Keeping the living room clean is often harder than it looks. In this post I will go over how to declutter and organize your living room, and keep it clean and attractive.
I have one room in my house that, after almost 20 years of marriage, is not filled with hand-me downs or Goodwill goodies. I have a nice, matched set of furniture with a couch that welcomes our visitors. I finally grew-up and had a presentable living room. The other rooms…. well, maybe not so much. I still find huge value in things we find thrifting or that friends were letting go.
I just wanted a living room that says “this girl has got it together.”
Basically, it is obviously a lie. But it’s my lie, and I really like it.
{I wish I was more talented to make thrifted items more beautiful, but at this point in my life I am not…. maybe on of these days. I do have a spray gun – there may be hope for me in this area yet.}
Related Post: Why I love to clean
I’m going to give you three awesome tips to the living room that can help keep it organized and a warm place to greet your family and visitors.
Three Tips for Decluttering Your Living Room
Blankets in a Basket
My kids love to cuddle under a blanket. It can be 100 degrees outside and my kids will be huddled under a blanket. Keep in mind I rarely let my thermostat go below 80 in the summer. They’re just blanket cuddlers. Or, maybe they’re hiding a device under it — but I chose to ignore that.
Anyway, that left me to fold them all up in the morning and it tended to just make me mad.
So I finally got some baskets and drawers to throw the blankets in. That way their hap-hazard way of folding won’t greet me or my visitors. It’s hidden in a basket.
I don’t have actual drawers, I just use a square basket like this — be sure to have it lined with felt on the bottom so it doesn’t scratch the furniture.
Many Shelves
When looking for furniture in your living room, check out the shelf space as your #1 asset. While I love to declutter and only have the things we NEED, I have to say that the rest of my family isn’t so good at it. We bought an Ikea piece that had a ton of square shelves. I absolutely love it. Also, it was easy to split up the shelves into specific categories which makes it easy.
The sad news is that we got dark colored wood that is a HUGE pain to keep dust-free. I can’t tell you of my love for the Swiffer duster. Makes it so easy. I also assign my kids to dust. Great job for kids!
A lot of people keep games in their living room — I have a whole post about organizing games.
Eliminate
If you’ve taken my 5 word organization challenge (sign up below) you know that getting rid of stuff is the easiest way to organize. So often we have books that we really never will read again cluttering shelves in our living room. Some areas to consider:
- Books
- Workout equipment (yes, I do keep mine in a cubby in the living room)
- Cookbooks (let’s face it, I only use Pinterest anymore — although I will still hold onto a few)
- Kids toys (try to corral them to one spot)
- Blankets
Of course, my house isn’t just my own — it’s my husband’s (and sort of my kids) and one of us is a keeper and one of us is not. Which is why our selves look very normal and real — like this:
Yup, they look like blurry shelves. But we make it work.
Related Post: Laundry Room Organization
Like all of the posts in this series I’m giving REAL tips, things that won’t cost a ton but still keep your family happy. I’m super excited to have a whole course about real family organization coming out soon. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter right here to be one of the first to know. And check out all my other organized home posts below that:
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