Get Rid of Excess and Organize Your Home {The Living Room}

Today’s the first week of the Get Rid of Excess and Organize Your Home series. In this post I’ll be focusing on the living room area. For me this is one of the easiest areas to keep clutter free and clean. I keep my living room area as simple as possible by having very little knick knacks and minimal furniture. Although, from the photos below you’ll see that I’m not done decorating my living room space so my walls are still pretty bare.

Get Rid of Excess and Organize Your Home {The Living Room}:

Grab a basket and a trash bag

Grab a basket to place items that don’t belong in the living room, but that you still want to keep. Place everything that doesn’t belong, in the basket. Now if you find things that don’t belong, but can’t be salvaged (i.e. old magazines, broken DVDs) toss it immediately in the trash bag. This will help you from having to handle the item twice and makes the de-cluttering process much easier.

Evaluate your furniture

Does each piece of furniture serve a purpose? Does it fit in the space? Just because your sofa has a matching love seat and chair doesn’t mean you have to have both. If having all these pieces of furniture in your living room going to make the space feel cluttered, then it’s time to consider getting rid of something. Crowding a space with furniture will only make the space feel cluttered and smaller than what it truly is.

Rotate your favorites

If you have several family photos that you want to display, consider rotating them every couple of months instead of displaying them all at once. Rotate your favorite books, decor and pillows according to season instead of filling every nook and cranny. For example, I like to put out darker decor in the fall and winter months. In the spring and summer seasons I like to display my brighter decor. However, I never put everything I own out for display at once. It helps my living room look fresh and clutter free.

Buy furniture with dual purpose

Your furniture is meant to be a beautiful piece to display and entertain with, but when you buy furniture that serves a dual purpose it makes the purchase even sweeter. In the living room you could purchase an ottoman that opens up so that it serves as storage space for movies, magazines or board games. A TV console or table that has drawers could hold remotes, frequently watched DVDs and anything else you don’t want out on display. A sofa that converts into a sofa bed could also double as a bed for overnight guests.

Make use of nearby closet space

I have a closet in the hallway that’s directly across from our living room. This where we store board games, books, coats, umbrellas, movies and some baby gear. Just because you think it belongs in the living room, it doesn’t mean it has to be out for all to see. The less you have out, the less mess you’ll have to clean and the larger your space will appear. Here’s an example of one of the canvas bins we use to store DVDs in the closet.

Have a space for everything

If you want your space to be and stay organized, make it clear where things belong. You can’t expect your family to know where to store things if they don’t know where it should go. It takes effort from everyone in the family to keep a space organized, so involve them in the process so they know where things belong. Even little ones can help put away games and movies.

Here’s a few pictures of my living room space. Again, it’s still in the little (or no) wall decor phase since we moved in our home last fall and we’re slowly working our way around the house.

Yes, this is the no decor wall. Working on a project I plan on sharing soon. 🙂

So how do you organize your living room space? Do you find that it’s an easy space to keep organized? Share your tips below!

Click here for Week 2 of the series where I focus on the kids’ bedrooms!