The living room: reinventing your living space

05 March, 2025

Last month, we explored the importance of the living room as a family gathering place and its central role in creating meaningful shared moments. This month, we're looking at the practical organization of this space that hosts so many aspects of our family life. How can we keep this space welcoming and functional while preserving its warm character, which is so conducive to conversation and quality time?

In this article, we'll look at how to optimize this shared living space so it keeps fostering family connections while staying organized and pleasant to live in every day. From decluttering to optimizing, along with practical ways to involve the kids, discover our complete guide to making your living room a space that reflects and supports your family values.

Step one: Declutter

A welcoming living room starts with thoughtful decluttering. This central room easily accumulates everyday items, entertainment and decorative pieces. Take the time to sort through everything, even if you have to spread the work over several days.

Downloadable lists

To help you through this important step, we've prepared some handy tools:

  • List of items to get rid of

  • List of items to organize

  • List of items to get

These lists are also available in a digital, checkable version in Octave.

Tips and tricks

Store occasionally used items in a secondary space. A closet or cabinet can be perfect for:

  • Rarely used board games

  • Occasional movies and books

  • Seasonal decorations

  • Special entertainment items

Organize your entertainment by category in baskets or containers:

  • Video games and accessories

  • Books and magazines

  • Movies and series

  • Favorite board games

  • Craft supplies

Step two: Optimize

Once your living room is decluttered, discover our solutions for making it a practical, pleasant space.

The little independence tip

Kids can help organize the living room depending on their age:

Around ages 3 to 4:

  • Create storage zones at their height for their toys

  • Set up bins labeled with pictures for sorting

Around ages 5 to 6:

  • Establish a tidying routine after activities

  • Give them responsibility for certain defined zones

Around ages 7 to 8:

  • Involve them in organizing the family entertainment

  • Put them in charge of their own reading or play corner

Join the One Room a Month Challenge!

📧 Option 1: The monthly newsletter. Get these delivered straight to your email inbox every month:

  • The month's detailed action plan

  • Targeted organizing tips

  • Tips to motivate the whole family

📄 Option 2: Printables

  • Monthly guides to slip into your organization binder

  • Checklists and detailed action plans

  • Perfect for paper lovers

📱 Option 3: The Octave app

  • Interactive to-do lists

  • Calendar integration

  • Family task sharing

Choose the option that suits you or combine them for optimal organization!

🚀 Find this article and much more in the Octave app (shared calendar, collaborative task list, meal planner, centralized family info and independence tracking), your number one ally for an organized family life! 📱✨

Put these tips into practice

Get the whole family organized with Octave

Meals, chores, the calendar and routines for the whole family in one place: on everyone's phone and on the Station on your wall.

Discover the Octave app See the Octave Station →

The app is free on iOS and Android.