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.