Get rid of clutter by using it to decorate your place, plus some creative storage solutions to hide the rest it.

We all have it and while some of us hide it better than others, it’s a universal decorating concern – clutter. Read on for some decorating tips to help you get rid of clutter by learning how to accessorize your place with it.

Barbara Nyke, owner of NIKKA DESIGN, notes that clutter is not necessarily a negative thing. She suggests that you take stock of your clutter and decide what you would like to display. She offers three tips for organizing your clutter:

1. Edit large collections of items
2. Only display the pieces you absolutely love
3. Leave room around those items when you display them so they do not look crowded

Organizing your clutter

- Gather magazines in attractive magazine holders.
- Group framed photos together, keeping in mind that the frames do not have to match.
- Put multi-use items to work. Objects such as vases, bowls or decorative boxes can be multi-purpose, and used to hold fruit, mail and keys or even gloves and scarves during the winter months.

And for the clutter that can’t be displayed anywhere, consider storage. Sharyn Kastelic, an interior designer with Primed By Design, notes that she is very anti-clutter and that her motto is “restrained accessorizing.”

“If a client doesn’t want to get rid of things, then I recommend putting them in storage. The only exception I make to this rule is to accommodate appropriate displays of collections that have a unifying element,” says Kastelic.

However before simply throwing items into storage, really consider if you even like them anymore. It may be time to take a trip to Goodwill or host a garage sale if you still find yourself swimming clutter you no longer love.

Need more creative clutter solutions? Check out this article on 5 ways to display books.