Organize Your Living Room
Learn how to organize your living room, family room or great room. Whatever you call it, organize it so that family time will be enjoyable and you will always be ready for company. Let's get started.
Organize Your Living Room
Declutter
Step One
Take a look around your living room and remove anything that belongs in another room in the house. Put those items where they belong.
Step Two
Take a look around your living room for any trash or recycling and dispose of them accordingly. If you have a pile of magazines that you were saving for a few articles, tear out the pages containing the articles you want and dispose of the rest.
Put the articles in a folder and set them aside to deal with later - whether you want to copy a recipe onto one of your recipe cards or you are saving the instructions for a craft project you want to complete. When you have some free time to do what needs to be done with the articles, you will now know exactly where to find them - in your article folder.
Step Three
Take a careful look around your living room for clutter. This means anything from books that you have already read to knick knacks that you don't really like or need. Move all of these items to
Clutter Central.
Step Four
If you have children and you store toys in your living room, get them organized with a decorative shelving unit using baskets or plastic bins to store similar items together and keep them looking neat.
If you would prefer not to have any toys in your living room, but they tend to wind up there anyway, get a large decorative basket. At the end of each day put any toys that have found their way into the living room in the basket. At least once per week take the entire basket to the designated toy area and put them away. Put the empty basket back in the living room.
Organize Your Living Room
Get it Clean
Now that you have all of the clutter removed, give your living room a thorough cleaning.
- Take window curtains down and throw them in the dryer to remove dust.
- Wash the windows and blinds.
- Vacuum, including using the crevice attachment to get into the corners and along the walls, use the extension attachment to clear dust and cobwebs from the ceiling and move furniture to vacuum underneath.
- Vacuum the furniture itself - remove the cushions and vacuum any crumbs that have accumulated and vacuum the upholstery using the proper attachment on your vacuum cleaner.
- If your carpet and upholster are extremely dirty, consider calling a professional company to come and clean them. You should have this done at least once per year.
- If you have wood floors, wash them thoroughly.
- Dust all surfaces and knick knacks.
- Wash the overhead light fixture and ceiling fan blades.
Organize Your Living Room
Identify and Fix Hot Spots
Do you have hot spots in your living room? Hot spots are areas which tend to attract clutter like magnets.
Do your family members tend to walk in the door and fling off their shoes into a big pile? If so, consider getting a bench that opens for storage or an enclosed shoe rack to hid the pile of shoes.
Do you lose your coffee table under piles of mail, newspapers and magazines? If so, place a decorative magazine rack next to your favorite sofa or chair and place a basket or wall-mounted organizer near the entry door for mail and keys.
Take some time to think about the areas where clutter tends to gather in your living and find a way to solve the problem.
Organize Your Living Room
Daily Maintenance
Now that you have taken the time to declutter, organize and thoroughly clean your living room, let's talk about what you can do to keep it that way. Here are some rules to follow:
- Take 5 to 10 minutes each night before bed to do a quick pick up of the living room. If you have kids, enlist their help as part of their bedtime routine.
- Fluff couch pillow and refold throw blankets.
- Vacuum or wash the floor and dust thoroughly at least once each week.
- Spot clean the carpet and upholstery as necessary. Have them professionally cleaned at least once per year.
Enjoy your fresh clean living room!
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