HOW TO KEEP YOUR LIVING ROOM NEAT?
How to Keep Your Living Room Neat?
It’s where you hang out, relax, and put your feet up. It’s probably also where you read, play, make things, watch movies, and have parties. With so much going on, it’s not surprising that it can be hard to keep the living room looking (and feeling) clean. And what can be done besides living a very simple life?
Here are 10 ways interior designers suggest to make this hard-working room in your home easier to take care of.
– Place Some “Speed Bumps” On Your Entry
If your front door opens right into your living room, it’s too easy (especially after a long day) to run through the entry and drop on the couch, leaving a trail of bags, shoes, and mail behind you. Put some “speed bumps” in the way to slow people down. For example, a bench to sit on while taking off your shoes, hooks and floating shelves on the wall, a sofa table with storage under it, and a tray to collect mail can all help.
And if you own your home and want to make a bigger change, you could think about adding a partial wall or another built-in feature to help with flow and storage.
-Select Furniture That Has Two Levels
Clear surfaces look great, but let’s be honest: it’s hard to keep them clear. One way to fix this is to choose coffee tables and side tables with a lower shelf. When you’re home alone, you can spread out your things. When people come over, you can stack it and put it on the bottom shelf.
– Buy Furniture with Hidden Storage
You can also use a storage ottoman or bench as a coffee table or as an extra seat tucked under a console. You can store things like movies, games, magazines, and even shoes inside. The key is to use it to hide things that make your living room look messy when they are just lying around. If that means you have to put drawer organizers inside your ottoman and store junk drawer items there, so be it.
And if you have kids, the storage ottoman is a great place to put their toys. If you switch up the toys there often, it will keep the kids interested and make it less likely that they will bring a lot of their toys in. And when they bring in more toys, what will they do? This will be helped by the next strategy.
– Use Rolling Storage for Kids’ Toys
Keep a variety of your child’s favorite toys in storage baskets on wheels. The bins can be rolled from room to room, making it easy to clean up and put things away when you need a clean space right now.
– Find A Temporary Place for Newspapers and Magazines
One basket of magazines or newspapers looks fine, but a table full of them doesn’t. Give magazines a large basket to live in, and promise to get rid of old issues when they get too big to fit in the basket.
– Be Honest About How This Room Is Used and Make Room for It.
Do you make stuff while you watch TV? Are the kids playing in the living room? Stop fighting to keep these things clean and put them where they “belong.” Instead, build some permanent storage for toys, crafts, games, and so on in the living room. If you need to make room first, remove things from the living room that you don’t use very often. Books you want to keep but don’t think anyone will read again soon could go on shelves in a bedroom, for example.
– Use Baskets
If you want a cleaner living room, get to know your baskets. But before you go shopping for baskets, figure out what you want to keep in the living room (see No. 6) so you can choose the right ones for the job. Toys work best in open baskets because it’s easier for kids to find what they want. Personal documents and things that look messy should go in baskets with lids. Don’t forget to measure your shelves before you go shopping. You don’t want to bring home a bunch of new organizing tools only to find that they don’t fit.
– Keep A Drawer for Little Things
Don’t forget that I didn’t say “junk drawer.” Small things need a place to go in every room, and a well-organized drawer can be a good choice. If you think of it that way, it’s just a junk drawer. Find a drawer in a console table, credenza, or chest to store small things like charging cords, pens, stamps, and scissors, unless you’re already using a storage ottoman as a junk drawer.
When the little-stuff drawer gets too full, it causes problems. You can avoid this by making more little-stuff drawers in other rooms so that all the weight isn’t on one spot. Also, carefully consider what goes in: some things might be better kept in a utility closet, a toolbox, or a shoe organizer on the back of the door.
– Streamline Media Storage
How modern is your collection of media? If you have cabinets full of old VHS tapes or hundreds of jewel cases for CDs that are already on your computer and other devices, it’s time to get rid of the old stuff. If you do want to keep some discs, you can save space by taking them out of their cases and putting them in a binder made for that purpose. You can put hundreds of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs in just one or two media binders.
– Keep A Collection of Carefully Chosen Books
Books can be one of life’s great pleasures, but staring at an overflowing bookcase with books on the floor is not one of them. Only keep the books you love and will read again, and get rid of the rest. Your living room will appreciate it.
