Cluttered Space, Cluttered Mind: How to Organise a Living Room
Decluttering
Decluttering your living room is the first step towards organising it.
The hard part is getting started, so clear some diary space, and enjoy these suggestions for a little ‘life laundry’!
Where to start
Start by addressing ‘things’: home accessories like cushions and what’s on any shelves. Sort them into piles – things to keep (even if they’ll be stored), things to donate, and things to throw away. And see it through!
Some decisions will be tough, but if you want an uncluttered organised space for you and yours, now’s the time to do it. Think of how much more flexible the space will be, how much more relaxing and inviting.
Functional furniture
If you’re getting rid of old furniture to make space for a new look, try making it multi-functional.
Try to find furniture with built in storage like ottomans or dual-purpose coffee tables with draws, cupboards or shelving.
If your new look aims to create a minimalist space, you may need to change furniture for something with single colours, or blocks of bold colour, however plain or subdued.
Be prepared to rearrange and experiment not just when you’ve first created your decluttered space, but over time as the seasons change and you decorate for birthdays, parties and Halloween.
Things like mirrors, appropriate lighting, the right rug etc. can make a space look bigger – generally patterns will shrink the space, whilst paler, plainer colours will create the impression of size.
Permanent tidies
Note anything you might need to fix your space.
In this category you might find things like:
- Try using cable ties to keep the TV wire ‘spaghetti’ under control. Maybe while arranging your TV unit, you became frustrated with all the cables.
- Having a remote-control holder to keep all of those pesky controllers together in one place. (Fabulous biproduct of this one is that you’ll always know where the TV controller is!)
- Baskets or attractive boxes to hide things away.
- Group things together in drawers like tealights and matches/lighters, or plant food sticks in a place near to plants.
- Use bin liners inside any wastepaper bins for ease of removal and keeping the bin clean. (Scented ones can enhance your environment)
- Penholders, envelope racks and filing trays can help keep undealt with mail and rogue stationary tidy.
- Frame and/or hang pictures that need hanging or put them away
Don’t pressure yourself to do it all/have everything there all at once. (You have some decluttering to do yet, remember do!) Give yourself practical, workable deadlines, and rewards for doing it, like a hot bath, glass of wine a Haagen Dazs ice cream (other brands are available!)
Create a Cleaning and Tidying Schedule or Schedules
A cleaning schedule will not only make the room more inviting. It's a step toward preventing your living room from becoming disorganized again.
For example:
Before going to bed, plump up cushions and tidy chairs back into their places. Put remote controls away in a fixed place, and tidy out what shouldn’t be there, like coats and cardigans, discarded shopping bags etc.
Have designated homes for things like keys, bags, shoes. It will help stop clutter building back up.
If you have children, have a ‘five minute clean up’ with them before tea, teaching them to put things away. If they’re teenagers try ‘put away five things’ instead of the five minutes. It may yield better cooperation. (Those with teens will ‘get’ why this may be a better approach.)
Consider self storage
easyStorage self storage is around half the price of traditional self-storage, so suddenly storage can become a lifestyle option rather than a short-term problem fix.
This way you can not only rotate furniture/looks, you can pop away seasonal things that come out just for short times each year.
Getting a no-obligation quote is easy at: https://book.easystorage.com/
We also offer easyStorage Boxes and other packing materials to keep organised for your move including boxes of all sizes, bubble wrap/blankets/paper, tape and other accessories.