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.

Solution 1:

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."

Solution 2:

I think an expression that explains why you can't find an object might be more useful. You said you tried looking for a pen in your room, which was messy, and failed.

So you could say something similar to:

"I tried looking everywhere, but the room looked like a bomb had hit it!"

Solution 3:

"Trying to find a needle in a haystack" would work efficiently in this scenario.

Solution 4:

You might say,

I tried to look for the pen in my dorm room. I turned the room upside down, but never found the pen.

Solution 5:

Ok, with some more reading, I now realise that the word I was looking for was "rummage". I rummaged through my room to find it.