Room by Room: Living Room (Part 2)

In Part 1 we talked about the function of the Living Room and ways to think about beautifying it. Our Living Rooms are important tools in the everyday care of our people. There are times we have to use our main space in unique and creative ways that move beyond gathering places of rest, recreation, recuperation, and casual conversation with friends and family. I want to open up the discussion to some of the other ways this room does double duty by examining two other options.

Libraries: Many of us have book problems, and homeschoolers and pastors’ families seem to take this to a whole new level. Yet, many of us don’t have the space to have a specific Library. Often the walls of the Living Room must shelter us, support the roof, and bear the brunt of shelving our books. Take heart! Not only can your beloved volumes add another layer of insulation to your walls, but they can also create an inviting ambiance and spark conversation.

Things to consider:

·        Your shelves don’t need to be “Pinterest” perfect, but they should be neat. Bookshelves have a way of collecting all manner of knick-knacks, detritus, bits of nature, craft projects, and gifts. Take a step back and examine your shelves from the perspective of your guests. Make sure they’re not just an ugly, overwhelming mess. Use a bit of finesse and make them neat, and purposed.

·        Books should be kept if you love them, plan to read or reread them, are part of a growing, purposed collection, have sentimental value, are part of a realistic TBR pile, are references, or you want to be able to loan them out. If you read a book once, thought it was just okay, but it doesn’t fit in any of the previously mentioned categories, don’t keep it. If a book lingers overlong in your TBR pile, you may decide to discard it simply because it doesn’t actually seem to be being read. Sometimes we go through specific eras of reading. If a book is from a past obsession, you may find you only need to keep one or two of the best, not all of them. There is no pressure and no waste here if you bought a book that simply doesn’t seem to be worth having on your shelf. Move on with life.

·        Shelves need to be kept clean and as tidy as possible. Pinterest can be helpful here, but it can also be a bit silly, at least if you are a book person. Having 5 books piled from biggest to smallest, or with the spines hidden is fine if you are only ‘decorating’ with books. But if you are curating books, you’re going to want the shelves to hold books, not air. Focus on being organized, clean, and tidy.

·        Consider the visual noise. Books can be a lot of visual stimulation. Different covers, different fonts, different sizes, different colors. When you add any type of special treasure that isn’t a book to the shelves that volume is increased exponentially. This doesn’t mean don’t use the shelves to display mementos, but always step back and look at it from a guest’s perspective. Keep in mind dusting and easy access to the books. Removing dust jackets (possibly anathema to some of you) can calm the visual noise down a bit. Keep observing, and tweaking. You’re not looking for perfection, but for a cozy welcome.

Libraries are a good thought project for the different ways we might use the space of Living Rooms to double as offices, homeschool rooms, and sewing rooms. They are storage rooms and sometimes places we display music, movies, collections, and memories. Whatever you utilize this room for, the above suggestions will help you keep it calm, cozy, and ready for your people.

Playroom: Living Rooms in young families often double as Playrooms. It is one of the bigger spaces and often keeps little ones where a close eye can be kept on them. As children get older, play can be moved to bedrooms and outside, but for toddler stages Living Rooms work better.

Things to consider:

·        As with everything else in our houses, we want to focus on being clean and tidy not Instagram-worthy. Because this is a more public space, we want to keep it tidier than we might a bedroom or specific playroom. Kids bring chaos in their wake: puzzles, Legos, lovies, dress-up clothes, books, and games get strewn about. That is wonderful! Kids should play and we should play with them, but kids also need discipline. Make sure you have regular clean-up times, or even maybe a rule that only one thing can be played with at a time in the Living Room. My mom had a “Dad is almost home, tidy time” rule when my Dad worked away from home. This both set our anticipation of Dad being back and helped control the toy horde. Find a rule that works for you and make sure your kids help.

·        Baskets and boxes are perfect ways to contain toys if they have to be stored in the Living Room. It keeps them looking purposed. It telegraphs, “these toys live here.” Find an out-of-the-way corner for the containers to live in. Keep it simple so that even your smallest child can put toys away. And because it is the Living Room, make sure things look nice. If you want the room to be restful, cozy, and encouraging of downtime then it needs to look like that is its goal. Matching or contrasting boxes or baskets will help with that. Not plastic storage containers, but pretty containers. It will be worth the cost.

·        A hassock or ottoman with a lid is also a great way to go because it provides invisible storage and extra seating. Bookshelves can be repurposed to hold toys. Be purposed. See this as an opportunity to train your children to be organized, disciplined, and work as a team. See this as a time to help them think about others (creating a calm environment for Mom shows love) and learn to be good stewards of what they have.

·        Consider establishing a family rule about how many toys you keep on hand at any given time. We often have rules about limiting our clothing. If we buy something new, we get rid of something old. This is also a good rule for helping control the toys. If you get new toys, you need to pass on the old ones. This teaches kids to be generous and self-controlled.

A Living Room that doubles as a Playroom is a great thought project for utilizing our space with beauty and order. It is wise to put all the space in your home to work, but we’re not doing that well if we don’t make it beautiful at the same time. When we miss that, when we miss the opportunity to train our children in the value of beauty, we’re simply becoming hoarders.

Be creative in using the Living Room for double duty. Focus on keeping things clean and tidy. Remember its main function—rest, recreation, recuperation, and casual conversation—and the importance of beauty. If we work with all these different tools, we’ll be able to make our Living Rooms enjoyable places for our people.