1 Year to an Organized Life - October Week 3

this week you can:

• clear the clutter and put life back in the living room
• learn what to store in this room
• declutter your piano (if you have one)

Look!  Another green pic...I bet you though I would pick purple, but I really like this color, Love the widow treatments, and that lamp is pretty cool too.

The living room in most homes is going the way of the parlor...just doesn't exist much anymore.  My mom still has a living room, or what some people call a FORMAL living room.  There is no TV, just space to sit and very neat, almost like a showplace.  Back in the day, this is where you would meet with guests for a visit.  This is not the place where you put your feet on the couch or have a bowl of popcorn in your lap.

There is nothing wrong with a room for these types of guests, especially if you get those types of visits often, but it doesn't need to be so tidy and perfect that no one feels comfortable in it.  Walk into this room with fresh eyes.  Do you like how it looks?  How do you think it looks to a stranger?  Sometimes a little paint and new furniture arrangement are all it needs.  Don't have too many frames or "stuff" on top of the piano or every table surface.  The eye has a hard time focusing when there is too much to look at.  

You might have a piece of furniture here that has some storage.  This might be a great place to store items you use rarely, like holiday decorations or fancy table linens, etc.  If you have a bookcase here, maybe dedicate one shelf to photo albums or scrapbooks.  This is also a great place to store candles in any table drawers you might have.  Beware that this room doesn't become a dumping ground, simply use the available storage.

Also beware if you do use this place for hidden storage that it is a regular thing.  I mean, everything needs to have it's place.  If the coffee table drawer is where you store batteries, don't have batteries in three other drawers.  This is its place and everyone knows it.  When looking for batteries or looking to put them away after being purchased, everyone knows where they go.  When everything has it's place, cleaning up takes very little time and there is no early morning shouting across the house of  "WHERE IS THE......"  It is so worth it!  A place for everything and everything in its place. AMEN!

Until Next TIme.....

Franny