
The last day I went to work was March 20th.
Knowing that I was going to have so much time on my hands, I made a vow to declutter and organize my bedroom. I’m notoriously known for being neat everywhere except for in here. The issue is my room isn’t large enough for all the things I want to keep here… or more likely, I’m a fashionista/naturalista/makeup artist that has way too much stuff. Either way, there’s been a great need to increase my organizational game and now’s the time! Here’s what I got done:

- Functional, yet stylish furniture– I revamped my room a few years ago and elected to purchase some items from Ikea, namely a Kallax cubby, Lack shelf unit, and a Raskog cart. While everything was still in great condition, I knew could do with more closed storage. Not having all of your items exposed instantly declutters a space. I originally used the Kallax as a side table, but without the option of sizable drawers, it needed to go. I upgraded to the Alex 5-drawer and 6-drawer. This was perfect because it adds more surface space and allows me to keep all of makeup in one place.

2. In sight, in mind– another reason I tend to accumulate a lot of stuff is I constantly forget what I have. My previous organizing system gave me an idea of where things were, but they were so tucked away that I’d never revisit them. So, I spent hours figuring out what needed to be on my Raskog cart and where exactly they would go. Most beauty products are perishable, so I chose to keep a lot of those on my top shelf to encourage myself to use them. I even repurposed a couple of my Muji Acrylic 5-drawers by using its body to group things together.

3. Put everything away– to repeat a statement from above, the fewer items you can see the less cluttered your space will feel. Three of my Lack’s seven shelves held those Muji drawers I mentioned (each packed with makeup) and another had repurposed spice rack that was overflowing with nail polish. Moving my makeup into my Alex drawers gave me a chance to actually style my shelves. I’m honestly the most proud of this update. I was able to make it functional by placing items I use daily, like my vitamins, and cute by featuring some of favorite earrings.
At the end of it all, I have a room that I can take a much deeper breath in. The placement of everything is purposeful and the resultant clarity makes ALL the hours spent getting it done worth it. I also took the opportunity to give everything a good dusting and deep clean (*deep sniff* lemony fresh), so I guess we can call this my late Spring cleaning… Hopefully, I can keep up with the new changes haha ๐
How have you been spending your time nowadays? Have you been spring cleaning? Relaxing? Reading?
Ellen Hawley
I’m trying to treat the lockdown as an involuntary writer’s retreat, and I actually am getting some work done. But decluttering? Not a chance. I have a stack of stuff that was ready to go to the second-hand stores, but they all closed before I got it there. I’ve gotten so used to it, it’s almost invisible.
I love the yellow earrings in your photo.
itsduhKNEEL
Ellen HawleyA writerโs retreat sounds therapeutic! Definitely a way to declutter the mind :-)… Haha, I had boxes and bags filled with Knick-knacks on my floor for weeks before I actually got things together! My body even knew how to walk around them in the dark lol. And the earrings are from H&M ๐