How to Achieve the TikTok Cluttercore Aesthetic

Tired of minimalism? Then get onboard with cluttercore, founded on excess and lots and lots of stuff. We rounded up some of our favorite cluttercore-adjacent homes across the country to show this beloved decor style in action.

By: Felicia Feaster

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Photo By: Sarah Rothenfluch

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Photo By: Thanin Viriyaki Photography

Photo By: Kyle Carpenter

Photo By: Derek Trimble

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Photo By: Kyle Carpenter

Photo By: Thanin Viriyaki Photography

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Cluttercore Is the New Minimalism

A trend you can find all over TikTok and the internet, cluttercore is the answer to all of the minimalist, Scandi-influenced, decluttering, Marie Kondo styles we've seen in the past five years.

At its heart are personality, heart, coziness and the collections, obsessions and styles that define a home's occupants. Love travel? Then you need to prominently display the 40+ snow globes you've collected over a lifetime of wanderlusting. Crazy for cats? Then don't shy away from featuring a theme park-worthy cat climbing gym in the center of your living room. Because, as the cluttercore thinking goes, if you love it and it brings you happiness, then you need to feature it in your home.

Northwest of Portland in the town of Clatskanie, cluttercore devotee Shannon Buchanan lives in what was once the local school. From the 50-year-old Cadillac hearse out front to the unusually themed rooms inside, it now emphasizes a very specific lesson: At Shannon’s house, you should expect the unexpected.

Read on to experience more homes where cluttercore means more is always more.

Color Therapy Means Happiness Via Art

Cluttercore means not shying away from color and making sure your home expresses what you best love in life, whether that means artwork, lovely bibelots or vintage furniture, or, in the case of Charleston, South Carolina-based jewelry designer Janet Gregg, all of the above.

Janet's beautiful home perfectly encapsulates her personal style: bold, colorful and globe-trotting meets preppy. Her living room features an array of colorful artwork, much of it purchased on trips abroad.

Learn More: Maximalists Unite! Tour an Over-the-Top Charleston Home

A Well-Collected Tablescape

Janet Gregg is a master of the well-crafted tablescape, as with this chic desk ornamented with glass and china bibelots and more of her striking art collection.

A Giraffe-Themed Living Room

Nothing says "cluttercore" like an idiosyncratic collection, and for this Austin, Texas, homeowner, that obsession is giraffes so much so that owner Autumn's home is now referred to as the Giraffe House.

Fashion insiders have long maintained that animal prints are the new neutrals, but there’s nothing neutral about this labor of love containing at least 600 of the long-necked creatures. Autumn was a zoo volunteer in middle school, and she’s now a zoo aficionado: She’s met every giraffe in her home state of Texas. Her collection includes giraffe figurines, giraffe housewares and even giraffe-adorned clothing.

Learn More: Are These the Weirdest Homes in America?

An Eclectic Kitchen Full of Vintage Collectibles

Portland artist Christine Claringbold treats paint as a living entity, and the kaleidoscopic designs she creates for others also cover every square inch of The House of Sarcasm, the bungalow she shares with her husband, Charles (a fellow member of the “psychedelic punk doo-wop group” Dartgun and the Vignettes). Her vintage LP and kooky housewares collections fill in the gaps (you know, those glaring blank spots on surfaces like the kitchen ceiling) beautifully. Want to take your own trip to the House? Call dibs on its Psychedelic Jazz Room via Airbnb.

Collector Chatham Hellmers Sitting on a Chesterfield Sofa

Proficient collector and cluttercore enthusiast Chatham Hellmers in a relatively pared-back corner of her spacious Birmingham, Alabama, loft.

Learn More: Tour a Museum-Like Loft Filled With Beautiful Things

Cluttercore Can Mean Objects. Cluttercore Can Mean Art.

A massive gallery wall covered with vintage and antique artwork inside the Birmingham home of Chatham Hellmers shows how a collection can soon grow into an obsession in the right cluttercore-embracing home.

See more of Chatham's unique home here.

Learn More: Tour a Museum-Like Loft Filled With Beautiful Things

Antique Buffet Packed With a Curious Collection of Items

A large blue antique buffet table filled with books, vintage items, taxidermy and an antique store-worthy collection of stuff in Chatham's delightful home.

A Display of Color-Coordinated Vases and Artwork

These vases have been intentionally arranged in a color-coordinated fashion against a wall of artwork that fits within that specific palette in Chatham's loft.

A Color-Coordinated Library

A bold yellow leather chair sits beneath bookshelves where books are arranged by size and color to create a unique visual.

The Pretty in Pink House in East Nashville

Social media influencer and retro connoisseur Beverly Griffith has created a gorgeous shrine to the color pink in her historic East Nashville home, a temple to her love of all things '50s, '60s and '70s.

More Lamps and More Mirrors = More Glamour

This vintage dressing table features a plethora of mirrors, a favorite design feature of Beverly Griffith's Nashville home, along with a collection of lamps to enhance the glow.

Learn More: This Hot Pink Nashville Home Is Packed With Vintage Treasures

A Bedroom Fit for a Hollywood Starlet

Beverly's love of mirrors, lamps and black lacquer are all on display in this old-school glamorous bedroom.

The Queen of Pink

Beverly's stunning House of Adora is painted a striking shade of Barbie pink that makes its exterior and interior popular settings for photo shoots and music videos. Beverly's decision to paint her kitchen pink and swath the ceiling in glittery gold creates a sparkly light show when seen next to the glass chandelier. Gold accents throughout and green and red glassware bring a consistent color story to this imaginative kitchen filled with the retro objects that this enthusiastic collector loves.

A Midcentury Maestro in His Colorfully Cluttered Cottage

Atlanta underground celebrity Grant Henry has filled his vintage bungalow with midcentury-modern furniture, found art and a lifetime of collectibles.

Learn More: A Gut Renovation Transformed This Atlanta Celebrity's Home From a Mess to a Marvel

Every Powder Room Should Be a Conversation Piece

A definite maximalist and collector who never met a vintage portrait he didn't like, Grant has filled the powder room off his main living room with the kind of artwork that gets guests talking.

Antique Enthusiast Beth Hubrich at Home

Beth Hubrich, antique enthusiast and owner of the Birmingham, Alabama, antique shop Mary and Wilma, in her tastefully cluttercore Birmingham living room.

Kids' Spaces Are Natural Places to Let Cluttercore Reign

This kids' playroom takes its creativity cue from the bold, joyful artwork that decorates its walls.

Lean Into Fun

We are all about the obvious love for creativity expressed in Beth Hubrich's home where she displays her son's artwork using black electrical tape to create a unique gallery wall look.

Learn More: Tour an Antique Collector’s Funky Birmingham Home With its Dash of Tropical Decor

Vintage Lunchboxes and Pop Culture Memorabilia

Austin collectors Steve and Diane’s memorabilia-philia is so advanced that the entrance to their packed-to-the-rafters home is quite literally a piece of the wreckage from the TV show Lost’s Oceanic Flight 815.

Books and Vases and Vitrines, Oh My!

This living room in a 1930 Atlanta bungalow is filled with the quirky collections of its owner including Audubon prints, vintage vessels and green planters, and bell jars filled with art and objects.

Learn More: Tour a Quirky Art-Filled Atlanta Bungalow

A Wide View of a Collection-Heavy Dining Room

This dining room features an art collection as well as vintage vases, barware and a host of other collectibles, many of them in shades of yellow and green.

A Colorful Salon-Style Gallery Wall

When space is at a premium, art collectors know that a salon-style arrangement allows you to display a large number of works in a limited amount of space.

How to Achieve the TikTok Cluttercore Aesthetic

Related To:

Shop This Look

Cluttercore Is the New Minimalism

Color Therapy Means Happiness Via Art

A Well-Collected Tablescape

A Giraffe-Themed Living Room

An Eclectic Kitchen Full of Vintage Collectibles

Collector Chatham Hellmers Sitting on a Chesterfield Sofa

Cluttercore Can Mean Objects. Cluttercore Can Mean Art.

Antique Buffet Packed With a Curious Collection of Items

A Display of Color-Coordinated Vases and Artwork

A Color-Coordinated Library

The Pretty in Pink House in East Nashville

More Lamps and More Mirrors = More Glamour

A Bedroom Fit for a Hollywood Starlet

The Queen of Pink

A Midcentury Maestro in His Colorfully Cluttered Cottage

Every Powder Room Should Be a Conversation Piece

Antique Enthusiast Beth Hubrich at Home

Kids' Spaces Are Natural Places to Let Cluttercore Reign

Lean Into Fun

Vintage Lunchboxes and Pop Culture Memorabilia

Books and Vases and Vitrines, Oh My!

A Wide View of a Collection-Heavy Dining Room

A Colorful Salon-Style Gallery Wall

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How to Pick Kitchen Cabinet Frames

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How to Build a Banquette Seat With Built-in Storage

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