The third photo of the desk made me laugh and weep all at once. Then I was incredibly puzzled because there's a keyboard on the desk (old school Mac keyboard) but no computer!

These pictures are going to give me nightmares.

love that leather couch

@goodpanda it looks like there's a laptop sitting behind the keyboard.

The second shot is from http://www.theselby.com/ I think some of the others too... Not too sure how I feel about calling it design, especially the first one that just looks like a shitshow of a bike shop. To each their own I guess.

c'mon geoff, organized chaos, is just a rationalization that messy people use. that said i have no judgement of messy people or their opposite. they are what they are. as for hoarding, it is not the next big trend, it is already here.

I have anxiety dreams with images like the ones in this post. It means my life is spinning out of control!

I think my husband invented this....

i think this is just simply chaos..!

#6 is yuck.

You can't organize clutter. Those photos, with the exception of the last one, are horrifying. I honestly don't see how people can live like that.

Whether it feels homey may have to do with a person's stage of life; at mine, I like things simple and easy. My space is clear enough that I can relax and find things without tripping over or breaking stuff. When it looked somewhat like the photos, I found it embarrassing, awkward, and hard to clean. The photo of the red sofa is the only one that seems somewhat homey to me.

Or, it may have to do with how artistic a person is. Some creative friends and relatives keep their spaces like this and say that they don't find it at all depressing.

These rooms make me want to scream.

And I am a naturally messy person.

I can't help it - i feel a lump in the back of my throat as i look at this. the messiness makes me miserable.

these pics give me anxiety...

My studio looks like these photos, in fact most of the other studios in my building do as well. Not that I want it at home, maybe that means all my crap is kept at the office! but it works when your job is making stuff into other stuff. Very cozy!

Numbers 4 and 6 look more like a matter of personal taste. The others are just messy. I love all the comments about anxiety... I know if I lived in a space like those I would be anxious too. Are anxious people just drawn to design and cleanliness as a way to create calm? Makes sense!

Sorry, 4 and 8 is what I meant.

All of those photos, with the exception of the last one, give me hives. Shudder.

I often wonder if my place will look like this when I'm 85. All those years of accumulation can really add up....and create tripping hazards.

To each his own! If the folks who have organized this chaos in such a manner love it and enjoy living with it, more power to them! On the other hand, I would rather live with a bit more organized "organization," since that's me.

I think I'm a little confused. When you say "art directed" what exactly is that supposed to mean. Is this a movie set? Was this created on purpose? I just looks like a junky mess to me. How many ketchup bottles do I spy?

Yikes!

The last three aren't bad, you can tell that it's more of a collection than "stuff strewn about" but god, that one with the Fridge!! I would not want to eat anything in that kitchen.

I've seen organized chaos as design and seen it work well. But god those top photos are just grouped clutter. I'm not a minimalist, I love the "vintage store" look and I love personality in a home but these are just ugly.

The are the most interesting interiors I've ever seen featured on this site. They have way more person style and character than the spaces with store-bought, magazine-inspired, designer-designed spaces.

Love all of the comments from the AT control freaks. Goose flesh and anxiety! Don't watch Grey Gardens.
The home bike shop looks like it's in use rather than out of control. Some of the other spaces do look like they could use a tidy or an editing eye or 6 trips to the Salvation Army. 5, 6, and 7 are screaming for a clearout.

There’s a term I learned from a designer called “organized chaos.”

Was that designer also a raving loon? Funny post!

Oh really YuckyTheCat? Is this your house?

Some of it looks OK; some looks like it belongs to someone's compulsive hoarder grandma.

So what is the deal with Apartment Therapy's current interest in hourding-type spaces? Is it the new "Keep Calm"?

Keep Calm and Pile On.

Chaos? yes. Organized? Uh, not so much.

How does one go about cleaning one of these rooms?

My guess is, one doesn't. And that's the problem with chaos, "organized" or otherwise. (Can you say, "Mice droppings"???)

Mssassybaskets--Yes, a calm environment is conducive to inner calm. In addition, logical, convenient organization frees up time and circumvents stress. If things are arranged and returned to their places, then there's no frustration from losing the time it takes to find them. Also, they don't get wrinkled, rusty, or dirty and so don't have to be fixed, avoiding another unnecessary, time-consuming annoyance.

Wow, lots of clean freaks on AT. Get over your anxiety, folks. Or at least keep your mouths shut. Those of us who enjoy our clutter don't harp forever on the icy, sterile environments normally featured here, extend us the same courtesy.

I love the home bike shop, it reminds me of the machine shop at my university that I spent a lot of really great times in. The desk photo makes me smile. It's what I imagine the desks of my favorite authors look like.

@Miami's Elaine, it's entirely possible to have rooms that look like that and still know exactly where everything is. I did it for years.

"organized chaos" is an oxymoron.

I like 2, 4, and 8. The others are just too much. Too, too much...

With the pic of the "showhouse" then scrolling down to this, I have to ask. . . "have you lost your mind." Or is this all that's left.

maximalist at its scariest :)

As someone who is currently packing his (and his family's) belongings in advance of a move later this week, the thought of transporting this chaos gives me the shakes.

No thanks.

Tiamat_the_Red, If you say that you know where everything is in rooms that look like that, then I'll take your word for it. However, I know from experience that my own memory isn't good for that sort of recall.
I've lived both ways, and learned that my home and my mind affect and reflect each other. When my space was like those photos, I found it to be inefficient and depressingly ugly. Conversely, on the very rare occasions that a room gets that way now, it indicates that I'm overloaded. My perceptions and experiences may be useful to another AT reader--AT posters have helped me!

I think my eyes are bleeding

uberbunny/Tiamat--

There is a WIDE gulf between "neat freaks/clean freak" and these places.

And while these samples may be far from hoarder country, they do seem to be at odds with AT's mission statement. Or at least with the seasonal Cures.

Interesting to see. Just odd to see it here.

I love #1. It seems so sincere and honest. I'd hang out in that space and just watch the owner tinker with their bikes...and listen to their kick ass cd collection (on the left)! Reminds me of an artist studio(#2), a favorite art history professor's desk (#3) and my grandfather's workshop(#1). Those three spaces remind me of the creatives in my world and it brings me comfort.

Ugh... yuck!

I think the rolltop desk looks like a wonderful place to muse. I feel I could sit there and write a witty and erudite novel. Love the last pic too with the rusty sofa and wall of pictures. But the rest of them....especially the bed with 8 million pairs of shoes.....shudder.....

My bedroom used to be like that... a tiny little box in which every surface was covered. Some by design, some merely by clutter with nowhere to call home.

What a relief to move house and start again!

These homes are the products of disorganized minds.

Falling for this kind of nonsense and pretending that it makes sense is also the mark of a disorganized mind.

This is worse than a horror movie. I can feel my heart rate increase dramatically. Terrible.

Isn't this degree of visual busyness often associated with psychotic personalities?? Just askin'! ;^)

SherryBinNH--That look's usually associated with adolescence, and I've never heard any one claim that she'd had an easy one. In fact, it often resembles a kind of short-term near-insanity, so you may have a point.

Ha ha, I knew this blog was going to be contraversial. Oh, the shock of it all!!

I just mean that those photos remind me of the rooms of junior high/middle school students--including mine at times--as well as the homes of university students, not all students', but plenty. Inside and out, puberty and adolescence can be a mad, messy stage of life. On the up side, it's usually temporary. Young people develop organizational skills and then often prefer order when they have a choice.

#8 is beautiful, not chaotic at all

Well this desk is just lovely.
My father is somewhat of a bike-tinkerer, so I feel at home looking at #1. And #2 is also very interesting. #2 and #3 don't look like chaos to me at all.
#6 though looks just crowded and untidy.

i would love to live in #1.

Check out this serendipity:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/making-a-mess-off-broadway/?8dpc

With you on #8, beddybee. Doing that in any of the others would make me want to curl up in the fetal position & cry.

I'm not sure what the issue is. I wouldn't want to live this way, but I'm not about to lose sleep over how someone else chooses to live. Yeah, people live in all sorts of manners and circumstances. But since it doesn't have an Eames recliner, I'm going to say that I like it, only for what it is, of course.

Great sofa, btw.

oh-oh. The clutter police are gonna come get you.

@Pi, there's a closed MacBook on the desk.

I don't see why so many have responded in such an extreme way. There's nothing truly extreme about these photos. Yes, there are many things, and yes, in some of them there is no organization at all, whereas in others, there is very visible organization.

Sometimes we are forced to live on a much smaller space than what we have things for, maybe because we had to move to a smaller apartment, yet we've decided to roll with a bit of crowdiness until we can move again. I repeat, there is nothing even remotely resembling Hoarders in these and certainly there is no dirt walking toward the camera either, so what's the fuss about. Not all of us enjoy living in operating rooms.