How to Declutter Your Room (Bedroom) ? Nicola Says

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They say “tidy house, tidy mind” — but the benefits of decluttering your home go beyond that. Having an uncluttered space to live and relax in can help you feel settled, comfortable, and free from worrying about where you left something or how you’ll get everything back in order again. 

There’s no space where this feels more relevant than the bedroom. It’s where you go to refresh and unwind after a long day. It’s where you rest, recover, and prepare yourself for the next day. It’s a space that should feel as relaxing and stress-free as possible. That’s where decluttering comes in. 

Let’s take a look at how decluttering, tidying up, and organising can help you create a more calming, relaxing space to rest and sleep. I’ll also be sharing some of my favourite picks from Very’s home and garden section to help you with your journey towards a calmer bedroom. Here’s how to declutter your room to create a restful space.

Why decluttering your bedroom matters

Our bedroom should feel like a haven — a place to unwind after a long day, relax with a good book, or wake up slowly with the sun at the weekend. Too often though, our bedrooms end up cluttered with clothes, accessories, paperwork, and kids’ toys. It’s time to take back our relaxation space and get decluttering. 

Decluttering your bedroom can help you: 

• Find what you’re looking for more quickly
• Avoid piles of laundry piling up
• Rekindle a love for interior styling
• Avoid overstimulation and distraction from random objects in view
• Create a better space for self care activities — like reading or yoga
• Stay more on top of your tidying and cleaning
• Form new habits and routines to help you stay organised or feel better
• Make space to showcase the objects that really matter

This might sound so obvious that you’re probably wondering why we don’t all have neatly organised bedrooms. The truth is our bedrooms become messy quickly — they’re home to our clothes, accessories, books, and whatever else makes its way there at the end of the day.

When you’re already tired, tidying up is the last thing on your mind. You just want to crawl into bed and get some sleep. Decluttering helps you remove things from your sleeping space, so there’s less to tidy up next time — and it’s easier to keep things organised. 

12 ways to declutter and style your way to a more relaxing bedroom

Embracing a clutter-free way of life doesn’t happen in an instant. It takes time to get into a routine and figure out what your ideal version of “decluttered” looks like. Try some of these tips on how to declutter your room and create your own little sanctuary for rest and relaxation. 

1. Sort through your wardrobe or chest of drawers

One of the major causes of clutter in our bedrooms is simply our clothes. If you don’t have enough storage space, or it’s not used wisely, it’s easy for clothes and accessories to pile up around you. Take a look through your wardrobe, closet space, or dresser drawers to see what the situation is and how you can make your storage better for you. 

Like most families, we’re a little short on space. We have one wardrobe and one chest of drawers, so fitting everything in can be a squeeze. Eventually, I’d love to replace our existing unit with a pair of grey chest of drawers — but this works for now. The key is to only keep the clothes you need, love, and wear. 

To make sure we don’t keep more than we need, here’s what I’d do: 

• Take everything out — your clothing, accessories, jewellery, and miscellaneous items
• Make four piles — keep, store, donate, recycle
• Sort every item into one of these piles
• Set aside any broken items to be disposed of properly

Once you’re done, take action on your piles as soon as possible. Don’t let your donations or clothes to be recycled sit in your car boot for weeks. Instead, take them to the charity shop or recycling point next time you leave the house — or book a collection. 

2. Organise your clothes

If you’ve gone through the process of decluttering your clothes and accessories, you should have fewer items to find homes for. This means you can put them back away in a way that makes sense, with the help of a little organisation. 

My favourite products for organising clothes and accessories include: 

• Drawer dividers — for organising underwear, socks, and workout clothes
• Slimline hangers — to fit more clothes in limited hanging space
• Trays and jewelry boxes — for storing and displaying key pieces
• Large plastic boxes — for storing seasonal clothes and bedding

Take a look at your space and decide what works best. You don’t need to rush out and buy everything — invest in smarter storage solutions as and when you can. Until then, get creative with cardboard to DIY your own drawer dividers or use jars from the kitchen to store hair ties. This is the start of a journey, so don’t feel like you have to rush it. 

3. Store away any items that are out of season

When the seasons change, so do we — and that often includes our clothing and accessories. It’s time to pack away what we no longer want, to create space for the new season. 

Storage boxes are the ideal storage idea for your sweaters or thick trousers, Winter linens, or heavy throw pillows. Not only can you store a lot in them, but they’re easy to stack too. 

Here’s how to store your seasonal clothing in three easy steps: 

• Take any clothes that are now out of season and put them into a pile
• Fold and store your seasonal clothing in a storage box
• Label your boxes, if you have a lot of clothes or are storing for different family members

I love these pink crystal storage boxes from Very. The colour is a lovely change from the standard clear or white — it’s a subtle pink, so it works well for a “grown up” space. I have them in the 60 litre size as they’re a perfect fit for stacking inside our closet, but they’re available in a range of sizes for all spaces. 

4. Tidy any bedroom surfaces

The surfaces in our bedroom can quickly become a dumping ground for things that we haven’t put back yet, which only adds to the clutter problem. Get into the habit of tidying your bedside table and other surfaces daily (or weekly, at a minimum) to prevent any clutter building up. 

Here’s what I do: 

• Take any water glasses or rubbish downstairs in the morning
• Do a quick sweep later on for anything that doesn’t belong
• Look for alternative storage if things are building up

I’ve styled our chest of drawers at home with this pink faceted vase and faux eucalyptus plant. Adding a touch of greenery to your bedroom is a wonderful way to make it feel more relaxing — and this faux plant is ideal if you don’t want the added task of caring for a houseplant. 

I have fresh flowers in my vase right now, but it’s also a great height for faux blooms — either single stems or an arrangement. The colour is very calming too, and adds a touch of colour to an otherwise neutral space. 

5. Use trays for styling and easy access

If you want to avoid a cluttered bedroom, using trays to keep smaller items together is the way to go. Not only does it help you avoid clutter, but you can use them as pretty bedroom decor too. 

Concrete trays and trinket trays are ideal for storing and displaying: 

• Necklaces
• Earrings
• Rings
• Watches 
• Wireless earbuds
• Make up
• Skincare 

I love this Gozo concrete tray — it’s the perfect size for my earrings and lip balm. It doesn’t look this tidy every day, but even on my messiest days it still keeps everything contained and in one place. The top of our dresser is no longer home to anything and everything, and it feels much calmer.

6. Create a system for your laundry

An easy way to stay on top of clutter in your bedroom is to have a system for your laundry. This is a great idea if you feel like you’re always behind on washing, drying, ironing, and putting clothes away. For me, I always feel like I fall behind on putting the clean clothes away.

Here’s how to get into better habits with your laundry: 

• Decide how often you need to do laundry and which days/times work best
• Break the task down into smaller ones (over multiple days, if that’s easier) — wash, dry, put away
• Invest in furniture that makes this easy — e.g. a multi-section laundry basket
• Decide on a place for everything and have the accessories you need — e.g. hangers, dividers
• Get everyone in your home involved, so it’s a shared responsibility

A key part of my new laundry routine is this Tota 90 Litre Laundry Separation Basket from Very. It has two sections that you could use as you wish (ours are lights and darks), with built-in handles so you can simply pick up the bag and take it to the washing machine or laundry room. This has helped me so much — there’s one less barrier to getting the laundry in the machine if it’s already colour sorted. 

I also love how clean and smart the lines are, and the gentle textured fabric works so well with the other colours and textures in the room to create a calming feel. We used to have a beige plastic laundry basket, but this one flows so much better. 

7. Introduce a place for worn-once clothes

A major source of clutter (and frustration) in our bedroom was once-worn clothes. I’m all about cosy loungewear at home so change into something else for the school run, so there’s always at least one outfit that’s in limbo between the wardrobe and the laundry basket. If you find yourself with a similar problem, introduce a designated space for “once worn” clothes. 

If you’re tired of looking at a “floordrobe”, here are some great alternatives: 

• A small chair
• A small bench
• A section within your wardrobe or closet
• A stand-alone clothes rail
• A hook on the back of your door

One of my favourite new additions to our bedroom, and home in general, is this gorgeous Cox & Cox Oslo Oak Petite Bench. It’s our designated space for clothes that are worn, but not dirty enough to be washed yet — and saves our other surfaces and floor from becoming a dumping ground for dirty clothes or once-worn items. 

The bench fits perfectly into our small room, and gives us an alternative to the “clothes chair” that works better for our space. Don’t be afraid to look beyond the traditional suggestions for an item of furniture or object that fits better into your home — like a sideboard instead of a chest of drawers, or kitchen storage for your jewellery and accessories. 

8. Invest in furniture and objects that complement how you live

When you’re considering new buys for your home, always think about not just how they look but how well they match your needs. I’ve always wanted a stand-alone clothes rail for once-worn clothes, but I know that “lazy” me would never want to hang everything up. Think about the practical side of how you live when you bring things into your home, so you can make sure they’re a good fit. 

Here are some things to think about to help you plan your ideal space: 

• How do you use your space now?
• How would you like to use your space, in an ideal world?
• Do you prefer to tidy and clean up daily, or less often?
• Do you want to go ultra minimalist, or have space to display sentimental items? 
• Do you want somewhere to sit other than your bed, like a chair or ottoman? 
• Do you need more hanging space for longer items, or bedroom storage for folded items?
• Does your furniture need to be multipurpose?  

I’m all in favour of multipurpose furniture or spaces — especially if you have limited floor space or clothes storage space. Our new bench is a place for once-worn clothes, but it can also be used as a landing place for our Brabantia folding laundry basket — another recent addition to our home and laundry routine.

We chose this folding laundry basket with our habits and lifestyle in mind. I love that it’s lightweight, easy to move around, and folds down. It’s easy to carry between rooms even when full, and folds down for easy storage in a cupboard downstairs. The lining is water-resistant too, so you can use it to transfer wet laundry out to your washing line or indoor airer too. 

Understanding how you like to live is the key to finding the right products and furniture to complement your space and lifestyle, so you’re reducing friction and making things easier along the way. 

9. Use lighting to create the right atmosphere

I’ve always been a big fan of soft, gentle lighting — especially in a bedroom. The right lighting can make your room look and feel calm and relaxing, or cosy and warm. It’s something we often overlook, but has such a huge impact on your space and the atmosphere.

Here are a few ways to use lighting to create a relaxing atmosphere at home: 

• Swap from bright white toned to more yellow toned bulbs
• Light candles or switch on LED candles
• Use a dimmer switch to turn down the main lighting
• Switch to a lampshade which softens the light to create more of a glow
• Invest in colour LED bulbs or lights with custom colour options

Pictured is one of our new Philips Hue Go portable lights. I’ve always thought that lighting really adds to a space, but these are some of my favourite lights ever. They’re nice and small, so perfect if you have limited bedside table space like we do. You can choose from over 16 million colours, and set the intensity of the light too. We both have our own, so we can set the colour and lighting level that works best for us both — which is ideal if you’re sharing your space with others. 

Probably the best feature of these lights is that they’re portable. You can unplug them and take them out and about with you. I often bring ours downstairs if we’re playing board games at the table, or into the kitchen while we cook an easy meal. It’s a lovely way to create an atmosphere — whether you want something calming, cosy, or energising and fun. 

Ready to declutter your way to a more calming bedroom?

A decluttered bedroom doesn’t just look better, it helps you live better. Everything has a place, you get into good habits and routines, and there’s fewer barriers in the way when you want to lie down and rest. 

Decluttering your bedroom is a great first step towards embracing a calmer, simpler way of living. Start small, choose an area to focus on, and work through these tips on how to declutter your room until your space is free from clutter, organised, and more relaxing. Create habits and systems that make staying clutter-free easier, and you’ll have a bedroom that you can enjoy more than before.