How to Reduce Visual Clutter for a Calm Home

It is easier than you think to reduce visual clutter for a calm home. Here are my best tips on how to make your home look clutter-free.

Visual clutter can make your home look messy and busy. But not to worry with a few simple changes your home will look transformed.

How to Reduce Visual Clutter

Scan every room in your home. Find all of the areas that look cluttered and think about what you could change.

Try to think large instead of small. A lot of small things can look way more cluttered than one large thing.

Also, one large thing is much easier to clean than a bunch of small pieces of decor.

Here are 7 ways I was able to reduce the visual clutter:

These things interfere with your life but don’t add any extra value.

Visual clutter can make you feel stressed and make it hard to focus. By reducing the clutter your home will look more appealing and put together.

Once the clutter is gone you will be able to focus on your life and not all the stuff.

It will also be easier to organize and clean!

Here is the exact decluttering process I used in an actionableDecluttering E-Book.

Check out my Get Things Done Printable to stay organized and on task.

1. Make a Drop Zone

By making an intentional drop zone you will avoid having things spread all around your home.

Think about what you tend to set down right when you come into the house. I normally have my purse and sometimes my hat.

For me, it was easy to add a large basket to put all of these items in. The benefit of this is I also know where everything is when I am ready to go somewhere.

If you live in a cold place you might want to add a hook for a jacket, the possibilities are endless, but make a drop zone.

2. Limit Shelves

Open selves and book selves are great if they are needed, but they can add a lot of visual clutter.

If you can look to put shelves in your closets and out of sight. Or limit the number of things you put on your shelves.

Don’t over-decorate! Lots of little things can add a lot of visual clutter and extra dusting.

3. Art and Photo Clutter

When it comes to art think about size versus quantity. I love the look of a gallery wall in decor magazines, but they can add a lot of visual clutter to a wall.

Using one to three large paintings can really cut down on the visual chaos.

If you can’t pass up the gallery wall try using uniform frames that are all the same size and color. This way your eye is not ping-ponging all over the place.

4. Color Theme

One great way to get your home to feel put together is to pick a color theme. Choose 3 to 5 colors that all go together.

This way your home will look harmonious in every room.

We have picked blues and neutral colors for our home. In our kitchen, we have original 1950s mint and yellow tile countertops.

Since we can’t do anything about that right now, I decided to paint one of the walls the same mint color.

Using the same color cuts down on the visual clutter that would have happened if we brought in a third color.

5. Limit Patterns

Naturally, I am someone who loves patterns. This was always a problem when decorating.

For the longest time, I could not figure out why my home never looked put together.

Finally, it hit me that I had way too many different patterns. All of these patterns added extra chaos and visual clutter.

A little bit of pattern is fine, but try to limit each room to one thing with a bold pattern.

6. Store Things

Storing things that are not in use will cut down on visual stimulation. For instance, in my kitchen, I store all of the appliances in our cupboards.

The only thing I keep out is our toaster because we use that all day long.

This might sound crazy, but I store away our throw pillows and blankets in the linen closet until we need them.

It is one less thing to have out cluttering up our space.

7. Put Things Away

I know this sounds so obvious, but one way to avoid the look of clutter is to put things away.

Go the extra step and put your shoes in the closet. When you are done making a smoothie put the machine on the shelf where it goes.

9 times out of 10 when my house looks cluttered it’s because I was too lazy to actually put things where they go.

This means you are going to need a place for everything. If you need help with decluttering and organizing check out my ebook.

Reduce Visual Clutter Conclusion

With these 7 simple ways to reduce visual clutter, you will be on your way to having a calm visually relaxing home.

I hope some of these tips were able to help you get your home looking clutter-free. Here is a great article on how clutter is hurting your focus.