5 Furniture Pieces You Can Totally Live Without

Are you looking for ways to trim a little furniture weight around the house? Get rid of a few pieces that you thought you might need but could totally live without to have more room (and less stuff to haul around next moving day?) Examine the five furniture types we mention in this post to see if you and your home could live without them!

It seems natural to plop down a small table beside either side of your sofa to place lamps as well as knickknacks, but you could be unnecessarily cluttering your living room and giving yourself an extra surface to fill up when you don’t have to. You could simply opt for nothing, perhaps substituting a floor lamp or wall-mounted light if need be). Or you could place some other existing furniture piece or item you have and want to incorporate into your living room beside your sofa.

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It’s the same with nightstands as sofa tables. We tend to put them in our bedroom out of habit, without even pausing to consider if we need two bulky pieces of furniture right next to where we sleep. You could get away with a small shelf and wall-mounted lights. Or, you might not even need anything at all, for a much more minimal and easy-to-keep-clean space.

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Have a spot in your kitchen you’ve squeezed a table and chairs intending to use as your morning chill out spot for breakfast and coffee, but like, never use it? If your breakfast nook becomes more a pile-spot for mail and clutter than a relaxing spot you meditate in during morning time, consider a makeover. Get rid of that breakfast table and consider instead a shelf you can stand at like a coffee shop counter. Or a more comfortable stool at your already existing kitchen counter. Or just use a favorite spot outside or in your living room to enjoy a morning meal.

• 5 Bulky Furniture Pieces You Could Eliminate for Sleeker, DIY Alternatives

There’s an instinct to want to set up an area in your home for your work or craft. We’re all for a specific place that your hobby or craft lives (a cabinet, a desk) — we think having a specific home for your craft makes it easier to make time for your passions. But you might not need a dedicated work surface just for your hobby or work. Consider eliminating a desk and substituting for your dining table, coffee table or a wall-mounted shelf.

Bookcases are pretty handy if you have a lot of books you need to store and display. But while they can be great furniture pieces to invest in, they can be a bit bulky and not entirely necessary. First of all, do you really need to keep all those books around? If so, can you switch to wall-mounted shelves instead? They tend to take up less space (physically and visually) and you can take them all the way to your ceiling, giving more room for books.

• Small Space Secrets: Swap Your Bookcases for Wall Mounted Shelving

Re-edited from a post originally published 4.15.15-NT