How to organize and clean your bedroom

Most of the time, when I'm called in to help stage or organize a home, I encounter an overstuffed master bedroom. What I mean by overstuffed is too much furniture, too many clothes, and too many items that don't belong in a bedroom.

A lot of people, including myself, tend to put stuff in the bedroom that doesn't belong because we don't know what else to do with it. It becomes a staging area for projects, laundry, exercise equipment, and "stuff".

So how do we get from ransacked to restful? I thought you'd never ask! Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. What do I want this room to feel like? Restful retreat, romantic getaway, or an inspired haven?

2. What pieces of furniture could be gotten rid of? Bookshelves, dressers, chairs, exercise equipment?

3. What items end up in your bedroom that don't belong there? Toys, paperwork, laundry?

4. Are there any repairs that need to be made? Loose handles, broken curtain rods, stuck door?

5. What activities will take place in the bedroom? Reading, bill paying, television watching.

After you have wrapped your brain around what you want your bedroom to be like, it's time to get to work.  

I like to make the bed first.  Somehow that one little job makes the room 25% better.   

Then I usually follow this process:

1. Remove all furniture, exercise equipment etc. that does not belong in the room.

2.  Collect all clothes that are laying around and put them into a large pile or clear          garbage bag (Make it a clear one so you don't accidentally throw it away or             donate it).  You'll work on clothing later.

3.  Clear off each dresser and bedside table (basically every horizontal surface).  

     Place everything you want to keep in the room on the bed.  Everything else will 

     placed in a bag for donate, a bag for trash, or a box to be taken elsewhere in the        house.  Don't mess with the inside of the drawers yet - you'll do that later.  

4.  Clean and polish every surface.  Pull out the furniture and vacuum the floors and      clean the baseboards.  Also, clean the backs of all of the furniture.  Take down          the drapes and clean or replace them.  Wash the windows and window sills.

5.  Place all of the stuff you collected from the horizontal surfaces (that you want to      keep) and put it back onto the newly cleaned dressers, bedside tables, desk etc.

6.  Now that your bed is clear, it's time to work on the clothing.

      a.  Pull out your pile or bag of clothing that you collected from around the room.       b.  Working with only one person's clothing at a time, sort the clothing into piles             of types of clothing (pants, shirts, dresses, etc.).

      c.  Open your dresser (or whatever you keep your clothing in), pull out the                    clothing, and sort it as before.  Continue this process with your closet if you              have the room.   If you have tons of clothing, just do your dresser first and                then your closet.  

      d.   Take one sorted pile at a time and go through it. Ask yourself "Do I love it".             "Do I wear it"?  "Does it make me feel good when I wear it?''  "Is it worth                 the space it takes up in my bedroom?" "How many of these same items do I             need?"

      e.  Only allow clothing that you decide is a keeper to make it's way back into                your dresser.  Put all of the clothing back, keeping like items together.  

      f.  Continue with all of the piles until all of your clothing is put away.  

7.  Take your bed apart and put on fresh linens (or new ones you bought for your          newly cleaned bedroom)

8.  Remove all trash and throw it away.  Put all clothing donations in the car so you      can drop it off tomorrow at the thrift store.  

9.  Light a candle in your room and relax.  Your hard work has paid off!