me!— but it will help you take control of the situation if you're having trouble coming up with a plan of attack. Taking a picture is like taking a step back. At a close distance disorder can be a bit debilitating, but on paper or on your computer screen, as it were, it seems more manageable and gives you a better perspective.
• Step 2. Studying the picture, decide what area of the wall/shelf/display space your eye naturally gravitates towards — it will probably be the center of the wall or an area near prominent architectural detailing. Make a note of it on the picture, we'll come back to this step later.
• Step 3. Beginning with one collection at a time, select the piece that you love the most and that has the most visual appeal, and set it aside.
• Step 4. Ok, this is where the rubber meets the road. Get a big trash bag, an outbox for donations, and get down to business! Then, have no mercy. Anything that makes you ill, anything that you're holding onto out of guilt and not out of love, anything that is irreparably broken, ugly, or just not you— toss it! If you're having trouble relegating anything to the outbox or trash, compare the item in question to the item that you love most from the collection ( see step 3). Side notes: If it doesn't match up, pitch it. Make an effort to consider each and every piece in the collection. If you're dealing with multiple collections, assign an individual pile or surface to each one during the sorting process— the kitchen table for your records, the counter for your pez collectctions, etc. The point is not to just trnasfer the mess from one place to another, but to have a place that's out of the way while you're sorting.
• Step 5. When you feel you have sufficiently sorted, considered, and purged your collection, it's time to turn to the display area. Make sure the shelf or wall is completely clear of other clutter and reasonably cleaned — i.e. dust the shelf, patch the wall, remove cobwebs, etc. If you need to install any new shelves, now's the time to do it!
• Step 6. It's impossible to place a number limit on a collection, but once you have a manageable number of beloved items— and you may discover during the sorting process that you don't even like the collection as a whole anymore— you can start planning on how to arrange them. Starting with the original favorite item (see step 3), place that object in the prominent focal point (see step 2). If it's a picture-like item that requires a nail in the wall, you can use painters tape and make a template for the item on the wall rather than hanging the item itself.
• Step 7. Begin to place the rest of the items on the display surface in order of how much you like them — ideally these should be items that are visually appealing and have sentimental/personal weight.
• Step 8. Once you have finished displaying take a step back. If you see an item that still looks out of place, or that still bothers you, send it to outbox.
• Step 9. The final arrangement should seem balanced and appealing. When you've achieved it, take a picture and compare it to the before. If you are displaying multiple collections, make sure you give each one enough room to breathe. They shouldn't be competing for space, or you could end up with a look akin to the picture above...which for us is a bit to claustrophobic.
• Step 10. When you've found the right arrangement, nail in the picture hooks, step away form the shelf, and enjoy your clutter free collection!
(Image: Larie Frankel)
Comments (14)
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No! That's the most beautiful room you've posted in some time.
view Silver flipflops's profile
I thought the tips were helpful. I like the idea of photographing the collection and then judging from the photograph. Also to helpful to reassure yourself that progress is being made.
view AustinSarah's profile
That is not clutter, the is encroachment! I am all for fun and whimsy, but that looks like the contents of a junk store exploded. My key is, would I want people to see this, and if so, how do I want them to view it?
view CliveChristy's profile
I recommend to clients that they treat their display space like a special exhibit in a museum, with a rotating exhibit of a half dozen (or so) items that changes every month or two.
Not only does this prevent hard feelings, but the client tends to find that they appreciate their collection much more when they aren't looking at them every day. Opening up the storage box to change out the exhibit lets them see their collection for the first time and fall in love all over again.
view kodak's profile
Surely there are other options besides "trash" or "donate."
If you have a decent collection, consider selling no-longer-loved elements on eBay, Craigslist, an antique shop, etc. The resulting cash may soften the blow of giving up long-held 'treasures' !
Otherwise, I agree w/Kodak. Rotating is an excellent idea, for the reasons (s)he stated.
view mirandabee's profile
Ah yes - another anal compulsive neat nik post on AT trying to convince the world that their way is the right way.
I cringe at the thought of all of these treasures ending up in the trash!!! At the very least if you need to remove an item permanently please Freecycle.com it!
I love the picture and would feel comfortable in the house - what a visual delight to browse!
view Star Princess's profile
one look and i cringe.
view the polish chick's profile
I am a self-proclaimed neat freak ( just ask previous roommates) and I have to say as long as it were kept to this one wall and not throughout the house, I like this arrangement. I think its visual impactful and charming, like having an oddball thrift shop in your home. As a guest, I would love to be able to find something new everytime I visited. Being a fashion designer, I liken this to having the world's largest mood board; little bits of inspiration here and there. This photo definitely shows off some hoarding of stuff, and yet I don't see it relating to the topic of collections run amok. Maybe this should lead into some blogging about being a rat packer, which I think is worse than displaying every McDonald's Happy Meal toy ever made in a living room lined to the gills with Lack shelves from Ikea.
view autobot77's profile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding
view LoriSF's profile
Considering that AT's mission is creating beautiful, calm living spaces, this post is completely appropriate. The goal is not to purge those "treasures" out of your life, but pare down those things "that you're holding onto out of guilt and not out of love, anything that is irreparably broken, ugly, or just not you" in order to have more peaceful surroundings and, by extension, a more peaceful state of mind.
Kudos to you "AT compulsive neat niks" for continuing to offer thoughtful, creative solutions to the problems to plague many of us on a day to day basis.
view Alively's profile
I know this photo was most likely used as an illustration but I would not be able to live quite like this for it's a visual distraction and overwhelms in that there is no way in hell this is in any organized, but it may be, I can't tell.
That said, some of the most minimal spaces are not always so organized as some of the most lived in spaces are, but each is not necessarily true all the time as minimal living usually involves some kind of organization, just hidden, where as the opposite can be just as organized, just not hidden.
This just looks disheveled and not picked up recently, if the side chair is any indication.
And it's not about beint so neat as to have everything exactly so, but how to keep stuff from just overwhelming you and spilling out, falling off of etc so you can find things and live in relative ease, that's all.
view ciddyguy's profile
that's an "authentic" interior if there ever was one
view sousa609's profile
At first glance it looked disordered but a second look and it appears to have something of a filing system going on there.
Maybe as others have suggested, sorting, paring down, categorizing and putting some things away for another day. A flea-market-find, like a credenza/buffet with doors and shelves and low enough to use as a desk could do the trick.
One person's trash is another's treasure.
view ah2Bthee's profile
AT's mission is to make money--just so we're clear.
Anyway, periodically re-evaluating your collection is a good idea, and then selling or donating the pieces that don't make the cut. But not only is one's trash another's treasure, things go up in value.
I'm quite tired of minimal, and welcome the influx of newly cast off treasures.
view FantasticMrFaux's profile