Idioms for "looking for something" and "trying to find something in a room full of mess"


I am trying to find idioms that could express "looking for something" and "trying to find something in a room full of mess". One that I could find was "hunt high and low," but for some reason I don't really feel satisfied using it. Can someone please suggest some other phrase?


I would like to use in a context like this:



"I tried to look for the pen in my dorm room (which was messy) but couldn't find it".



For e.g. I would want to tell someone that every time I want something, I have to search the place thoroughly to locate it.



Answer



These are not idioms, but they may be useful hyperboles:


You could say "Every time I need something from there, I need to call search-and-rescue to find it."


Or "Only a search dog can find what I need in there."


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