Expert: Jan Hayner - 9/2/2008

Question
I seem to be in a delema.  Our house seems cluttered all the time...but almost everything we own...we use.  Even now, looking around, we don't have a lot of "little" things that are stacking up.

An example:  In our living room we have a desk, couch-love seat set, entertainment center, fish tank, and book shelf.  This leaves maybe a 5x5 ft square of space.  

Is there a better way to squish furniture into a home?   I know that's an odd question, but maybe you'll know what I mean.  Otherwise I'm starting to think buying a larger home is are only choice.  :/  Or make the children live outside in tents :P  just kidding.  

Its 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, living room, dining and kitchen are combined.   The whole home is 900 sq ft.  

Answer
Hi Christina;
Short of selling the kids or expanding the house, the only real option is to move the furniture around; but NOT in the same room.
We get so used to having things in certain rooms, that sometimes we fall short of other options that we may have.

Here are a few suggestions that may work in your home.
You say that your living room, kitchen and dining area are all in one room, but at the same time, you are telling me that your living room only has a 5x5 open area, is that correct?

So think about this for an idea.
Move the fish tank into one of the kids rooms, add the bookcase in the dining area or a bedroom, or possibly put the desk in one of these areas. You may be able to 'add' another piece of furniture (a screen) in which it would block off the desk/bookcase area from view and make it look like a little nook or study area. This might work in your dining area, bedroom or corner of the living room.

Don't forget, you can work out-of-the-box and not have furniture against the walls. sometimes by making a 'L' shape around the entertainment center can actually give you more usable space in the room.

                 L %  could be the couch and loveseat (L)
                      entertainment center-%
this way the bookcase and desk could go into a corner area too.

I hoped this helped to give you some food for thought!
Happy organizing,
Jan