Keeping Your Family Room Tidy
The family room is typically the central multi-tasking zone of the home! You can do everything in that space-- nap, entertain, work on homework, do crafts, eat, play, whatever! So there's a lot of traffic and a lot of stuff and many people struggle with how to keep things organized. It's even more difficult when the family room is the room that your front door opens into so it then becomes a catch-all area for the shoes and bags of the day. Since, nobody wants to walk into an unorganized area, today I'm sharing some tips on how to keep your family room tidy!
Let's start with the front door. If your home is set-up where the front door opens into the family room, the best way to avoid bags and coats draped over the sofa or sitting on the floor is by creating a catch-all space. This can be as simple as hooks on the wall or a tray for shoes, but at least it keeps things convenient and provides a housing area all the stuff that doesn't belong in the family room.
Let's face it, part of the way to keep your house clean is to train the people who live in it....and sometimes that can be difficult. But if you have systems or areas put in place for storage, you're taking a step in the right direction. One major way to help keep the family room tidy is by incorporating pieces with storage--storage ottomans, baskets, shelves, hooks, bins... Be honest with yourself about how your family makes use of the space, add a storage component for that area.
One of the quickest ways to clutter up a family room is with all of the media component that go into an entertainment center. TV's, cable boxes, dvd players, game systems, game controllers, stereo systems, speakers...and whatever else you could possibly need! All of these items are usually under the tv on a shelf, but if you can hide them somewhere else, it will instantly de-clutter your family room! Consider an entertainment center with drawers or cabinets or even check into hiding them somewhere further away from the tv! Whatever you have to do, make them disappear!
If you have kids, you know that the toys end up scattered all over the floor in the family room. It's not your favorite thing but at least your child is entertained while you're in the kitchen trying to cook. Instead of trying to add additional storage in the family room for all of their toys, remember that they have a bedroom where toys can be stored. Incorporate some sort of rolling storage that can easily be transferred from room to room so the toys can go back where they came from at the end of the day when play time is over!
And finally, edit, edit, edit! Get rid of the unnecessary items. You don't need 5 years of magazines stored in your family room or 1000 movies on dvd cluttering up your entertainment center. Even these little things contribute to the overall look and feel of the space and make it feel messy. Don't be afraid to get rid of stuff, a clutter-free space = a clutter-free life!