15 Living Room Organization Tips We Swear By

When looking to free space and declutter your most used common area, it pays to start by considering the best living room organization ideas so you can feel relaxed and at ease in a stylishly well-judged space.

Whether you’re looking for tips on how to organize a small living room while making the best use of the space or you’re just looking to reduce accumulated clutter, these savvy living room organization ideas are sure to help you create a surefire system that’ll be tough to beat. To help you on your way to freeing up space, interior designers put together a handy guide covering the top living room organization hacks to help you avoid having to spend too much time combing through your space, on a daily basis.

Rethink Living Room Zoning

If you have too much visually going on in one area, your living room will naturally start to feel cluttered and claustrophobic, even if it isn’t on the smaller side – which you can easily avoid by rethinking the zoning of areas in your living room.

By zoning, we mean separating your living room into different ‘zones’ determined by use. This could mean you switch up your living room organization so the room is split into a TV area, a kid’s area, and a reading area – whatever you think best fits your lifestyle and how you intend to use the room to your advantage. That said, it doesn’t have to be an obvious split, instead, it could be as something as easy as grouping chairs around a table a certain way to create a well-judged ‘zone’ for entertaining and the ilk.

Dual-Purpose Coffee Table

Coffee tables can take up a lot of space and that means less space for storage since most don’t offer any, so think about effective ways to combine the two together aspects together.

A coffee table with drawers or concealed shelving underneath enables you to store plenty of items out of sight without having another storage unit elsewhere in the room taking up space (a great way to organize small living rooms). You could also go for a coffee table with shelving, which is a great way to store books and magazines that you can easily reach out for. And when it comes to smart dual-purpose coffee tables, we love how the unique Mid-Century Modern trio above is beautifully designed, and easy to move when needed.

Storage Hampers

A smarter alternative to a traditional storage basket, a stylish storage hamper boasts additional benefits when it comes to living room organization that a simple basket just can’t provide.

Storage baskets can look untidy (you can always see the clutter inside them) and your space can still look disorganized. On the contrary, storage hampers have a lid, so everything inside can be out of sight and there’ll be no unsightly mess visibly poking out. They can also be stacked to create a side table, where you can house a plant, a lamp or just your morning coffee – one of our favorite living room organization tips that again, serves a dual purpose. But if you want to avoid blocking needed visual space in a small living room, these wire storage hampers will do just that while still allowing you ample extra storage for pillows and throws.

Built-In Shelving Units

If you have an alcove in your living room, don’t let that space go to waste. An alcove is a perfect place for built-in shelving, making for a simple and stylish living room organization solution.

On built-in shelves, you can decoratively add extra basket storage, photos, books and whatever brings the space together with cherished personal mementos. But if a built-in shelving unit is out of your budget or you simply don’t have the space one requires, you can also affordably add a few classic wall shelves that’ll also conveniently take up less floor space and style them in a way that works for your home.

Create Clutter-Free Surfaces

The less clutter you have, the less living room organization hacks you need. If you can keep your surfaces free from daily necessities that create a haphazard look, keeping your living room clean, tidy, and organized will become less of an everyday battle.

Have a clear out day and be ruthless with your edit; if you don’t like something, don’t keep it out of sentimentality. And if you don’t need it, why store it? Limit each surface to a just few pleasing items and soon enough your living room will be a much calmer, cleaner space where you’ll know where everything is when needed. Living room ideas like this are simple yet effective, you just need to be strict with the reality of what you should truly keep.

Bring In Clutter Containers

If keeping your living room tidy and organized is just too much work on a regular basis, or if you’re short on time, then our interior designers suggest opting for routes that conceal what you don’t want to see out all the time.

Have a container in your living room where you can throw all your clutter in an emergency, such as when guests unexpectedly come over – and a beautifully designed storage basket is great for this. Before your guests come around you can stow your clutter container away and it’ll look like you are a generally tidy and well-organized person – making this one of the most clever solutions for living room organization hacks that’ll instantly help you make a better impression. 

Spend 5 Minutes Organizing Every Morning

On a daily basis, 5 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but when it comes to maintaining clutter and keeping a tidy living room, 5 minutes a day is all you really need. If you let the clutter take over, it’ll be much harder to get back in charge of your living room with ease.

But, by spending just a few minutes each day clearing up your home can help you take back control without having to spend a large amount of time in one go after letting things accumulate. Whiz around your living room and rid it of anything that should be stored where it really belongs by returning them to the appropriate cupboards and drawers throughout the day, or even better, right after use. You could even set a timer and see if you can beat yesterday’s time. Call it a free mini-workout if you will, but why not make living room organization a bit of a fun challenge while you are at it?

Skip The Coffee Table

This may sound far fetched as coffee tables are as standard to a living room design as a stylish sofa is. But coffee tables can also end up as sloppy dumping grounds – covered in books, papers, toys, and dishes.

Getting rid of your coffee table will instantly solve this problem, making your room less cluttered and it’s a more severe (but effective) tactic when trying to organize a small living room. You think you’ll miss it, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll be changing your habits and forget you even had one. Side tables make for a great alternative here as they are much smaller and much less likely to become cluttered for that reason. Plus, skipping out on a coffee table will also make your room appear larger. But if you really feel lost without one, our expert interior designers were quick to suggest opting for a smaller coffee table that you can easily move around the room.

Vertical Storage

When it comes to space saving living room ideas that don’t have to cost a small fortune, shelves running up a wall vertically can help to add a chic visual punch while providing extra storage for items you want to decoratively display. 

Invest in floating shelves to give you some additional storage space and visual play and depth. Floating shelves make for a great hack as they will keep your living room feeling spacious as they don’t take up any room on the floor and they look stylish and on-trend too. Matching your walls and your shelves is a great way to make your living room feel even more spacious – another great living room organization hack made simple and elegant.

Dresser Instead Of A TV Stand

TV stands traditionally don’t boast a lot of storage in them and when it comes to living room organization, you also want to ensure that your unit smartly conceals items you don’t want to see out all the time.

A great way around this is to switch your TV stand for a handsome dresser to punctuate the room while adding visual strength to it. A dresser gives you much more storage than a TV stand and they are great for stowing away all kinds of things, including tech gadgets and the ilk. Choose a dresser with a mixture of drawers and cabinets to enable you to store a multitude of different things and be sure to source one with shelving if you have games consoles that you need to be able to access easily.

Petite Nesting Tables

Another classic living room organization tip, yet another one that is often overlooked when it comes to small spaces. Nesting tables have come in and out of style over the years, but they are still a clever invention which saves you a load of needed floor space.

When it comes to smart living room organization ideas, nesting tables are great as you can’t cover them with unwanted clutter and they can be quickly moved around the room when needed. They can be out when you need them, and out of sight when you don’t.

A Bookshelf Instead Of An  End Table

End tables don’t make tools for great living room organization ideas as they aren’t ideal for storage due to their scale and purpose. One way around this is to choose a completely different piece of furniture to work as an end table (a short bookcase for example).

This way you’ll have 4 times as much storage available as you did before. This clever repurposing of furniture is one of our best living room organization tips as sometimes it pays to think out of the box when thinking about savvy storage solutions that aren’t short on great design. 

Storage Ottoman

We love a multi-functional piece of furniture and a storage ottoman is one of the least expensive of them all. You can store all sorts in them, from kid’s toys to books, magazines, and general items that cause daily clutter, pop your feet up on them after a hard day, use them as additional seating or convert them into a coffee table with the help of a tray – this is living room organization at its finest.

Plus they are great for adding hits of color and pattern in even the simplest of living rooms.

Storage Ladder

A handy ladder-like leaning bookcase can make for a clever storage hack – many things can be stored on a ladder, from plants to books. We particularly love the idea of using a ladder to store your cozy blankets and throws (great if you don’t have room for an ottoman).

And best of all, they also make for an affordable and timeless solution when it comes to thoughtful living room organization tips as they look so charming and unexpected.

Wall Racks

If you don’t have anywhere to stow away your books, records, and magazines, installing slim edged wall racks is a great way of storing them while displaying their beautiful covers.

They also are a smart and effective way to organize a small living room, as they don’t take up any floor space while remaining visually pleasing. Plus, if you are able to curate and arrange everything in a well-executed manner, they’ll double as inspiring decorative extras. And you can switch everything on them out as the seasons change for a quick living room refresh that should take no longer than half an hour – if that.