As one of the biggest open spaces in your home and an area that gets a lot of traffic, it can be difficult to keep your living room looking neat and ordered. But is there a way to keep your living room looking nice and tidy without making it feel like a museum?
In this article, we'll share some handy tips for making your living room a fun, usable place for the entire family and yet keep it from getting overwhelmed with clutter.
Despite the fact that your living room is used daily, you probably don't have a wastebasket. It's certainly understandable you don't want an unattractive item that can smell bad, but there is a way to do wastebaskets right.
Choose an attractive wastebasket like one made from wicker or other organic materials with a style that doesn't immediately scream "wastebasket." For instance, many laundry hampers work great as a wastebasket.
Like a magnet, flat surfaces such as tables, ottomans, and shelves seem to draw clutter. It's really easy to set down papers, magazine, or other items "just for a minute" and then have them end up cluttering your entire living room.
Make a rule for yourself and the family that you never set anything down on a flat surface and walk away. If you're regularly bringing in paper, books, coffee cups, or other items and setting them down on flat surfaces, find a place to store them out off sight (such as in a cabinet drawer of your entertainment centre) or set up a "penalty jar" where you have to pay a small fine if you're caught leaving something out where it doesn't belong.
It's also a good idea to make a quick sweep through your living room at the end of the day to pick up any loose items and put them away where they belong.
Whether it's a video gaming console or fancy TV, it's really easy to let your living room get overrun by cables and cords. Not only are these unsightly, but they also seem to have a magical ability to draw in dust and cobwebs.
Luckily, a simple zip tie or plastic garbage tie is a great way to organize and neaten your cords and cables. You can also buy professional "cable caddies" from online and brick and mortar retailers.
Your living room probably has one or two coffee-style tables that serve as the main focal point of the space. One good idea for reducing clutter is to use tables that have drawers or other storage spaces out of sight underneath the tabletop.
If your coffee tables don't have any drawers, invest in some rolling storage bins that are small enough to slide underneath the table.
Make sure you have a dedicated space for the remote controls to "live" when not in use. This will make them easier to find and keep them from getting scattered all over the living room. A simple woven basket that sits on a small end table is a great choice for storing your remote controls (as well as spare batteries).
Most interior decor experts recommend keeping your sofas and other living room furniture at least one foot away from exterior walls. This makes the space feel more open and inviting. But how you arrange furniture in your living room [link to QCYEG - Jan 12 - How to Arrange Furniture in Your Living Room ] can serve other purposes, too.
You can make good use of the space behind the sofas for storing things that you use rarely or seasonally such as emergency candles, board games, extra pillows, and extra blankets.
Whether you have children who scatter toys all over the living room or adults who love board games, playing cards, or video games, make sure you designate a specific area for these activities. You can even use a small carpet or throw rug to help visually delineate the play area.
Whether it's toys, video games, movies, or CDs, most families have a lot of individual items that can quickly spread out and clutter up the entire living room if they're not organized.
Invest in a toy box, CD/DVD organizer, or office-style baskets for storing and sorting your papers, mail, discs, and toys. And consider adding magazine/newspaper racks if you frequently read these in the living room. For photos, pick a few to neatly hang on the wall and then keep the rest out of sight.
Another great way to reduce clutter in the living room is to look at the overall organization and flow of the room. Do you find you're always dropping off mail on a certain end table or setting down drinks on the entertainment centre?
You might be able to reduce some of the clutter simply by re-organizing your living room or placing good storage options in the areas where you're naturally leaving things already.
Set up baskets or trays for things that you regularly leave on the table (such as mail or keys) and organize the photos, CDs, toys, and movies so that they all have a proper place.
The easiest way to de-clutter your living room is to look at how clutter is building up and then set up a storage option that fits naturally with the flow of how you and your family use the space. And set a rule that you'll always tidy up the living room at the end of the day, so you don't have to face a large clean-up job later on.
As you wave goodbye to living room clutter and notice how freeing it is, you may want to continue. Our posts on reducing clutter in the kitchen and in the bedroom can help you do that.