Interiors: is it time for a clutter-free clear out?

There are a couple of times in the year when everyone’s home could benefit from a good clear out and post-Christmas is one of those times. Our houses are groaning with the influx of newly-acquired stuff. So why not seize the opportunity and have a clear out?

Parting with possessions can often be a struggle for people, but keeping items because they may come in useful one day or for sentimental reasons can lead to a huge amount of surplus, unused objects in your home that take up precious space.

Another reason people don’t let go of things is because they are still perfectly good, but are they out of date, out of fashion or unused? Things like old electrical equipment; clothes and children’s toys might be in perfectly good condition but won’t be needed any longer. You don’t have to throw these things away – think about donating or passing them on to a family member or friend.

If you struggle with disposing of clutter why not try this gentler approach? Place a box in an out-of-the-way place, behind a door or in a corner, and start to fill it with the items you don’t need, don’t love or just aren’t sure about. Once you have filled the box, or boxes, let it sit for a week so you become fully detached, and then you’ll know whether to toss it, donate it or give it away.

Once you’ve identified the bits and pieces you don’t want, consider putting them up on a site such as Done Deal or Buy & Sell. Your unwanted items could make you a few extra euro. We’ve had many clients who have successfully sold entire kitchens and bathroom suites. You’d be amazed at what people would love to get their hands on.

Now that you have removed all of your unwanted items, the trick is to stop more unwanted stuff coming into the house. Create a space by the front door where you can drop your belongings and sort your post when you come home. A console table with a bowl for keys and tray for mail, a mirror, hooks for coats and hats, and most importantly a waste basket, will help you to control the flow of items coming into the house.

A no junk mail sign is highly recommended if you don’t have one already.

Another dramatic way to clear space is to get as many items off floors as possible. Most homes – big or small – have lot of vertical space unused, so add some shelves or storage options that take advantage of those walls and keep the floors clear. This is particularly effective in utility spaces – things like ironing boards, brushes, mops and clothes-drying apparatus can all be hung up on the wall or backs of doors, freeing up valuable floor space.

Now that you have tackled the clutter you need to put some order on what’s left. Creating designated storage solutions for your items is far more effective than creating lots of general-purpose cupboards where things get put without any real thought. It will mean that you know where to put things and most importantly where to find them. After a recent clean out of my kitchen I realised how many jars, cans and bottles had been forgotten about at the back of the cupboards and were now out of date.

It’s not a very large kitchen so every bit of storage space is incredibly valuable so I shelved out a wall in the utility room with shallow shelves just deep enough to take tins, bottles and spices creating a kind of larder. Now everything is easy to access and always on view and best of all it’s an entirely new cupboard for extra storage.

Denise O’Connor is an architect and design consultant