Kick out the clutter

Tidy up your home with some help from Hartleys’ smart storage ideas

We live in an acquisitive society, exhorted from all directions to buy things we never knew we needed and, with the ubiquity of online shopping, easier-than-ever-before ways of doing so.

And did anyone mention Christmas, that annual amassing of gifts, is just around the corner?

It all points in one direction which can be summed up in one word: clutter. It is the bane of many 21st century households – yet it need not be so, even with the restricted space available in many of our homes.

Sara Haggas, of Skipton-based bespoke furniture designers and manufacturers Hartleys, is a big believer in the potential to clear away the clutter in any home by a combination of smart thinking and methodical action.

Here are five ways in which you might go about achieving it.

A sense of belongings

Do you really need all those items – unused gifts, impulse buys, holiday souvenirs – which have built up over the years? Sorting through your belongings is the first step in any declutter.

“When faced with chaos, human instinct is to retreat, but if you take it in stages, it’s a battle that can be won,” says Sara. “Set yourself small goals and work cupboard to cupboard or room to room.”

Requirement reassessment

Once the sorting process is complete and you have decided what is to be kept, you can begin to work out the type of storage required. Shelves for those items currently cluttering surfaces? A filing cabinet to uncover the untidy desk?

Safe storage for items of monetary or sentimental value?

“Make a list of the types of items you intend to keep,” says Sara. “If you know what needs to be stored, you’ll have a better idea of how best to do so.”

Fit for purpose

At this point, you might be faced with a new dilemma: where to put the storage itself, especially in space-constrained newer houses or awkwardly-shaped older properties. The answer – one which Hartleys have 30-plus years’ experience of providing – could well be fitted furniture.

“The bespoke nature of fitted furniture means that a variety of storage types can be incorporated into your room, whether big or small, and whatever the shape of the spaces in there,” says Sara.

Room re-imagination

Are there rooms or areas within them which could be used for storage? If you are not lucky enough to have a spare box room, then a space beneath the stairs, in a garage or on a landing can perform well with suitable adaptation.

Double up

Alternatively, give an existing room a dual role by means of multipurpose furniture. Wall beds, foldaway desks, window seats with storage beneath: Hartleys’ savvy and experienced designers can devise all kinds of smart solutions to increase storage space.

To book a home visit by a design team member, telephone 01756 700471 or go to www.hartleysbedrooms.co.uk

Set yourself small goals and work cupboard to cupboard or room to room.