I identify myself as too much of a furniture lover which is why I avoid visiting home furnishing stores (it makes me want to buy everything). But no matter how much I dodge the idea of buying new furniture, I still find my house victimized by furniture clutter.
While moving homes 2 months ago, I found myself frustrated because of the efforts it took to move and rearrange the furniture most of which was not needed in the first place. There was an old computer table that was mostly used as a dumping ground for random items. I also had an expensive revolving chair that was being used as a bedside table for years (please don’t judge me on this!). And apart from the huge sofa set in the living room, there were a couple of wooden chairs that were used to keep the newspapers, remote controls, snack jars and many other random things.
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Now before you call me a hoarder of all things furniture, I must tell you that I have managed to let go of most of the above stated stuff. But I am still struggling to convince myself that I won’t be needing more furniture to replace the one I’ve discarded. I’m now thinking to move an extra couch out of my living room and instead use it as a patio furniture.
Although I have spent a lot of time decluttering my closet, pantry, bathroom, kitchen and book shelves, getting rid of unneeded furniture has made a real and clear difference to my home. And if you’re someone like me who finds it hard to deal with furniture clutter, here are some tips and tricks that can help you figure out if your furniture is the problem in your house and how you can deal with it:
1. Sell/Donate Old Furniture
Furniture decluttering is not for everyone. It’s for people whose homes have more furniture than they need or those who are looking to move towards a minimalistic lifestyle. But given how expensive some furniture items are, it can be difficult to figure out what items you should get rid of. If you want to go for a slow declutter of your furniture items, start with getting rid of the old and damaged items.
If your home has a broken bookshelf or a wardrobe with rotten wood, selling or donating it would be your best available option. You can either organize a garage sale or take these items to a local thrift store to sell them. If you aren’t looking to make money by selling, you can choose to drop these furniture items at a donation centre near you.
2. Relocate Extra Furniture
Sometimes, it can be hard to get rid of the antique furniture items because they are way too pricey. Relocating your furniture to other areas of the house can be a great option in this case. If your living room has both a coffee table and a dining table, consider moving one of these items to the patio or the yard.
Any extra chairs that aren’t being used for the purpose of sitting can also be used as patio furniture. The extra wardrobes and closets in your house can be taken out to the garage for the purpose of storing items in them. I recently moved my old cupboard into the garage and used it to store small gardening tools, pool accessories and outdoor sports equipment.
The extra tables in your house can be used as a garden furniture or can be put into the balcony to be used as a coffee table. If you want to have a clear entryway, consider moving the entryway bench to the garden.
Relocating extra furniture to the patio, yard or garden of your house will help eliminate the need to buy new furniture items for these areas and will vacate a lot of space in your house. You can shift or relocate furniture items based on your needs and the space available in these areas.
3. Relocate Your Stuff
You might have accumulated furniture clutter owing to your varying storage needs. You bought a vanity to store your makeup, a dresser for your clothes and a bookshelf to store your books & CDs. But the fact is that you can make do with lesser furniture by shifting and rearranging some of your stuff.
Ask yourself a few questions before deciding which furniture items you can do without.
Do you really need your vanity? Is not, consider moving the makeup and skincare products into a drawer or a cupboard. You can also put a mirror on the inside of the closet door to eliminate the need to have a separate vanity.
4. Replace With Multifunctional Furniture
If space is the reason why you want to declutter your furniture, consider replacing your old furniture items with multifunctional furniture. Modern furnishing brands allow you to get two or more functions in a single product thereby eliminating the need to invest in separate products for the same two functions.
This single piece of furniture can fulfill the purpose of both a coffee table and a dining table at an affordable price. And this lift top table can be used as a couch desk when you are not using it as a center table.
If you are looking to declutter some of your old furniture, consider organizing a garage sale for it. The money you earn can be used to buy some space-saving multifunctional furniture items. If you want to learn more about it, here’s a post I wrote about the many multifunctional furniture options available for small homes.
I hope these furniture decluttering tips turn out to be as helpful to you as they have been to me. Although hard, identifying furniture clutter and taking steps to declutter it can make a huge difference to how your home functions and you’ll start looking for newer ways to declutter your home.
What other tricks do you implement to tackle furniture clutter in your home?