Cluttercore, sometimes referred to as “cozy chaos” is an interior design technique where a person or a designer takes a maximalist approach to the room by displaying a collection of personal items that can include:
- Collectibles
- Artwork and antiques
- Memorabilia like vacation trinkets, trophies or awards, and items from life events
- Family items including photographs
The goal of using a cluttercore interior design style is to bring to life the occupants personality and their passions by displaying the things they feel define them and their space. The obstacle people run into when using cluttercore design is balancing the pieces in the room so they don’t appear disorganized or make the space uncomfortable.
The benefit of the cluttercore technique is that the person or family doesn’t have to stop collecting and adding to their maximalist design, they can instead continue to build their spaces into something that defines them. This relies on them knowing how to make it work with their space, not against it.
The way to make cluttercore work in a room is by:
- Removing what doesn’t add to the story
- Using contrasting colors and textures
- Having ample shelving and display opportunities (not storage since you want everything visible)
- Balancing the collections to create an equilibrium
Here’s a bit more on each of these rules to cluttercore so you can continue growing your collections, displaying cherished items, and sharing what makes you you in every room of your home and in your office.
Have Each Room Tell a Story
Cluttercore is bringing an aspect that makes you feel like yourself into the space by displaying your passions and telling you or your family’s story. The items you display bring the story to life while reinforcing the use of the space.
If you were a swimmer or diver as a sport growing up, joined the navy or worked at a fish market, and love vacationing at the beach or a lake, you can cluttercore your living room or tv room by combining these three themes. The three tell a similar story about your life and encourage guests to ask questions about your connection to water.
The walls can have emblems like anchors and ocean art, lamps can be filled with seashells and there can be a guide to navy boats as a photo book on your coffee table. On the shelves and in display units you can feature trophies and medals you won in competitions, as well as certifications on floating shelves.
For a home or corporate office, clutter coring can be about your love for the industry you work in. If your company is IT and you work in systems, fill the spaces with models of computers throughout the years, posters of networking systems and server configurations with how they’ve changed. Now add in your personal connections with photos and awards from math and science fair projects. The cluttercore can include your diplomas and certifications, even a display of funny coffee mugs with IT and engineering jokes on them.
This tells the story of the industry your company is in, as well as your role in the organization by bringing your professional life front and center. The mugs, posters, photos and certifications share how you’ve been inspired by IT and engineering since you were a child. The cluttercore tells your story and how you relate to your role at the company.
Contrasting Colors and Textures
One of the most important rules when using cluttercore is to avoid a color drench. Color drenching a room is when everything is in the same hue or similar ones including the walls, possibly the furniture, and sometimes the carpet.
While color drenching can make a space feel larger because there are less visual borders, it defeats the purpose of doing a cluttercore where you want the elements to stand out and pop. The goal with cluttercoring a space is to make the collections of items contrast in color.
Contrasting colors have been said to bring visual interest and increase attention while creating focal points in a room as the contrasting element stands out, although this can be disproven too as the study did say more testing needs to be done. But there is a reason designers use the contrasting colors, especially in groups of three opposites or equally spaced positions on the color wheel to create harmony. The spaces feel balanced, especially when the 60, 30, 10 rule of interior design is applied.
The rule states that 60% of the collection should be either the same theme, color, or texture, 30% should be made of the next one which is directly complementary, and the final should be 10%. When being applied to cluttercore design, we can add in the size of the collection with the space it takes up.
If you have three animals you collect memorabilia from like horses, dogs, and cats, 60% of the space or collection can be cats, 30% dogs, and 10% horses. The throw blanket on the couch in a living room can be a cat theme with a couple of decorative pillows featuring a dog, and a horse statue on the side table next to the couch.
You could also try having the artwork in the room be focused on dogs, cat photos and small statues be on display along the shelves, and coffee table books, coasters, and items used featuring horses. As the collections grow and expand, you can keep them balanced based on which needs to occupy what percentage.
It can also be used for industrial and biophilic design concepts where you want urban life and nature to combine. In a modern loft in a city, let the steel rafters, brick walls, and concrete carry through with the furniture where you choose metal frames, glass tops, and other modern finishes for 60%. Now have collections of plants, add in wooden sculptures, and other elements of nature for the next 30%. The remaining 10% can be a theme like water where you include a fountain, modern art featuring waterfalls and skyscrapers, or art that features cities on bodies of water like Miami, Chicago, or San Francisco.
The same can apply to collections. If you have a movie or game room, look for movie memorabilia that has a vintage aesthetic for 60%, video games that are hyper modern in design for 30%, and make the 10% something that complements the fun like amusement park collectibles or family photos from adventures and outings including miniature golf, family picnics, and even ziplining or adventure sports you did as a group.
Ample Display Units
If your tables are covered, and you’re knocking things off your desk while you work or study, it’s time to add display units. Unlike storage, displays have open fronts or glass that can be UV coated to protect paint, photography, and light sensitive materials.
If the shelves or ledges are deep enough, you could layer them with mini pedestals, risers that are shaped like steps, and other ways to add levels so all pieces are visible. There’s no shortage of ways to add displays in, but if you’re stuck, here’s a few options:
- Floating shelves closer to your ceiling add a tall visual horizon which helps make rooms feel taller and sometimes more spacious, and that is important with maximalist design approaches like cluttercore.
- It’s easy to do a floating shelf wall where you can create patterns like steps that go up or down diagonally if you don’t want them all horizontal and even. This lets you add to your cluttercore with larger and smaller pieces since there will be more space in between the shelf and ceiling if you don’t do even, horizontal layers.
- Traditional shelving like book cases can also be a good way to make use of an empty wall. The shelves are perfect for displaying the items, and you can use them as a sequence in chronological order if the pieces in the collection have a timeline or story.
- An alternative to traditional shelves and bookcases is a rotating murphy bed with shelves. The benefit here is you can keep your items on the shelves while the bed is not in use. When you need the bed, they’ll rotate into the cabinet and you’ll have a bed for everyday use or a place for guests to sleep that does not take up space.
You can cluttercore and keep a room looking neat, intentional, and balanced as long as you apply a few design concepts including the 60, 30, 10 rule, make sure the collections complement each other by telling the same story, and by ensuring the colors, sizes, and themes contrast in the right way.
