I’ve gathered up movies, books, board games, blankets, remotes, puzzle pieces, video games, shoes, oh… the list goes on and on until my head feels like it will spin right off my shoulders. Our living room really is our “living” room. The bedrooms are small, there is no basement to play in, we haven’t an extra play room, so our entire family plops down in the living room and, well, lives. If you start organizing your living room or family room be prepared to fight a battle with the entire family. No one wants “their” stuff put away, just everyone else’s stuff. One of our solutions was to clean out just one corner and allow each child a box full of whatever they want. But just one box. Anything that spills over gets put away for awhile until they keep their goodies picked up for one month. Now, we really can live in our living room again.

Our living areas often become a store room for books, magazines, home entertainment system and even toys and games. Having a neat array of shelving to store these items will not only create space for other activities like entertaining guest but it can also create a restful space for relaxation. Herere some living room storage ideas with shelves.

Shelves – be it freestanding storage units, shelving within concealed cupboards or fixed wall shelving, these are mainstay for the living room. Its a practical piece of furnishing to keep books, magazines and entertainment systems within the living area. For the collector amongst us, open shelves provide a convenient place to display the items collected or to prop pictures and photographs.

As a general guide, its a good idea to devote one wall to organization, where it will read as a single entity, than to have a number of incidental pieces of storage furniture dotted about the place, hampering traffic routes and limiting your options for room arrangement.

Most living room shelves must either flow seamlessly into the furnishing or be dramatic enough to add character to the room. This has been the focus of contemporary designers who create shelves that are practical as well as they are beautiful.

Built-in shelves are especially good for those who have awkward spaces to work with. Alcoves on each side of the chimney are an example. They make good use of otherwise redundant spaces. Having built-in shelves cover an entire wall is a robust architectural solution. This includes building shelves up and around doorways or other openings. Bear in mind the stronger and more graphic the framework, the greater the sense of visual cohesion.