Ten Steps to Organize Your Living Room
Step One: Remove Everything!
Yes, it sounds drastic. But so often we end up trying to find nooks and crannies for all the things we own rather than designing a room we love. It’s easier to work with a blank canvas, so move everything into another room. Then bring in the essentials first. What would you really need if you were just moving in? Start with large pieces like the sofa, the coffee table, and the television. Put just a few, large paintings or artwork on the wall. What do you have left? If you’re just hanging onto some items – find new homes for them.
Step Two: Maximize Seating
Consolidate your seating. Consider how much seating you really need most days. (You can always bring in extra seating if you need it for special occasions.) Replace seating with consolidated pieces – a sleek loveseat will seat two-three people in less space than two padded chairs. A small sectional can seat more people than a loveseat and sofa. Push seating closer to the wall for more floor space.
Step Three: Think Up
Few people fully maximize their wall space. Instead of scattering bookcases and entertainment centers around the room, unite your pieces. Go floor to ceiling with shelving and free up some more room.
Step Four: Multiple Use Furniture
The fewer the pieces of furniture, the more room you will have. Replace some of your single-use items with more versatile pieces. Large storage ottomans can serve as storage for magazines, games, and media, and well as double as coffee tables and extra seating. Vintage hard-sided suitcases and trunks make stylish side tables and coffee tables as well as serve as durable storage.
Step Five: Minimize the Electronics
Think flat, think small, and think multi-use. Replace your bulky television, stereo, and DVD player with a flat-screen television that has a built-in DVD player. The DVD player will also play music CD’s. Instead of a huge stereo, think high-quality bookshelf systems with small speakers.
Step Six: Find a Focus for the Room
If your living room is too crowded, you may have too many groups of furniture. Find one focus, such as the television or a fireplace, and place all seating to face that focus.
Step Seven: Remove Display Furniture
Remove any furniture that is designed solely to display something. Small tables filled with vases and pictures or cases of miniatures simply crowd a room. A small wall shelf will do that vase more justice. Choose one or two pictures and have them enlarged and framed for the wall. A case of miniatures is ignored, while a seasonally rotating display of one or two are a delight.
Step Eight: Corral Those Toys
If you have children, the living room can quickly look like a giant playroom. Find some stylish storage for the toys, such as a wicker hamper with a lid or a storage ottoman cube.
Keep the larger toys in the children’s rooms or only bring them out when the toys are actively in use.
Step Nine: Leave Some Horizontal Spaces
Do you have stacks of magazines on the ottoman? Glasses, remotes, pencils, and cards overflowing on the side tables? Clutter makes a room smaller. Keep those horizontal spaces clear. A beautiful wall-mounted file holder can keep those magazines under control. An colorful imported basket will round up small necessities (and keep them where you can find them.)
Step Ten: Move Lights Up
Floor and sofa lamps take up valuable living room real estate. Replace these with ceiling and wall mounted lights. Many ceiling and wall mounted lights can be adjusted for task lighting, making sofa lamps obsolete. Glass pendant lamps are stylish and artistic. Many larger do-it-yourself stores have large lighting sections; take some time and check out the many selections you will find there.
