There are many reasons to have a living room that always looks tidy and uncluttered. You'll be inspired to welcome people into your home more often, you'll be less likely to trip over that pair of shoes left laying around, and, most importantly, you'll feel instantly at ease when you want into a clean room.
1. Know where it goes and put it there. Whoever coined the phrase a place for everything and everything in its place should be knighted. It is one of the best, most practical statements ever! If everything has a home, it's so much easier to put stuff away.
2. Corral old magazines and newspapers ... but not for too long. Keep your magazines and newspapers stacked up in one place. And once you've flipped through them, take them directly to the recycling bin. I know, I know, it can be hard to part with that pile of old New Yorkers but, really, what are you saving them for?
3. Contain your media in an organized manner. CDs, records, DVDs, VHS tapes, 8-tracks ... whatever your media of choice, create a home for them and keep them there.
4. Baskets are your friends. Whether you're trying to contain all of the remote controls, magazines, or even shoes, a few baskets strategically placed around the room make can make tidying a breeze. Check out these 5 Great Grown-Up Baskets for Toy Storage for some inspiration.
5. Take off your hat and shoes ... and then put them away. I'm a big fan of kicking off my shoes the minute I get home. And then I take those shoes directly to the closet and put them away.
6. Create a mail center. I have a little organizer by my desk where all the bills go and then all the junk mail goes directly from front door to recycling bin. No piles allowed!
7. Invest in double duty furniture. One of the quickest ways to keep an organized and tidy living room is to make use of double duty furniture. Whether it's an ottoman that opens up to store blankets or a chest/coffee table for stowing away the kids' toys, make every piece of furniture work extra hard.
8. Vacuum and dust once a week. Vacuuming and dusting will force you to pick up errant items and put them back where they belong. It will also make the room feel so much cleaner.
9. Pick up all the clutter at the end of the day. This may seem like starting a new habit at first but once you get into the routine of it, it will help you maintain a cleaner home in very little time. Take a walk through the room as one of the last things you do at the end of the day, pick up everything that doesn't belong and put it all away.
10. Embrace minimalism. OK minimalism may not be for everyone but there's no denying that less is more. Many of our readers' favorite house tours feature homes that go the minimal route ... and that's partially because those homes always seem clean and organized.
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
How To Make Perfect Bacon in the Oven
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
I agree with all of these, but especially number 9. We have a big house and three kids, so we don't pick up everything every day, but since my husband and I started spending 15 minutes each evening doing a quick pick up, it has made a huge difference. Now when we do our main house cleaning on Sundays, it's so much easier.
I've always found our living room the easiest room to keep clean, and now I'm wondering if it's because I implement most of these strategies without even thinking about them.
#9 is really the key to keeping things under control, especially in rooms like the kitchen!
Not to be all snarky and whatsnots, because I do love the therapeutic apartment, but this article is all "just put stuff where it belongs…you know, in baskets. And, you know, just clean…and stuff. Often and regularly. Pre-bus. That's all. Tah-Dah, CLEAN!"
BUT. I'm looking straight at the magazine basket, the wii basket, the blanket basket, the shoe basket, and the "top-of-the-coffee-table-key-and-other-crap" basket. All of these baskets in the living room. And yet...I am a messy girl. Coupled with a messy girlfriend. So, that's hard. Mostly hard for me. So...ouch?
Keeping baseboard heaters clean & dust free in winter is a must for a healthy room. You have to air the place out and dust at least a few times per week. it only takes a few minutes to zip thru the room with a damp cloth.
I have to agree with dafroeber, this article is a bit reductive. Clearly, if you work to keep a room tidy then it will be tidy.
#2: cue the wailings and gnashings of teeth over old discarded Domino magazines, etc XD
As for #5- not sure if all Canadians would agree- but only in the US do people walk around in their house with their shoes on. Such a strange thing when my American family comes to visit! Definitely take your shoes off as soon as you come in the house, and if you don't, then you should definitely vacuum and wash your floors more than once a week. Yikes!
Re:#5--I prefer to wear inside slippers. Take a pair of inside slippers or clean socks to wear when visiting others who insist on the shoe-off rule. Never go bear-foot in someone else's home. Their floors may be unsanitary and it's possible to get athlete's foot.
I hope you mean by taking magazines to the recycling bin that they will be taken to a place where they can be used and re-used, before they are finally recycled for the paper. My local library takes in magazines to be sold for a quarter at their thrift book shop, a fund-raiser for the library. I actually buy New Yorkers there, then return them... they can be sold again for a quarter, and I am currently bringing them my home decorating magazines when I'm through with them. An actual thrift store nearby provides a rack where customers can bring used magazines -- customers are free to take the ones they like without charge. I have in the past brought old magazines to a little coffee shop, where they are picked up and taken home by patrons -- there are any number of places you can do this: doctors offices, oil change places, anywhere people would be sitting around waiting. Don't just put them on the waste paper pile until they're good and worn out...
Heh, I too read this and thought "oh, so I can keep my living room clean by... keeping my living room clean." I know that putting things away is the key to keeping a room tidy, but how do you make yourself do that consistently?
The ONLY thing that has ever worked for me is minimalism. Mind you, we are not into the stark modern minimalism, but rather the "two adults and a toddler in a 600 sf one bedroom apartment who want it to be cozy and child friendly, yet calm and easy to keep clean"-minimalism. After donating everything excess and deciding to have only the bare necessities plus the most cherished decorative items and toys, cleaning is so easy that there is no need to avoid it like I used to. And shoes off, definitely, we are European ;)
@Colbot, I'm American as apple pie and always take my shoes off, but I could not seem get my Filipino roommate to do the same even though I leave two drawers of the Hermes shoe cabinet empty for her and remind her periodically. Because she is a very sweet girl and this is the only beef I have with her, I totally blame her Norwegian boyfriend who doesn't seem to know how to take off his stupid faux combat shoes when he visits, which is often. Ever notice the skinnier the guys the bigger their faux combat shoes? My attitude toward combat shoes are the same as hummers, unless you're in the front line in Iraq you have no business using either.
Recycle! Take old magazines either into work and leave in the lunchroom or to your local hospital for the waiting rooms.
The best tip is #9. It took me years to make that a regular habit, but it is so worth it every morning when I walk into my calm, clutter-free living room. And for those of you who are snarking at the "just-clean-up" concepts...yes, you need to learn a new habit, cuz that's the only way it will happen.
I recently moved in with my boyfriend and his cat and have had to learn to put things away when I'm finished with it. Recently, I left a coffee mug on the living room table and SMASH!...the cat knocked it off the table! Now I check the room before I leave it, to make sure that there is nothing that he can knock over.....how sad am I that I need an accident prone cat to teach me to pick up after myself?
this is so true. having a toddler proves that if everything doesn't have a place it will have every place and be all over your living room driving you crazy. my husband built a wooden toy bin by clearing off the bottom shelf of our bookshelf and adding a wall. now we just toss them all in there - it's super easy and pretty well hidden.
meadowsknits.blogspot.com