I agree; I wear my accessories and jewelry so much more now that I display them in the open. My scarves are hung on a coat rack next to my back door. necklaces are framed in, well, old frames on my bedroom wall, while my earrings are on a cute Urban Outfitters earring holder. Rings live in a mirrored dish on the dresser. Still haven't found a good option for my handbags, which means I go months without changing them out.

As for clutter, everything is kept far apart so that it's not a wall of accessories. I love the brightness my scarves bring to the nook near my door.

"I found that if I couldn't see an item, I would forget about it altogether." This describes me as well. I learned a lot from your post and hope to learn more from the comments.

Here are a few ways I've displayed my accessories in the past, maybe one of them would work for you:

pegboard (belts, scarves, hats, jeans - make sure to pick up the hardware kits with lots of different sizes/styles of pegs so you can get some variety and store lots of things)

vintage accordian peg hook things (same as above + tank tops that shouldn't be folded)

wire silverware organizer meant for drawers (hair clips, necklaces, earrings)

vintage suitcases (anything and everything I can fit inside of it)

vintage cosmetics cases (belts, bracelets, even nailpolish - fantastic for smaller organization)

assortment of small pyrex or milkglass dishes on dresser

over the door shoe organizer (fixed onto an existing wall or onto inside of door, great for scarves, gloves, hats, even art/office supplies)

cookies jars/kitchen canisters (i cannot stress this enough, these are FANTASTIC...currently using a vintage Brown Bear cookie jar on my entry table for sunglasses, but also worked in the past for cotton balls, qtips, etc)

found shelving with added hooks (repurposing a 3x3 wall shelf this weekend by adding hooks to the top bottom of each shelf for earrings, rings, necklaces - basically it will be my 'jewelry box')

All in all...I'm obviously more of a 'display' than 'put away' kind of girl...but simply because my spaces are always too small, and I'm too cheap to buy large functional pieces of furniture that can store all of these things away. Good luck with your decision!

I like pretty jewelry display trees, but my solution for a less cluttered-looking house is that scarves and hats get hung on higher-up pegs inside the coat closet. They're visible when you grab for outerwear, but they don't messy up the home that way.

I say put it away! We just had a walk-in wardrobe installed and it was the best money we ever spent, all my bags are on a shelf, scarves are looped around coat hangers (four to a hanger) and on the rail, I put some of those 3M hooks along the wall for necklaces, while rings, bangles, watches and things live in a basket on the shelf. I also have a belt organizer which hangs on the rail next to the scarves.
I have been wearing accessories so much more now that they are away, but within reach, Before I leave the house I literally go and stand in the wardrobe and decorate myself, kinda like a Christmas tree!
That said, we both work in fashion so we are surrounded by racks and tables of clothes all day, it's the last thing I want to see when I get home.

The things that I'm currently using pretty often go on a couple of hooks, but then everything else goes into the closet or a drawer. Best of both worlds: easy access and a little less clutter

I'm like AKAY. I keep a "seasonal" assortment of a couple scarves, a purse or two, and some jewelry out on display. The rest I keep stored in the top drawer of my chest of drawers. Every few months (or whenever I feel like I need a change), I rotate things around. The items that never make it out of the drawer get culled after about a year or so.

I keep the scarves I wear with coats on these, in the coat closet http://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Home-Collections-Slack-Hanger/dp/B003XNMANQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=storageorganization&ie=UTF8&qid=1326320485&sr=1-3

The ironed scarves I wear with clothes are on those, but in the clothing closet, except for those that are crinkly or crushed. I store several on each of these http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10006848&N=&Ntt=Belt+hook

Handbags are on shelves or in drawers - I pull out whatever I want to wear.

Do you have a door that typically stays open? My solution is to have the items on an easy to see rack on the back of a usually open door, that way it's out of view most of the time. Maybe I have more doors than most folks, though....?

I have a jumble of bags (inside bags, inside other bags) on my closet shelf next to suitcases. In fall/winter, I keep scarves hanging on hangers (4 to each one, just like Ms. Affleck) but resign those to underbed storage boxes during the summer and bring out my 2-3 summery beachy scarves.

Necklaces are on a wall-mounted rack at my vanity. There are 6 hangers with multiple strands on each, and I display perfume bottles on the shelf above the hooks.

I guess I'm a combo leave-outer/put-awayer. However, once we renovate our bathroom, I hope to open up the walk-in closet to my little vanity area and make more of a "dressing room" space. Dream the impossible dream.

I don't really have anything I'd call "accessories" but I do have a over a hundred pair of argyle socks: way over a hundred. We all have our own little obsessions and mine happens to be garishly-patterned socks, OK?. My pals make fun of me, but, hey, one of these days, after Congress starts snooping through our sock drawers the way they already started monitoring the light-bulbs in our linen closets, they'll decide they can best protect the water supply by outlawing chemical dyes, and at that point, I'll have enough argyles to last the rest of my life.

In the meantime, though, that's a lot of socks to house, so mine are split into warm-weather & cold-weather groups, the main difference being color. Out-of-season socks go in a king-size pillowcase hung high in my closet & current socks are piled up in a giant wooden bowl from Mali that sits out in plain view in my living room, where the socks' bright colors serve as functional art. Some people buy new throw pillows when they want to change the decor. I just wash another load of socks.

I have some scarves on a curtain rod mounted in my closet and others on this Komplement Thingie I bought on impulse from Ikea. It hangs in my closet and works much better than I thought it would.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70108912/

i keep my accessory collection to a minimum and choose to display the few items i have. i see them as part of my (rather minimalist) decoration and i'm more inclined to wear the items if they are visible.

I have a walk-in closet, and, being petite, I use it as a dressing room. Just inside the door, past the door when it's open, I put a smallish console table (maybe 12 inches deep and about 36 inches long?). My jewelry boxes are on top, my luggage underneath. Over it I hung a mirror, and beside the mirror I have a couple of those wire necktie organizers mounted to hold necklaces. (I make, sell and collect costume jewelry, so I have tons.) Both sides of the rest of the closet have those white vinyl covered wire shelf units that also have hanging rods. A foot or so of one overhangs the console table, and I have a wire thingie meant to hold spice bottles hanging from the rod. This device has three tiers of wire "shelves" for spices, but I use the wire supports to hang my hook style pierced earrings. (Post style are in the jewelry boxes along with pins.)

I rarely wear scarves, so mine are in a dresser. But if I wanted to SEE them, I'd either drape them on the hanger holding the probably top or outfit I'd wear them with, or else just a bunch of them on hangers together. On display, but not out in the main room.

A point, here, the trick with any organized storage like this is to PUT THINGS AWAY properly! Ideally immediately after wearing them! I kind of cheat by keeping a pretty dish on the console where I can temporarily drop earrings or my watch when I get home. I do put them away properly later, though, so I can see what I have and choose what I want to wear next time...

I keep my scarves in a thingie similar to this one: http://www.ikea.com/pt/pt/catalog/products/10185588/ , it takes up very little space in my closet, and since I have them organized by colours and urm.. degree of warmness, it's easy for me to choose. The purses are 'archived' in these http://www.ikea.com/pt/pt/catalog/products/50186388/, and because they have a handle, I just pull it out kinda like a drawer to take a peek.

I don't have many rings or earrings, because i rarely use them, but this egg carton idea seems to serve the purpose of both organization and visualization http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2H17-6sGj1I/Sudh5mMpVCI/AAAAAAAAAT4/xZch-YlUAQM/s400/DSCN1004.JPG

being a fairly utilitarian family when it comes to our clothing and such (we have no accessories, jewelry, etc) i can't comment about that specifically, but i can mirror certain sentiments. i will often not use items that are stored away, especially if they are superfluous or inessential. this goes for just about anything, including kitchen items, hobby items, dog items, etc. on the other side, thing i use frequently or daily will never be "put away".

i am all for the designated area/station idea for items you intend to use a lot. i have only three pieces of footware, and my work boots are rarely used, so in the closet they go. sneakers and sandals? stowed, but accessible. be brutal about what you want to keep around, even if it's just for a week before you rotate it. i definitely live in a home where methodical madness is king, and unless you are really on about everything in it's place, having a few well loved items at the ready, in meaningful places, is the way to go in my opinion.

I too use a hanger from IKEA designed to hold scarves and it is very helpful. I've also kept jewelry on a padded hanger. Remember to always go vertical when your space is limited. Of course all the De-cluttering experts say that we're drowning in too much stuff and the real answer is to continue purging. Hard to do when you love everything!

I love all of the ideas and photos. Absolutely love! We have a huge facination with decluttering and using unique storage solutions. Most of what we carry is either vintage or repurposed. Most of our clients have used them to declutter and have shown us really cool uses that we didn't even think of. For instance, one client used a set of three of our vintage trunks and hung them on her wall for storage! Trunks like this one: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90283040/clearance-sale-vintage-metal-trunk

We <3 Apartment Therapy and have done an event for the STL group at our store!

Amy - owner, Hammer & Hand - St Louis, MO

Because I find that less visual clutter helps me stay saner, during a busy week, my aim this year is to put everything away with the exception of these items:

* my jewelry because it just looks beautiful piled on a Lunares angel w/wings (I got mine for just $20 at Tuesday Morning):
http://tinyurl.com/7wdeaj5

* a collection of WWI sailor hats (which are on the hatrack because people love to try them on so I have photographs of friends and family wearing whatever hat suited them at the moment)

* and my outfits for the next couple days (hanging in my bedroom using Pottery Barn's 'extraordinary hook'):
http://tinyurl.com/88nfeze

I keep all my scarves hung on hooks right inside the front hall closet. that way I grab one while getting my coat- and they look pretty there!!

My necklaces are hung by the bathroom sink. They look really pretty- but I have my own bathroom. I dont know if a husband would agree

I seriously encounter this very same dilemma in every area of my house every single January. I think I get on a kick after putting away all the Christmas decorations and extras that have been cozying up/cramping my life for the past month. To sort it out, I put pretty much all the knickknacks and accessories (wearables included) in a box and take them out slowly. I've found that by spring, I'm usually back into displaying more, but I love having a visual break for a month or 2.