Joanne from Joanne Jeyes Interiors knows what it means to care for someone with dementia, to live with neurodivergence, and understands that a home that truly supports you changes everything.
I invited her to share her advice on decluttering to create a supportive home for someone living with dementia.
Decluttering for a Dementia-Friendly Home
We hear a lot about the benefits of decluttering our homes. Less stuff. Clearer surfaces. Everything neatly put away.
And there are very good reasons why reducing clutter can help when someone is living with dementia. Too much visual information can make it harder to find what you need. Cluttered walkways can increase the risk of trips and falls. A busy room can feel confusing or overwhelming.
But when I’m looking at a home through a dementia-aware design lens, I would never simply say: clear the clutter. Because those belongings might be doing a job too.
Familiar things matter
The slightly battered mug that always sits next to the kettle. The photographs covering the sideboard. The cardigan that’s always left over the back of a particular chair. A collection that’s been added to for 30 years.
To somebody else, these things might look like clutter. To the person living there, they may be familiar landmarks in a home they have known for years. Our homes tell the story of our lives. When someone is living with dementia, familiar possessions can provide reassurance, recognition and a sense of identity.
So before removing something, I think we need to ask a different question: Is this making life harder, or is it helping this person recognise their home and their routines?
Those are two very different things.
When clutter does become a problem
That doesn’t mean we should leave everything exactly as it is.
There comes a point where the amount of stuff in a room can start making everyday life more difficult. Perhaps the kitchen worktop has become so busy that it’s difficult to spot the kettle. There are piles on the floor that make moving around less safe. The dining table has gradually become somewhere everything gets put, so it can no longer easily be used for eating. Or cupboards are so full that finding one everyday item means searching through dozens of others.
For someone experiencing changes in memory, perception or processing, that extra information can make an everyday task much harder than it needs to be.
The aim isn’t necessarily to own less. It’s to make the things that matter easier to see, easier to find and easier to use.
Don’t start with a massive clear-out
If you’re worried about clutter in the home of somebody you love who is living with dementia, I wouldn’t start by arriving with bin bags.
Even with the best intentions, suddenly changing someone’s surroundings can be upsetting and disorientating.
Instead, start small. Look at one everyday activity. Making a cup of tea is a good example. Can they easily see the kettle? Is their usual mug somewhere they would naturally look for it? Is the tea or coffee easy to find? Do they have to open several cupboards and search through lots of things before finding what they need?
You might find that you don’t need to declutter the whole kitchen at all. You simply need to make that particular task easier.
The same approach can be used in the bathroom, bedroom or hallway. Rather than asking, “How can we tidy this room?”, ask: “What does this person need to be able to do here?” That changes the conversation completely.
Be careful what you put away
A beautifully organised cupboard isn’t much help if the person using it can’t remember what’s inside it. We naturally tend to think that putting things away makes a room easier to manage. Sometimes it does. But sometimes visibility is useful.
An everyday object left in a familiar place can act as a cue. Moving it into a drawer because the room looks tidier may actually make it harder to find.
This is why there isn’t one universal dementia-friendly way to organise a home.
Some people may benefit from clear labels, photographs or more visible storage. Someone else may find too many labels and open shelves visually overwhelming.
The answer has to come back to the individual.
Don’t declutter someone else’s memories
This is probably the bit I feel most strongly about. If you’re helping a parent, partner or another family member, it’s very easy to look at something and think, Why on earth are we keeping this? But it isn’t our decision simply because we don’t understand its value.
That object might be connected to a person, a place, a job, a hobby or a part of their identity that still matters enormously to them. And something doesn’t have to be valuable, beautiful or useful to be important.
Wherever possible, involve the person living with dementia in decisions about their belongings and their home. Don’t assume that a diagnosis means those decisions should automatically be taken away from them.
Start with what is getting in the way
If you don’t know where to begin, forget about achieving a beautifully organised house.
Look for the things that are making everyday life harder.
- Is there anything obstructing a regular walking route?
- Is something important getting lost amongst lots of other objects?
- Are frequently used things difficult to find?
- Has one area become so cluttered that it can no longer be used for its original purpose? Are there things that could be moved somewhere else rather than thrown away?
Solving one of those problems is far more useful than clearing a room simply because it looks untidy.
A home doesn’t need to look perfect
This is something I come back to again and again in accessible and dementia-aware design. We’re not designing homes to be photographed. We’re designing them to be lived in.
A dementia-friendly home can still be colourful, interesting, personal and full of things collected over a lifetime. Decluttering can absolutely be part of making a home easier to live in. But the goal isn’t minimalism. It’s reducing the things that are creating difficulty whilst protecting the things that provide familiarity, comfort and connection. Sometimes less will help. Sometimes that slightly battered mug absolutely needs to stay exactly where it is.
Dementia Home Consultation and Accessible Design for Real Life
Jo is an interior designer based in Essex, specialising in dementia home consultations and accessible design. Jo’s thoughtful home design creates homes that work for real life.
Whether you’re supporting someone with dementia, adapting a home for a disability or mobility need, or creating a calmer space for a neurodivergent family member, Jo can help you see what needs to change and exactly how to do it.
