The Clutter Fairy Weekly Survey #256 Results
Clutter and Home Renovation
Below are the results of our survey released in preparation for episode #256 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly. If you haven’t already done so, please take the survey.
Renovation Census
We asked our audience, “Have you previously experienced a renovation, remodel, or major DIY project in your home?”
Note: Hover over any pie slice in the chart to see the text of the answer and the number of respondents who selected that answer. (Mobile users: Click on the slices for details.)
Renovation Census: Other
We offered a follow-up to the question above for respondents who checked “Other”: Please elaborate if you wish.
Renovation Plans
We asked our audience, “Are you making plans for a renovation, remodel, or major DIY project in your home?”
Note: Hover over any pie slice in the chart to see the text of the answer and the number of respondents who selected that answer. (Mobile users: Click on the slices for details.)
Renovation Plans: Other
We offered a follow-up to the question above for respondents who checked “Other”: Please elaborate if you wish.
Responses
To view the complete, detailed survey response from any respondent, click on their name (or “Anonymous user”) in the table below. You may also find it easier to read long responses in the detailed view.
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | Have you previously experienced a renovation, remodel, or major DIY project in your home? | Briefly describe the project you completed. | Did you declutter as part of your preparations for the project? Describe how clutter complicated or adversely affected the project, if that was part of your experience. | Are you making plans for a renovation, remodel, or major DIY project in your home? | Briefly describe the project you’re planning. | Will you declutter as part of your preparations for the project? What other plans are you making to deal with home contents during active work on the project? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patricia | Other | Yes and more to declutter | Yes | two room and two hallways | We will declutter a mattress and table and sell a large warrobe. We will have to relocate an other large wardrobe during the renovation. | |
| JM | Yes | Completed? Ummmmm... | I tried to, but the rush of contractor's schedule and deadlines meant some stuff just got shoved in boxes for "later" but then those boxes got buried. | Yes | Finish the two bathrooms and two bedrooms we had started when Covid hit. | Yes, In the intervening time, I've gotten much better at decluttering. But it's still slow-going for me. |
| Kathianne | Other | Since I had almost no advance warning, did not declutter, and moved contents temporarily to a storage space. After removed the items from the storage space, yes, I did declutter and purchased a rolling clothes rack to house the "survivors" in a partitioned part of the living room. Since I had taken the closet doors off the opposite closet (did not fit well due to settling of the building probably due to earthquakes), I had previously decluttered the other part of my wardrobe about a year before. | No | |||
| Celina | Yes | i was filling holes in walls (that were supposed to be for electric sockets) and putting a wallpaper over 🙂 | I had to remove a matress and two shelving units that had been there - matress into a dupster and the shelving unit on a fb give away/buy nothing group with personal pickup. | No | ||
| Kit | No | Yes | Dealing with apparent mold around shower | No, no need. Spouse will probably move his toiletries into the bedroom for carrying to the main bathroom while he uses it each day. | ||
| Gabriella | No | Yes | The building cooperative that I'm a member of decided to do a major upgrade of the housing complex I live in. In 2026 they will, among other things, remodel my bathroom, replace all radiators and upgrade my storage unit in the basement. During ongoing works they are moving me to a conversion appartment for 6 weeks. By May 2026 I will have to have emptied my basement storage unit completely. A rather small storage unit will be provided for whatever I decide to keep. | I'm taking this unwished for project as an opportunity to do another round of substantial decluttering (...make lemonade:o). To avoid a lot of stress in Spring 2026, I've begun to declutter a year early. I started by reducing my knitting magazines by about 80 % as well as reducing my general paperwork even further. Then I went through my ginormous book collection and decluttered 130 books so far (that really hurt!). Right now I'm into decluttering the basement. It's going fine. Nevertheless, I came across 5 boxes of papers and other random stuff that belong to my partner. I've sorted out any actual trash beforehand, but he'll have to decide what else to declutter when he comes to Berlin in July/ August. As soon as I'll have completed decluttering the basement, it'll be another book declutter (sob!). I also hope to declutter some more sentimental items. My bathroom, linen closet, living room and kitche/pantry are pretty minimal already. There's a moratorium on clothes at this point. | ||
| C | Yes | 1) wall to wall carpeted floors in several rooms were converted to parquet flooring. 2) painting all rooms, doors and windows | only partially; that is, only decluttered the very obvious things. It made everything take so much longer to take out store and put back again. | No | ||
| Lela | Yes | Added a window & back door. Also had a storm door replaced. | No. The space was already decluttered. | No | ||
| Em | Yes | I had no part in the project other than living where the work was done. The apartment owner had decided to cut the bedroom in half to enlarge neighbor's bedroom. | No, we just moved furniture and covered it. I was living out of a suitcase at the time, so was not impacted much by the work, except for dust and noise. Seems to me that packing as if for a camping trip, which would be in one's own home, would be a way to survive the renovation process. | Other | I have been decluttering for years, but don't see how it will be possible to replace the carpeting while I am living here unless movers take the furniture outside--which won't be possible until I make more decluttering headway. The other floors have only 6 pieces of furniture on them, but it would still take some serious decluttering to be able to move them. | |
| Sandra | Yes | Recently we had a new staircase installed and new wood flooring in the main living area. Finally getting rid of the ugly carpets!!! | I was pleased to realize that clearing the space due for renovations was easier because we had free space throughout the house where we could temporarily relocate books, furniture, etc. | No | ||
| Tanya | No | Yes | Replace existing old, house full of carpet with engineered plank flooring. | Yes, have been decluttering consistently in preparation for this renovation. I will have the furniture moved out temporarily to the outside covered porch, and throughout the home. | ||
| Lise | Yes | Bathroom and part of kitchen. | I did de-clutter during the mini-renovations bathroom - disposed of expired products & kitchen - took extra cleaning products to work/office. | No | ||
| Peggy | Yes | manufactured flooring / primer and paint (walls / woodwork), demolishing cabinetry in family room | The cabinetry was one floor to ceiling cabinet that was awkwardly situated so created a bottleneck. It also had awkward storage. It was decluttered of all items (games / photos, misc) before being demolished. | No | ||
| Dorothy | Yes | My roof caved in (top floor in a building) after a huge rainfall.. when the debris was cleared I got the living room and dining room painted white ( I have a subway apartment ) and then put everything in its place or discard things. | Not until after the debacle. I wished I had decluttered beforehand. I lost a lot of merchandise. | Yes | Redesign the dining room. First declutter, then research a new dining room set, choose and purchase, then celebrate! | I have to decide what to do with the table already in place. I may donate it |
| Anonymous user | Yes | new countertops in kitchen and installed a walk-in shower on the main floor | I decluttered in the kitchen and used up foodstuffs ahead of time so there would be less things to move when the actual reno was done. | No | ||
| Anja | Yes | In 2022 the bathroom was completely remodelled. | Decluttering was necessary but not a huge problem. | No | ||
| Millie | Yes | Most recently I had several rooms in my house painted by a painting company. | We decluttered as part of the process of removing every single item from the kitchen as it has open shelving, from the laundry room which also had an open shelving unit, and from my bathroom (which was the easiest as it has very little storage. We also had to empty another room of furniture. It was A LOT of work and we got rid of furniture, some cooking pans, glassware, and silverware in the process. The rooms weren't really cluttered when we started, but the process of having to relocate everything for the painters made it easy to just donate stuff that is rarely, if ever, used. | Other | Yes, we are decluttering very regularly. | |
| Juliette | Yes | Master bathroom and hall bathroom. Walk-in closet reduced by half. | Yes, we increase the size of our master bath by taking 2 ft out of the walk-in closet next to it it. Everything needed to be removed from the walk-in closet and then decluttered an order to have the items cut in half. The closet is accessed through sliding doors in the bathroom. The basement directly below the bathrooms that were joined through a wall with pipes, had to be decluttered. In order to get to the pipes from below they had to go through the basement. Although I would never recommend the fellas that did our work, because we had water pouring down into our basement three times. The good news was that since it was decluttered in that area, none of our things were ruined. Since the walk-in closet was reduced in size by half, things that had not been addressed for years were passed along or thrown out. Note: Gayle got me thinking. We had the tub replaced with a walk-in shower that was big enough for a wheelchair. That's why we needed the extra space in the master bathroom. Neither one of us need a wheelchair, but we were planning for the future since we're retired now. It's much easier to use. Oh, there's lots of safety bars to grab. | No | ||
| Noreen | Yes | Kitchen - New cabinets, countertops, flooring,lighting, paint, microwave, table, chairs. My cousin is a carpenter and did the cabinets, but I had to schedule all the rest. | Yes, decluttered cabinets as process moved along. It complicated somewhat as I lost a pantry cabinet, but gained more countertop space. | No | ||
| Anonymous user | Yes | |||||
| Cee | No | Yes | Remodel kitchen counter tops and floors in kitchen and dining area | Empty lazy Susan lower corner cabinet and stuff from counter tops. Clean out cabinets. | ||
| Anonymous user | Yes | New bathroom in my new condo | No. It was an empty space but all my clutter was in the garage ready to move in. | No | ||
| Anonymous user | No | Other | We will need to move everything out of the cabinets so it would be a good time to get rid of things we don't use. | |||
| Cynthia | Yes | Renovated entire kitchen. Then, completely changed all the flooring. Then we moved to a new home that had defective flooring and we had to more out for 3 weeks to replace all the flooring. | Yes I decluttered for the floors. We had several dumpsters for the old flooring and we threw extra things in them. In the new house I decluttered some by using things up. | Yes | We are planning to expand our lanai. | No plans to declutter except one item. |
| Anonymous user | Yes | Painted the inside of the house, removed wall paper and smoothed out ceilings. | Everything got really dusty and had to be deep cleaned. Room by room everything had to be moved. Less stuff meant less cleaning. | Yes | Master bathroom has a leak. We want to update the shower and repair the leak. | Yes. Linen closet need decluttering and vanity. |
| Suzy | Yes | Mainly, it was to rearrange the furniture in the living room to add my dining room table into that room still keeping the kitchen table in the kitchen area. It required moving quite a bit, including clutter.. | It was one of those things where I was like, so glad to get to that stuff because it’s just been sitting there forever and really becoming blind to both of my husband and my eyes, but not to our guests so it felt great to do something about it because we had a goal in mind | Yes | I just wanted to be able to serve people when they come over at least with a buffet style or a sit down lunch or dinner or brunch because I am very much caring about my family and friends and I just didn’t have anything in my little house as I used to in my bigger houses that I’ve lived in | The home contents and decluttering is a big challenge. I need to let go of things and I also donate and I have had to use professional help because of mobility challenges, but it has proven to be very successful just very expensive so it’s a slow process. there’s many things I can do on my own if I had the energy after my regular work. |
| L | Yes | My husband and I decided to refinish the hardwood floors on the second floor of our home, which has three bedrooms. My husband added hardwood floors to the hallway which previously had carpeted floors. | I started decluttering about a year prior to the work knowing that we would be doing that project in the upcoming year or two. My husband started the project during covid, before I was ready mentally to deal with the project. Because he started before I was ready, I had to ramp up my efforts to decide what was staying and what was going. Knowing that we would be moving everything from the second to first floor living/dining room area while we were doing the work made me really look at what I wanted to put back once the work was done. I want to report that our project was completed seven months after we started and the upstairs bedrooms have stayed clutter free for four years! | No | ||
| L | Yes | My husband and I decided to refinish the hardwood floors on the second floor of our home, which has three bedrooms. My husband added hardwood floors to the hallway which previously had carpeted floors. | I started decluttering about a year prior to the work knowing that we would be doing that project in the upcoming year or two. My husband started the project during covid, before I was ready mentally to deal with the project. Because he started before I was ready, I had to ramp up my efforts to decide what was staying and what was going. Knowing that we would be moving everything from the second to first floor living/dining room area while we were doing the work made me really look at what I wanted to put back once the work was done. I want to report that our project was completed seven months after we started and the upstairs bedrooms have stayed clutter free for four years! | No | ||
| Glenna | Yes | Converted attic into bedroom. | Clutter didn’t interfere too much with renovation although it was irritating having too much stuff temporarily in spots that weren’t meant for piles ( hall, closet etc). The stressors were being pregnant, doing internship for my Masters degree while working full time, and having 17 y/o stepdaughter move in with us. Plus some caregiving responsibilities for aging mom. It was NOT a fun time. | No | ||
| Lynn W | Yes | I climbed a ladder to apply accent paint colors on cathedral-high walls in the living room, entry hall and dining room. | It was a reward to myself after decluttering those rooms, removing and replacing old furniture with a new set I selected. The self-imposed deadline for getting the painting done was the delivery date of the new furniture. | Yes | Almost have enough money saved to have carpet removed and replaced with vinyl flooring in 3 bedrooms. Used the time for saving the money to complete the decluttering and furniture in 2 of the 3 bedrooms. | No shopping! Use up what I already have. |
| Laura | Yes | Replacing floors, renovating kitchen, renovating bathroom. | Yes, everything had to be removed! All furniture, etc. | Yes | We always have some kind of project going on. Remaining bathrooms will also get new countertops. | Yes! Renovating is the perfect opportunity to declutter. |
| C | Yes | Carpets in 3 rooms replaced with parquet wooden flooring; all rooms painted; | Somewhat. Several things got put up in attic allotment. Everything took longer to prepare. | Other | It would be sensible to do so! I try to do a bit every time I tidy up a room. | |
| Jeanne | Yes | On my fifth property. I have built with hubs From scratch a log cabin, Restored an 1810 Georgian Federal. I worked alongside the tradesman or did myself. It was needed the works, Refreshed a ranch with paint and landscaping, floor repair. Now in Montana , I had a painter for most of the house., but did paint the kitchen and baths myself. We cleared , landscaped, and developed gardens. | We already decluttered when we moved, Always been very minimal. | Other | Not needed | |
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | Have you previously experienced a renovation, remodel, or major DIY project in your home? | Briefly describe the project you completed. | Did you declutter as part of your preparations for the project? Describe how clutter complicated or adversely affected the project, if that was part of your experience. | Are you making plans for a renovation, remodel, or major DIY project in your home? | Briefly describe the project you’re planning. | Will you declutter as part of your preparations for the project? What other plans are you making to deal with home contents during active work on the project? |
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