keep on plodding

I was looking around my room today, tidying it up, and made a quick observation: almost everything in my room is arranged such that only a few objects were on top of one other object. Arrangements in that manner looked neat even if the objects themselves weren't "beautiful". Such things as:

• My bed. Has a blanket and a pillow on it, with nothing on top of those. Looks cosy and neat =) But as soon as I throw something more on the blanket or pillow, it's not so cosy!
  
• My desk. Has my laptop, monitor, keyboard and pen cup on it. As soon as anything gets put on top of any of those, its messy!
  
• My home theatre unit. See the picture. If I added anything to the arrangement, it would spoil.
  

How many objects can we put in a top layer? Not more than a "few", otherwise those objects become piles of "stuff". Some "stuff" in my room includes

• A big mash of CDs in their jewel cases. With yet another layer of CDs on top of them. Ugh.
  
• Books without a bookshelf
• A pile of pens and other stationery on my desk
• Layers of alphabetised DVDs. Alphabetised, but still layers of chaotic ugliness.
  

With that said, I now have my own simple fundamental rule for tidying up my room as well as laying stuff out. I feel an inclination to stick piles of paper into folders so that they're just one object. I've tossed pens into a pen cup so that they're just one object which is easier to use anyway. I also have motivation to buy a storage unit - those piles of "stuff" become just one object too.

Do any of you have an opinion on what makes a room "clean"?