Interior & Design

Home accessories that you should throw out immediately

They seem nice, but only create clutter

Now that my house is for sale, I am quite busy making everything incredibly tidy. If an unexpected viewer comes, I don't want to look like a disaster cleaner running around my house trying to get everything in order. So I did an incredible deep clean once, and now I keep it neat. Of course, this also meant that about sixteen garbage bags went to the bulk waste and all those loose nice accessories found a place in the closet. Actually, it's really nice because it turned out that many accessories are just very messy. So off they went, this is all out. Believe me, it gives much more peace, space, and light in your home.

Empty the kitchen

I am quite a sucker for kitchen items. New salt shakers, nice jars filled with pasta and muesli, and containers that are handy for putting your tea bag in… Really, incredibly nice, but also very messy. They are all those tiny little things that together seem like a lot. And because of that, it all looks very chaotic.

Stacks of magazines

Due to lack of space on the bookshelf and on the cabinet, I thought it would be cool to stack all the magazines. By color, because that would look nice, and by size. In reality, it looks terrible and that stack quickly doesn't look so neat anymore. And it gets dusty. If you pull out one magazine, the whole thing shifts and it just becomes a chaotic mess. And actually, you also grab those magazines much less quickly, so it becomes more of a lost pile. So if you start this, it's guaranteed that three months later you can just take them straight to the dump. If you keep this tidy from the start, it immediately creates a lot of space.

”If you keep this tidy from the start, it immediately creates a lot of space”

Cushions and throws

At Ikea, I always find it look so cozy, a sofa with hundreds of cushions or a bed that looks so inviting that you just want to plop down in it. My boyfriend always thinks differently about it because he immediately sees the practical problem: ‘You first have to take all those cushions off the bed and that takes so much time and hassle.’ At Ikea, it is styled so incredibly well that it indeed looks good. But you only need one wrong cover or to place a cushion the wrong way, and it no longer looks styled at all. Then it just looks very messy.

Shelves and containers

I always found that very nice (yes, all these tips are from my own experience, so I really know where and how it can all go wrong). All those containers together, with one holding a candle, another a nice card, and in yet another who knows what. But it goes wrong. Over time, you also throw things into those containers that actually don't look good at all. And as a result, those containers just become a big collection of all sorts of terrible things. Ribbons from gifts, cards you pulled off new outfits, flower bags you get with a bouquet, and caps from bottles. You know it: things you think are nice to keep or that you might use someday, but it only causes hassle and chaos. Get rid of it. So don't start with small containers or shelves. And I haven't even mentioned the old-fashioned letter tray yet.

”Everyone thought it was so nice that they all started giving her cute vases as gifts”

Small vases

Lilian has funny small vases with flowers in her kitchen. Everyone thought it was so nice that they all started giving her cute vases as gifts. As a result, she actually became her own flower shop because she received so many vases that the stylish idea kind of faded away. That applies to everything. It's nice, a few candles together, and some cute vases look nice too, but don't overdo it.

Photo frames

I once saw this idea on Pinterest. All kinds of photo frames together in different sizes. As if you have a gallery at home. That is also immediately the problem. In a gallery, it looks nice. There is space, it fits. But at home, you also have furniture, lamps hanging, cabinets standing, and who knows what else, and so those frames just look very messy. Hang them up, give them a place, and it looks much calmer. Or move them to the garage or basement. That looks a bit more gallery-like.