Organizing Your Living Room or Family Room

Hello and welcome to another Thursday post! Time for more organizing....

If you are just joining us, we have been getting organized using Jennifer Ford Berry's Organize Now book.

It has some great info and tips on organizing various parts of our life and home. You can see past posts here:

Week 1 about Organizing Your Mind and Life Vision HERE,

Week 2 about Organizing Your Priorities HERE,

Week 3 about Organizing Your Schedule HERE

Week 4 about Organizing Your Cleaning Schedule HERE.

Week 5 about Organizing Your Personal Information HERE. 

Week 6 about Organizing Your Finances HERE. 

      Week 7 about Organizing Your Bill-paying System HERE.

        Week 8 about Organizing Your Receipts and Taxes HERE. 

Week 9 about Organizing Your Files HERE

                               Week 10 about Organizing your Magazines and Newspapers HERE.
                                               Week 11 about Organizing Your Email HERE
                                                Week 12 about Organizing Your Mail HERE
                                         Week 13 about Organizing Your Child's Toys HERE.

Week 14 about Organizing Your Crafts HERE.

Week 15 about Organizing Your Photographs HERE.

Week 16 about Organizing Your Purse or Wallet HERE. 

 Week 17 about Organizing Your Vehicle HERE.

                                                  Week 18 about Organizing Your Pet HERE.

Week 19 about Organizing Your Books, CDs and DVDs HERE.

Week 20 about Organizing Your Entryway or Mudroom HERE.

Last week we started a new section: organizing the high-traffic areas. Today we are continuing that in our living room or family room.

This is definitely a high-traffic area in my house. We spend a lot of time in this room. Jennifer talks about determining the function of the room for you. There is no wrong answer here. For my family, this room is a place to relax, watch TV, read and play. My husband and I often pray together, read together and talk here in the evenings once the kids are asleep. I also use it for exercise if I am using a video and I hold my Shaklee meetings and functions here. So for me, this room serves many purposes! What purpose does yours serve for you?

This Week's Goals:

1. Take out all items that do not belong in this room and put those items away. Jennifer suggests "zoning" the room. For example, put books in one zone, toys in another, movies in another, etc. Each zone should have a place for these items to go such as a drawer, shelf, built-in storage in a piece of furniture, etc.

2. Go through all drawers and cabinets and get rid of things that don't belong there. It is so easy to put something into a drawer and forget about it, isn't it? At least it is for me. Out of sight out of mind.

I went through the two drawers in our TV stand this week and was surprised at some of the items I found! There was old coupons, one of my son's art projects and a directory of the area that our realtor gave us when we moved in four years ago!! I put many things into the recycle bin, threw some other things away and sorted and put away the other things that did not belong there. I also found a few things for the garage sale box. Here is the before picture:

And here is the after. 

I do keep my cook books here because it is the closest place to the kitchen I have to store them. We don't have many movies but the ones that we do have go here too.

3. De-clutter the coffee table and end tables and mantel if you have one. Jennifer suggests getting tables with drawers if possible. It isn't a problem keeping these clear if you have small kids. lol. We don't even usually put our coffee table out right now because it just gets in the way of little ones playing and too many bumps on the head occur when it's there. 

4. Less is more. De-clutter old knick-knacks and fake house plants. Dust them off and only keep what you really enjoy. Also de-clutter your walls. Only keep what you love. If you have many things here, consider rotating them once in awhile. Jennifer also suggests making a wall of pictures to free up space on your entertainment stand, tables and mantel. I love this idea and am working on it in my home.

5. Replace lampshades if they are dirty or mismatched. We have had two of these lamps for a very long time. 

I have been looking for something to replace them but hadn't found anything I liked. So I decided to spray paint them bronze to match our living room better. 

The old lampshade no longer worked so I got two inexpensive ones from Walmart that matched better. I think it improved the look drastically and did not cost much! What do you think? 

 While I was at it, I decided to do the same to the lamp on my nightstand in our master bedroom. 

What do you think? I really like how it looks and it works so well with our bedroom furniture.

The old lampshade which is now in our garage sale box.

Tips:

Crafty? Consider keeping your working projects in a basket or storage container so it doesn't take over the room.

Have a small space? Don't put too much furniture in it. It will make the room look bigger and shows better if you plan to sell in the future.

I thought I would share a few before and after pictures of my living room. The before is after the kids got in there and tore it up with their toys. It pretty much looks like this daily after they have played there. :) 

And here is the after. I kept a small zone for toys but pretty much cleared all of the extras out and put them in a better place. We will still keep the coffee table out of the center of the room while the kids are small but will use it when we have guests.

That does it for another organizing post. How is it going for you? What tips can you share to improve the look and function of your family room? I would love to hear from you.

Remember that today is the LAST DAY to take advantage of the free membership with any order through Shaklee, the #1 natural nutrition company in the US!! I am so excited for many of you who took advantage of this already. For the rest of you who are interested in health, nutrition and green cleaning products for you and your family, you can look at the online product guide HERE and you will receive a free lifetime membership with any order through today! Members always save at least 15% on all products. Good stuff!  

I will be posting an additional one day special on my business facebook page today too. Check it out!

Shaklee's green cleaning products were featured on Oprah a few years back. you can see a clip of that here.

  

Thanks for reading! Have a terrific day!

Rebecca