Home Decor vs. Clutter – What is the Difference?

Home accessorizing is something everybody enjoys. However, going overboard with home decoration is pretty common. In other words, home decor can easily turn into clutter if you don’t have a plan. The question here is where to draw the line between clutter and maximalist interior. To be honest, creating an interesting and clever environment with personality rather than a cluttered jumble is not an easy task. Luckily, you can eat your cake and have it too. You’ll just have to put in a little effort and compromise. That’s why we decided to talk about home decor vs. clutter, the difference between the two, and how to solve the latter. So, keep reading for some fun and useful info!

Home Decor vs. Clutter – What is the Difference?

Yes, there is a fine line between home decor and clutter. However, there is a difference and an important one. So, if you want to have a stylish maximalist interior instead of a cluttered mess, you’ll have to learn what’s what! After all, we all know how the space we live in can affect our mood, and a chaotic interior can never have a positive one. Therefore, without further ado…

Home decor has a motif and a sense of cohesion that provides a lovely, welcome environment that enfolds you with warmth and affection. You can have a bunch of accessories and still avoid clutter if you make them all work together. The question is, how? Firstly, all the items have to correlate to each other. Secondly, a balanced color palette is a must. And finally, every object has to be carefully arranged for maximum effect.

Clutter is a senseless collection of disorganized objects in one place. This means there is no connection among your decor pieces; they don’t tell one cohesive story. It’s just a pile of irrelevant items that irritate the senses, causing an overpowering desire to leave the room. Unfortunately, clutter is extremely common, and many people don’t know how to organize their accessories in order to create an interior that makes sense.

When we put it like this, the home decor vs. clutter dilemma doesn’t seem so confusing, right? However, we’re here to give you additional guidelines when it comes to decluttering and seeing your way through the maze of all the items you collected.

A woman lying on the floor near a wall full of mirrors.
Home decor tells a story; clutter doesn’t.

Think about the size of the room

The size of the room plays a significant role when it comes to differentiating between home decor and clutter. You don’t want to cram a bunch of furniture in a small room and not leave any space for the decoration. The maximalist interior design is all about the view. Therefore, you don’t want to block it with massive furniture or unnecessary objects. Always match the home decor with the size of the room!

Pick a theme

The main goal of home decor is to tell an interesting and witty story of your life. So, there must be a link between all your accessories and furniture, something that makes the room look cohesive. This can be a special color, texture, objects from a particular era, or pattern. Practically anything that’s your cup of tea but at the same time makes the coherent flow throughout the room.

The minute you see one of the things you so proudly displayed doesn’t go with the room’s flow, the whole dynamics start to shift towards clutter and not thought-out home decor. Therefore, always be consistent!

A bohemian-style bedroom.
Choose the objects that complement each other and create a perfect view.

Keep it tidy and organized

Clutter is disorganized and dysfunctional. On the other hand, properly organized home decor is tidy and neat. Every unique piece of your decor should have its place and function in the room. If you want to display many items in one room, you have to keep them in line.

Believe it or not, there is a lot of thought put behind every gallery wall. It’s not just a random layout. On the other hand, if you have a lot of decorative cushions, don’t just throw them on the sofa. Choose the placing for each one of them and make sure to use complementary colors. Tidiness is not just about keeping things clean; it’s also about making sure everything’s easy on the eyes.

Choose the items you love

The truth is if you own a ton of stuff, you probably don’t have a love for all of them. Some items are simply more special to us than others. This is precisely where the home decor vs. clutter game peaks. If you want to avoid crossing the home decor line and stepping right into the cluttered jungle, you’ll have to compromise with yourself. This is a perfect opportunity to eliminate all the items you actually don’t like or forgot you have.

On the other hand, put aside all the things that have a special meaning to you or your family. This is precisely the kind of stuff you want to display. After all, if your home is filled with items that you love, you’ll feel more comfortable and at home.

Various figurines on a table.
Only the items you cherish will make a real difference to the room you’re decorating.

Find storage for your belongings

If you’re still left with a bunch of stuff even after only keeping the ones you adore, you’ll need to look for a storage solution. You can rent a storage unit and put everything you’re not using at the moment there. Additionally, if you’re not ready to say goodbye to certain items, but you don’t need them, a storage unit is the way to go. So, contact a local moving company, rent a storage unit of any size, and you’ll have a place to put unwanted stuff away or keep the things you love safe and sound.

Rotate different groups of favorites

Once you decide which items you want to keep at your house and which ones you want to put in the storage unit, you can make a few groups sorted by a certain theme or motif. This is extremely useful for those who have a lot of different collections that clash in theme. So, once you get bored with one home decor, you can just refresh your interior with the next one. Rotating various styles will always keep your home fresh, and you won’t have all of the stuff just randomly lying around the room. In other words, you won’t have clutter; you’ll have stylish home decor. This seems to solve at least half of the problems the home decor vs. clutter dilemma was causing.

Guest Author Bio:

Jenna Walters is a content creator and aspiring digital marketer at TB Moving and Storage, with a passion for all things interior design. You can often find her leafing through design magazines, and she hopes that her passion for the industry will take her far in the field of marketing as well. In her spare time, Jenna enjoys cooking for her family, and playing board games with her kids.