5 Things You Can Get Rid Of In Your Living Room That You Won't Miss
Eliminating clutter from your living room is an important task at various times throughout the year. Many homeowners have a few different pillowcases, seasonal decorations, and other items that they swap out at key intervals for a fresh look. Whether you are routinely looking to enact small changes to liven up the space, or you simply want to remove old clutter that has built up over the years, getting rid of some of the things in your living room is always a good idea.
The living room is a place for relaxation and entertainment. Homeowners use this space to gather with friends, spend evenings with loved ones, and unwind at the end of a long day. When it's cluttered, this can really take away from the aesthetic and relaxation factor that just about every homeowner is aiming for in the decoration and layout of the living room space. WebMD notes that clutter can lead to higher levels of anxiety and a reduction in critical working memory, and these issues are magnified in parts of the home in which you spend considerable time. Focusing on these five items that just about every homeowner has in this area of the house can make a big difference in the look and feel of your living room.
1. Old throw pillows and blankets
Throw pillows and blankets are often found in living room areas. These additions make the space feel more homely and inviting, but an old throw can quickly lead to a deterioration of the room's visual and physical aesthetic. An old throw blanket may be one that has started to develop holes or frayed seams along the edges from use, or through the efforts of your home's pets. A blanket begins to show signs of wear by fading in color, picking up unpleasant odors, and perhaps even experiencing tearing or fraying. NBC News notes that comforters show the same kinds of deterioration signs and will begin to look particularly deflated.
Similarly, an old throw pillow is one that has often lost its shape and elasticity, leading to a sagging lump on the couch rather than an item of comfort and luxury. These items are visually unappealing, and their presence negatively impacts your living room environment. Replacing pillows and blankets on a regular basis is a great way to freshen up the environment of your living room without a whole lot of effort, and newer pillows and blankets will lift up the atmosphere of this space. Homeowners already tend to make use of revolving pillowcases and other decorative items that can be swapped out, so simply changing the pillows and replacing old blankets as well can go a long way to improving this space.
2. Entertainment equipment that's no longer used
Another item that you can toss without any regret is an old DVD player, cable box, or any other entertainment equipment that has become obsolete in your setup. Living room entertainment gear has become far more sophisticated over the last few years, and the introduction of streaming services, smart TVs, and entertainment hubs have made additional boxes far less useful on a regular basis. In many homes, old DVD players may have potentially sat idle for years on end while TVs and remote control technology have improved leaps and bounds (via Business of Business). Rather than collecting large stacks of DVD and videotape libraries, homeowners are streaming and downloading the shows and movies they want to watch with the click of a button.
These old entertainment units are simply taking up space, and if they're still plugged in, they're adding a drain on your electricity bill too. Tossing an old entertainment device is an easy way to free up space for something new on the shelf and it can bring your TV stand into line with a more modern and generally fresher look.
3. The tangle of cords and wires in your drawer
In addition to the entertainment equipment that many homeowners still have sitting on their shelves, invariably a homeowner experiencing clutter in the living room will have a drawer full of cords and wires. Often, people save old extension cords, power cables, and wiring when they do not need to. This may be a product of the wireless revolution that is continually ongoing. In boxes these days, many products come without additional cords and wires and so homeowners may be under the impression that they need to hold onto their old equipment in the event that a wire becomes necessary that they wouldn't otherwise have access to.
Saving these cords and wires may have begun through a genuine need, but as time goes on, they become ever more irrelevant. Not only is wireless connectivity advancing and making its way into more consumer products and devices, but old wires also simply aren't as effective as new connection equipment. Belden notes that wireless connectivity has improved immensely since the 1990s, and today, it's possible to run virtually an entire household of consumer goods on a wireless network. An old VGA cable, for instance, just isn't useful anymore. Not only will your TV likely not include this hook-up, but even if it does, an HDMI cable is simply a better option for delivering picture and sound from box to screen. Getting rid of this messy tangle can make a big difference in your organization of the living room.
4. Old toys and games with missing pieces
Throwing away old toys is a great way to modernize your living room. Toys and games that were brought into the space while your children or even grandchildren were younger once served an important purpose in this family living area. But after a while, these additions to the space become burdens on the storage capacity of the room and only serve to introduce an immense sense of clutter and chaos. Old toys are a great candidate for cleaning efforts designed to modernize and improve the aesthetic of the living room.
As well, many families keep games on shelves and in drawers in this part of the home. But one thing that many homeowners will notice is that older games often start to lose pieces as they are taken out and then put away over and over again. Any game that you've lost a significant number of pieces to becomes more of a paperweight than anything else. Once a game is unplayable because of missing pieces, you should throw it away to make room for new additions to the space. Games that are much loved by a family can be replaced with a new version of the same title, or you can introduce a new game to the family after making room on the shelf. One other option is to use your creativity to recycle the game board and pieces — consider crafting magnets or charm bracelets out of the various components (via RecycleNation).
5. Underused baskets and other old storage devices
Lastly, many living room shelves incorporate storage baskets and other facilities for organization. Baskets not only provide a space to store some of your belongings, but they can also be a style element as well (via Shelterness). Yet, living room baskets can quickly go out of style and their utility as a storage device may wane over time. If you have a number of baskets or other organizational implementations in the living room that aren't seeing much use, throwing them away is a great way to make room for new introductions into your living space.
Many homeowners are opting for a more minimalistic stylization of the living room, and the elimination of baskets on shelves and elsewhere can help facilitate this change of aesthetic. Introducing new style elements that better suit your tastes and the theme of the room will make for a more enjoyable community space in your home.