It is an entertainment center organizing time! The past week, I have shared with you my living room reveal. If you have missed it then you should defiantly check it out. I wanted to share so many things but most importantly how I organized my living room. Since I didn’t want the post to be super long, I figured two posts are better than one.
In this post, I am going to show you how this entertainment center we bought from IKEA has truly made a dent in keeping our living room space nice and tidy.
This is what our living room looks like now. We actually were able to get rid of two of our bookshelves and relocate most of everything into our bookshelf addition part of our entertainment center. I got tired of refixing the bookshelf when clearly it was not going to hide things that needed to be hidden.
The Shelves
What I love is that the shelves are deep. I have a lot more space to work with compared to my old bookshelf. I knew I needed it to be very simple with small storage boxes and pictures. I really wanted just an area with photos displayed but with balance. I separate the speakers from the base of the radio because it doesn’t fit all together but also because I created more space and could play around with its space better.
I couldn’t really get what I desired with the old bookshelf. It showcased everything and no matter what I did, it seemed to always still look cluttered. Plus the shelves were smaller compared to this one.
Best Tips for Shelves:
- Less is more
- Storage boxes for small knickknacks
- Separate the speakers from the base (if able)
- Few photos for display
The Drawers
The drawers are by far my favourite. It hides what it needs to but still gives you access to get them. We store our smaller books that have some wear and tear in them. I was amazed that it could hold everything the way that it does.
In the second drawer, I placed all the colouring books and grade workbooks. If you have a ton of those workbooks for kids. This is a great way to organize them in a drawer. Not only do your kids have easy access to take them out when they need it but you also do not have to worry about the books falling down when they take them out.
In my household, whenever a book was taken there was that moment when you are watching the other books to see if it would all fall down. For kids, they don’t really look at that, they take it and go and then we clean up the books that have fallen. Not anymore!
Main Section
Less is better for sure when it comes to the main section. I honestly really only want to see the tv boxes and gaming systems. Nothing else. Fewer wires were a must. It was like having a web of cords every time I sat down, that is all that I saw. This system allows for hiding the cords better. The only thing I am missing is a command cord holder. That is the last piece I need to hold down certain cords, apart from that I can’t see cords all the time.
Within the drawers, we store the DVDs and gaming cases that we have. I figured that it is the best way to keep all the DVDs organized. It not only cuts our DVD collection down but makes it more clean looking. There is a lot
Related: Declutter Your DVDs
Second Bookshelf
The second bookshelf actually replaces the small bookshelves we used to have. It relied on the backing to really be it supports so over time it just leaned to the side with all the weight of our VHS tapes. However, this bookshelf holds all plus more!
Best Tips for Drawers:
- The place wore out books or items
- DVDs, CDs or Gaming CDs in cases
- Put things you don’t need all the time
- Great for gaming supplies
Gaming Organization
It is insane to think about how we grew our gaming systems. It went from one to many in a matter of years. There will always be a new device or game out there. It is a never-ending cycle for sure. So to keep up with the demand, I dedicated a drawer in the controls. We have many controls for everyone ins our family and they, of course, have accessories.
I bought two KUGGIS containers from IKEA, one I put into a drawer to make a divider between our Wii controllers and our Game Cube controllers.
The second bin, I put on the shelf. It holds all those extra cords and supplies that we do not use often. That way it is near when we do need it but hidden so we cannot see it. Oh, how I love storage boxes.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I am pleased with the way everything turned out with this entertainment center organizing. It was very nice that everything we needed fit with some extra space left behind. When I bought this, I knew that I wanted storage and better organization. It not only feels better organized but it flows a lot better than the old living room did. Do you have any entertainment center tips you have done that have worked fantastic for you? I want to hear all about it below!
Related: Living Room Makeover
[…] A quality entertainment center that has shelving space will save you from having to get too many large and bulky furniture pieces that you don’t need. Stick to ones that you can align the wall with as well as create a feature entertainment area where most of your things are hidden. This will remove any feeling of clutter. […]
[…] have done for my siblings for our family’s DVD collection. Fewer DVDs taking up space in your entertainment center is my main goal for this project. This will also help if you live in an apartment with kids like us […]