9 Amazing Organizing Solutions For Keeping Your Living Room Tidy

If your living room is constantly a mess and you’re not sure where to start, don’t miss these 9 organizing solutions to get it tidy fast. Plus, get my free “How To Declutter” Checklist to get you started even more quickly! Click this button to download:

Is my living room the only one that’s always being turned into a ~~disaster~~ fort?

I doubt that this is unique to me, but sometimes it feels like everyone else’s living room must look like a magazine, while mine looks like the couch got caught in a blender.

The corner of our L-shaped couch has been dubbed “the cozy spot” where our kids burrow under pillows and build up mounds of other pillows and blankets. And while I love their creativity, it’s a task every night to tidy up and get the room ready for us grown ups.

I do make the kids clean up, by the way, but sometimes items don’t make it back to quite the right spot.

As a result, keeping a living room tidy is a constant job, but I’ve found some organizing solutions that make it a ton easier. That way, I can get comfy fast and enjoy my wine with Hubby without worrying about a mess.

You can enjoy a more tidy living room too, if you follow these steps.

Table of Contents

9 Amazing Organizing Solutions For Keeping Your Living Room Tidy

1- Maximize Space By Combining Uses

Combine furniture or decor with storage with pieces such as an ottoman or bench with storage inside. Hiding items inside can make the room look more tidy faster than it takes for a kid to dump out Legos.

I scored two of these neutral grey ottomans at Target. We use them to store blankets and dvds, and also they’re convenient foots rest during veg time.

2- Use Your Cute Decor As A Storage Solution

In any decor style, you can find baskets, buckets, canisters or many other types of containers that can both look cute and store things. You could store remotes, dvd player manuals, cords, and the multiple sets of coasters we’ve gotten as gifts or memorabelia.

How cute is this ladder with blankets stored on it?

3- Organizing Solution For A Cramped Room: Remove Extra Furniture

We took out a bookcase (as I mentioned in this post) and our living room looks so much less crammed. I didn’t even realize it was so crowded until I took a good look at the space and realized we had too much going on in a small area.

Now that it’s gone, the area looks way more tidy, partly because of the white space it created.

In case you’re wondering, Dictionary.com defines white space as:

the unprinted area of a piece of printing, as of a poster or newspaper page, or of a portion of a piece of printing, as of an advertisement; blank space.
Dictionary.com

So in home decor, “white space” just means the areas where you don’t have decor, art or furniture filling up space.

Tidy Tip: Ensure That Art Is Hung Properly And Proportionately

When we took out the bookcase I mentioned above, the art that was surrounding it suddenly looked off. (see below) I’ve been annoyed by it for a while but we haven’t gotten around to rearranging it yet. I’ll share an update on my Instagram when we do.

It’s so much more soothing to the eye to have it hanging in a way thats proportionate to the space. Sometimes we need motivation to organize and rearrange stuff like this, but once we do it’s worth it!

The bookcase went under the photo where I (poorly) drew those brown lines. The art looks kind of off here now that it’s gone.

4- Use Decorative Baskets And Bins As Organizing Solutions

A pile of blankets on the floor or couch looks messy. But, a cute basket or crate with a blanket popping out the top looks intentional and decorative.

For example, under this crate are the weights hubby uses with his T-25 workouts. Everything looks better in a bin!

Surprise! Inside our hubby’s weight and…. one Easter egg?

5- Remove Items That Don’t Belong

I know this can be a huge pain, but it helps to tidy up the living room every night before bed.

Since I’m not OCD and I can deal with a bit of mess, I don’t make this a hard and fast rule. The people with “no item out of place” syndrome would probably say this is a must-do. But I know that there are nights it just doesn’t happen.

You have to weigh how you’ll feel in the morning and when you’ll be able to pick it up, if you don’t do it at night. How will that make you feel later?

I will say, it’s so nice to come downstairs in the morning to a tidy living room rather than to a tornado of blankets and couch pillows. And you’ll have less to organize if the extra stuff is gone.

6- Organize By Putting Things Where They Belong

Similar to the above point, don’t let clutter build up. Put things where they belong. Do I sound like your mom yet?

When we send kid toys and stuffies to their proper places and tidy up clutter, it makes the room so much more beautifully organized– even if we don’t have gorgeous on-trend decor.

It’s like giving your living area it’s morning cup of coffee– just the boost it needed.

7- Keep Food On Trays And Return Food To The Kitchen Right Away

I can’t think of anything that can make a living room more untidy and disgusting than leftover food and dishes. That takes your beautifully organized room downhill fast, to an untidy disaster.

For an easy organizing solution, use trays for food and dishes, then use the tray to get it all back to the kitchen.

Instead of leaving stuff out, get wine glasses, snack bowls and hubby’s beer stein to the kitchen right away. You’ll be glad you did.

8- Baskets Are Fab Organizing Solutions For Glass Cupboards

If you have any cupboards or a TV console with glass doors, you can beautify that space with a pretty bin or basket.

I confess I also need to do this in our TV console. It’s on the to-do list!

Right now we see randomly colored DVD cases sticking out. I need to measure these spaces and be on the lookout for bins to hide the unsightly plastic Paw Patrol and Frozen cases.

9- Organize Remotes Together

Why are there always so many remotes?

Two summers ago I found a medium brown colored organizing caddy at Goodwill. I instantly thought “REMOTES!” and put it in my basket.

After getting it home, I spray painted it white so it can sit in my living room without looking like it’s from the 90’s. It corrals the remotes really well– as long as the TV watchers put them back.

So Many Organizing Solutions To Choose From!

It may seem daunting to keep your entire living room together, but with these quick ideas, you’ll be well on your way to a tidy, cozy and relaxing living room.

You could start with any of these options. Figure out what you could use as storage and decor. Remove items that don’t belong. Add a few bins and baskets, organize your remotes, and get the popcorn crumbs out of the couch.

If you start small you’ll be enjoying a more tidy, relaxed space in no time!

Which of these ideas is your favorite? What did I miss that works for you?