Reading time – 5 minutes
After you have completed your living room quick declutter, it is time to organize the room. Here are 4 easy tips.
Living rooms can have many purposes.
- Decide what your livingroom will be used for and create areas for each activity – watching TV, listening to music, reading, entertaining, office/desk work, or relaxing. Start with a quick declutter of the room.
Lighting
2. Use task lighting as needed for each activity. Floor lamps, table lamps, wall-mounted or ceiling lights help to make the room perfect for any task.
Choose furniture that has more than one purpose
3. Additional hidden storage can be added to the room, such as an ottoman or footstool with storage, a chest, or a coffee table with shelves or drawers. The space behind a couch is great for storing flat items such as pictures or dining room table leaves. Bookcases or floor-to-ceiling shelves can be used to decorate a wall and store items.
Pictures
4. Too many pictures? Instead of trying to hang them all, rotate them each season. It will give your walls a facelift. Storing your pictures behind your couch is a great way to keep them handy but out of sight.
How do you organize your CD’s DVD’s and gaming equipment?
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
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Living rooms are busy spaces! I like to keep the decor minimal, in a few designated spots. I rotate this out by season and event.
In terms of your question, I don’t have any gaming equipment, which makes that one easy LOL! I have some DVDs, although not many, and keep them in a cabinet underneath the TV. I imagine most of those will go if/when we downsize. Streaming has the benefit of not needing to hold onto as many physical things!
I enjoy rotating home decore. It makes me feel like I have a newly decorated. When you decide to downsize and decide to have less physical items and start collecting more experiences organizing and decluttering becomes easier.
These days, rooms, more than ever, serve multiple purposes. Knowing those purposes makes it easier to create appropriate zones within the space. I like how you featured lighting as one of the areas to consider. A low-light situation might be preferred if you’re sitting and listening to music. However, having directed task lighting is needed if you’re working at a desk.
I love having furniture that serves multiple purposes, especially in tight spaces. Have you seen any videos showing furniture that transforms, like Murphy beds on steroids? I love those design ideas! Here’s a link that features some fascinating inventions: https://youtu.be/zwMZMYf3NX0?si=qq-ofeP4eogMSUNZ.
I love those videos of furniture that transforms into a multipurpose item. Sometimes I want to live in a small home so I could furnish it with some of those items. Thanks for including a link.
Living rooms are the “variety shows” of houses. Almost every other room has one or two main functions (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen) but the living room is where the family does their living, which can involve everything from rest to conversation, entertainment to high-energy activity, and suits everyone, literally, from infants to the elderly. No wonder they go awry so easily! By identifying the purposes for which YOU use yours, you can at least create zones, or figure out how to display or hide things, as necessary.
I love the infographic you picked for lighting. I tend to prefer overhead lighting; I hate having to worry about individual lamps, but I know others have very different preferences. And I definitely love double-duty furniture, especially storage ottomans.
I don’t have any gaming equipment, but I used to own over 600 CDs, which I’ve winnowed down to barely more than 350. Most are in a four-sided, spinning CD tower, which is arranged by genre (women’s music, favorite bands, a capella, etc.). I have relatively few DVDs; I have the entertainment-related ones (mostly for favorite TV shows, but a few movies) on the entertainment center by the TV, bookshelf-style. I keep the exercise DVDs on the bedroom bookshelf next to the DVD player, which isn’t even hooked up to a TV anymore. (Sounds like I need to get rid of the DVD player and move those DVDs!) Good question!
Thanks for sharing about your CD collection. Music has changed from having vinyl to CDs to uploading CDs to their devices to streaming. How you listen to music is very personal. I love having Christmas CDs to put on my player and select random. Others in my family prefer a playlist.
I like that you mentioned lighting. I think it’s so important to support the activities in the space. It also creates a cozy atmosphere.
Thank you for reminding me that lighting creates atmosphere. I usually stress having the correct lighting for the project. It is also nice to have lighting available that company can turn on. Other people’s needs may be different than your own.