Simple Tips to get your Living Room Holiday Ready

Will you be hosting family or friends for the holidays this year? Now is the time to declutter and deep clean your entertaining spaces! You’ll be organized in no time if you use my simple tips to get your living room holiday ready!

Living room cleaning tips to prepare for guests

Company is coming so it’s the perfect time to deep clean the living room!

It’s time to tackle all those cleaning tasks that need to be done occasionally!

And the things we sometimes forget about, like vacuuming under the cushions!

Here are some tips so you won’t forget anything!

Declutter the living room

First, you need to remove all unnecessary items from the space. The less clutter, the easier it is to clean and maintain the living room.

Deep clean the space

Let’s start with the furniture!

Vacuum all of your furniture. It’s always fun to see what treasures are hiding under the cushions! If you have slipcovers, remove and wash them or hire a professional to clean your upholstered pieces.

Next, clean your carpets and curtains or hire someone to do it for you.

For more cleaning tips, check the 6/P strategy below.

sanitize items people will touch

Since the pandemic, I am more mindful about sanitizing items that people touch regularly.

Sanitize the remote controls, coasters, and tissue box holders now.

Don’t forget to repeat this step the day your guests arrive!

Tips for organizing your living room

Find a home for everything

Take a few moments to access the items that need to be stored in the living room.

Find a home for each of the items you keep in the room!

Remotes

Find a place to store remotes when they are not in use.

A basket, a drawer in a coffee or end table, or a faux book are good options!

Toys

If you have to store toys in this space, find a pretty way to contain and conceal them.

Large baskets, fabric storage cubes, and decorative boxes work great!

I found a fabulous way to organize board games that saves tons of space!

Magazines

Magazines can pile up quickly and make a scattered mess.

Find a home for them to live in. I found the perfect size basket!

Then, make a goal to dispose of them when the next month’s copy arrives.

You can give them to a neighbor or family member or recycle them.

Just don’t let them pile up!

Books

The best place to store books is obviously a bookshelf!

To cut down on clutter, I recommend donating books you read once and will never read again.

Consider using the books you keep as decor items.

Use decorative bookends to keep your books upright.

Create a book stack and sit a decor piece on top of it.

DVDs/CDs/records

If you still have DVDs, CDS, or records, I have a great storage solution you can use!

We removed ours from their cases and put them in plastic sleeves inside the baskets.

If you need help with this check out our post, the best solution to easily organize DVDs and CDs!

A place to put coats, purses, shoes

It’s nice to have a space carved out where people can put their jackets or purses!

If that’s not possible, they can always lay their stuff on one of your beds!

Incorporate multi-purpose furniture

The living room is a great place to use multi-purpose furniture!

Try to purchase furniture that has built-in storage.

End tables with drawers.

Search for end tables that have drawers in which you can store items.

Coffee table with hidden storage

Have you seen the coffee tables that lift up and make a desk? They are so neat!

You can also find coffee tables with pull-out drawers. Some have a shelf underneath where you can store items inside baskets.

TV Console with open or closed storage

TV console tables are perfect for storing things or displaying decorative items.

If you need it purely for storage, purchase a console with solid doors.

Ottoman that has built-in storage

Another wonderful place to store things is inside an ottoman.

Many people store toys or throw blankets inside ottomans!

Shelves with open or closed storage

Bookshelves are fabulous for storage because they use vertical space in the room!

I love that our bookshelves even have a drawer at the bottom for hidden storage!

6/P Strategy to organize the living room

I hope my simple tips have inspired you to get your living room holiday ready!

But now it’s time to do the actual work!

I have a great strategy for you to follow so you can implement all of the tips above!

I call it the 6/P Strategy!

Do the following six steps that start with the letter P:

1) Prepare

Grab a trash bag, a box, and 2 laundry hampers to use for the following categories:

• Trash
• Donate
• Relocate
• Replace

2) Purge

Remove everything in the space and put it in one of the four categories:

• Trash goes in the trash bag.
• Place any items you wish to donate in a box.
• Place any items that need to go into a different room in laundry hamper # 1
• Place any items that need to stay in this space in laundry hamper # 2

3) Polish

Now that the space is empty it’s time to deep clean using a top-down approach!

Use the printable to check off each cleaning task.

4) Personalize

The room is clean, and it’s time to personalize the space! Ask yourself the following two questions:

• How does the room need to function for my specific needs?
• How can I make the space more visually appealing?   

Use my Personalize the Great Room printable to help organize your thoughts!

If you want access to our free organizing printable library, join our email list here.

5) Place

Now, it’s time to place everything back in an organized manner.

• Trash-Take out the trash
• Donate-Take to the nearest donation center right away
• Relocate-Put the items in laundry hamper #1 where they belong
• Replace-Put the items in laundry hamper #2 back in the room

6) Put Back

Remember, a place for everything, and everything in its place! Find a home for each item in your living room.

Now that you know my tips to get your living room holiday ready, who will you invite over?

Let me know in the comments below!

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Until next time, follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram!

Blessings, Donna and Rich

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More home organization inspiration

• 5 Secrets to Maintain an Organized Living Room
• How to Purge, Organize, and Store Your Clothes
• 15 Awesome Storage Solutions for Your Bathroom
• Let’s Organize Cleaning Supplies to Make Housework Easy
• Organize a Guest Bath with 11 Ultimate Essentials

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