Why You Should “Reset” Your Living Room to Minimize Clutter
Apartment Therapy’s January Cure is a free 20-day program that’ll help you reset your home for the year ahead. Sign up here and get all assignments delivered to your inbox.
When my husband and I moved into our first home last year, we knew that collecting the right furniture pieces would take some time. So far, we’re piecing together our bedroom, waiting ever so patiently for the bed frame and nightstands to arrive, and the living room is looking quite nice. (I love our big blue sectional and expandable dining table.)
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Slowly but surely, big pieces have arrived, and while I’ve been biding time on our other purchases, my hands have certainly not been idle. I’ve gathered home decor pieces and seasonal items to make my place look and feel homier, especially during the holiday season.
The living room is home to most of it and it’s starting to feel, well, a bit cluttered to be honest. It’s gone through a couple of seasons (and celebrations) already, so it certainly needs a bit of a refresh.
Day 8: Kick off a living room reset
The day’s assignment is all about refreshing your living space. It’s a big undertaking, so we’ve split this into two assignments so that you can truly give yourself time to think about it. So today, you’re going to strip the room down, taking as many items as you can out, then later on in the final week of the Cure, you’ll invite those pieces back, like putting together a puzzle. If you live in a small space or don’t have a designated living area, go with the room that you spend the most time in.
Start by removing a few unnecessary items at a time. Think moveable (small-size) decor pieces, an extra lamp, candles, pictures, magazines, books, etc. You want to take as much as you can out, but leave the essentials like your couch, throw pillows, chair, coffee table, and area rug. Just get things as close to bare as possible or what you feel most comfortable with. Put these items in a closet or bag — not the outbox! — and set them away in temporary storage space.
Now, let your space breathe and give yourself time to see how you want to piece it back together. Who knows, maybe you’ll declutter some of those items and find new ones or decide to keep them all!
PRO TIP: This can be the perfect opportunity to take down all the Christmas decorations you haven’t gotten down yet. You can even spend some time decluttering your holiday items before they make their way back into their storage bins.
What did you remove from your living room? Let us know in the comments below.
More ways to participate in the January Cure:
- Sign up for email updates or SMS alerts
- Visit the 2023 January Cure page and catch up on assignments
- Join the Apartment Therapy Cure Facebook group
- Download the January Cure calendar
- Check off that you’ve completed this task and track your overall January Cure progress here!
The Cure Program is a tradition here at Apartment Therapy — it happens every January, April, and September. Click here to learn more about the year-round program and when to sign up.