Space-Saving Furniture for your Living Room
In a season where I feel like I’m constantly purging or “editing” as the ladies from @thehomeedit so fashionably say (side note: do we like their new Netflix show?), I’m always on the lookout for creative ways to design my space that eliminates “stuff” from a room.
Coffee Table (old), Similar Here // Baskets // Rug
Think about it. We’re still in 90 degree heat (hi, LA fires) — do we really need those blankets & throws all over the home? What about all those computer chords we need for WFH — do we expect them to magically disappear from our floors? Of course not, so we need to get creative. And when you’re in a small space, every little square foot counts, so these edits are game changers.
Let’s start with the coffee table — one of the many reasons why I love our coffee table, apart from being able to put our feet up when we’re binging a show, is that we are able to store two big baskets underneath — one holds all of our games (apparently we like games?). The other holds a lot of our electronic chords, as well as a lot of G’s music stuff — sheet music, pedals, mics, chords … musicians own a lot of gear, I’ve come to learn. But as long as we can store it away at the end of the day, I can deal. I love the easy access we have to everything in there, as well as the polished look the baskets look with our wood table.
The next furniture item I want to highlight is this basket we use as a side table. This was actually given to us by my parents (Love a hand-me-down), and it has really come in handy. This became the perfect basket to hold seasonal blankets & throws, as well as —you guessed it— more music gear. To make the transition complete, I bought a round tray to place on top of the basket, that way we were able to add some decor and have the ability to place drinks on top of a stable surface. The wicker material ties in with our coffee table baskets as well, creating a complimentary & seamless look to the room.
The last furniture item I want to highlight is our bar cart. This one is unique, as you may not think of bar carts as storage spaces, but I knew when we starting thinking about getting a bar cart for this room, we had one criteria: it needed to fit our record player, as well as our booze (or at least some of it). At this stage of our decoration process, we were giving up one furniture piece for another, and that piece held our big multi-media player (it also is a CD, tape, and radio player). OK, so that was no small feat, BUT I managed to find one on Wayfair that fit perfectly. When you have limited space, you gotta make pieces work, even if that means sacrificing space for all of your alcohol. So, we moved the bottles we don’t use as often (talking to you, peppermint vodka) to a bucket in our closet, which is right next to the cart, so it’s still easy access and our cart isn’t super cluttered.
While purging or editing is still part of our routine, the stress of needing everything off the floor & away from my sight is greatly reduced by the practical pieces I have in my space. By thinking through your storage needs & the purpose of your room, you have the potential to be innovative and flexible with you and your guests!
