Finally, permission to be a bit messy. Cluttercore is a new craze that embraces organised chaos, and encourages us to fill our homes with an abundance of mismatched but meaningful objects.
While clutter has been around since the dawn of things, cluttercore has emerged from the broader cottagecore trend, the ramshackle country pile aesthetic taking over social media for the past year. Cluttercore is more sentimental in expression, advocating for homely interiors that cocoon us in happy moments.
Cluttercore encourages us to find those objects that spark joy – much in the way that Marie Kondo taught us to z– but then to put them all on display at once. Collecting the memories, the talking points, the treasured trinkets and just letting them be.
Cluttercore videos on TikTok have accrued more than 17 million views, showing rooms filled with plants, piles of well-read books, clothing draped nonchalantly, and vintage paraphernalia such as record players, vinyl, and collectibles. Objects are lovingly arranged, not discarded with a lack of care.
The result is a happy, lived-in mess that is the antithesis of the pristine white rooms and the near-unachievable levels of organisation you see on Instagram.
While some people are more exuberant in their interpretation of cluttercore, mixing styles, and going heavy on colour and pattern, some prefer a neutral and pared-back room but filled with lots of things. The joy of cluttercore is that its only defining characteristic is the use of lots of meaningful objects. The rest is down to personal taste.
Here are 12 cluttercore ideas to get you started...