Cluster: micro-decorating move #6

When I was a kid, my parents were more interested in moral order than in the arrangement of mere physical things. As a result, the large bedroom I shared with two of my brothers was allowed to regularly descend into total disarray.

We didn't mind. Being free of clean-up-your-room stipulations was fun – and we also knew that every few weeks our Portuguese cleaning lady, Mrs. Fontae, would arrive to restore some semblance of tidiness.

She was a powerhouse. After her visits, our room looked like a bulldozer had been through it, the floor absolutely clear and all the toys piled up in a mountainous heap against one wall. We'd marvel at this eighth wonder of the world – then extract a favourite toy to start the cycle all over again.

Little did we know, Mrs. Fontae was teaching us the power of clustering, a foundational micro-decorating move. Bringing objects together in close proximity is a simple way to make them look organized. Scale down the Mrs. Fontae Effect to a smaller number of things and you're instantly making your environment more pleasing to the eye.