narrow living room

[INeedToBuyaZoo]

Excuse the mess, I'm still mid-declutter and packing boxing's to take to the charity shop/tip

Every now and then I get major "must move all my furniture around" syndrome.

For the last two years the sofa has been at the patio door end of the living room and the dining table at the front of the house. I have too much furniture, I have Billy bookcases behind my sofa which makes the room feel narrower and I have this HUGE but beautiful sideboard that is really quite impractical.

Any ideas on how I can scratch the itch? Excluding chuck all the crap out as that's the plan today!

@CareerConcerns1999

I've always hidden everything away

In fairness, the photos tell a different story

Oi cheeky

So what happened is I collected a record player off someone and I ended up with a 100 boxes of VHS and DVDs as well. Hence allllll the boxes and I haven't got round to dehoarding. But I did mean the Xbox and all that I'll have you rightly know haha

I would turn the dining table 90 degrees. When it goes the same direction as the longer side of the room I think it accentuates the long thin look of the room.

When you’re decluttering take the stuff off the top of the bookcases. Just have items on the shelves, then you have a clear unbroken line above.

Just 2 small things.

I like all Hellodaisy's suggestions. Swapping sofa and tv mean you won't block access/views to the garden.
I think you need to lose at least 3 big furniture items, and reduce stuff you have on the walls
Is that a desk squeezed behind your dining table? I would lose that if your dining table can double as a desk?

I would lose the coffee table.
The 3 x white bookcases are fine as they are all the same colour. Declutter these shelves so they will hold more and lose the other wooden bookcase.

Are you any good at DIY?

Go and measure how much shelf space you actually need for your books etc on the Billy bookcases, both width and depth. I would also see how much space you need for the DVDs (?) on the pine bookcase.

You don't need shelves as deep as the Billy shelves. I would repurpose the pretty pine bookcase for the knickknacks and photos. I would then put up narrow shelves for the books, either:

1. Either side of the patio doors (so you lose length, not width)
2. Make or buy a TV unit with space for the Playstation etc and shelves for the books
3. Have a shelf running around the entire room at the top of the wall

If you can have doors for the shelves, even better, as it will look neater and keep the dust at bay. They could be sliding doors to save on space.

Do you really need the computer/workstation in the sitting room? Do you need a coffee table? A glass coffee table will make it look less cluttered.

Your diagram doesn't show the desk and chair behind the dining table - is that staying?

For the sideboard can you drill some holes in the back for air circulation to allow you to use it for the consoles and get rid of the media unit?

Also, mood lighting is nice but do you really need a table lamp and a standard lamp right next to each other in addition to the pair of standard lamps either side of the tv? What about wall-mounted lighting or lights attached to the billy?

Also, you have dead space on top of your billies. Could you get some of the cube baskets to put on top and help you remove stuff from general circulation in the room (assuming it's stuff you cannot get rid of)

Desk isn't staying that was a temporary solution whilst I sorted Mr Zoos mancave out for me to share as an office. That's all getting moved upstairs this afternoon. Then desk is leaving the premise. I didn't want to share his mancave but the reality is that he isn't in during the day so it's pointless not using it. I just need him to get better at tidying his shit up but hey I'm not the best example clearly....

Oh the tall lamp next to the table lamp isn't plugged in. It's just waiting to go upstairs to the bedroom.

I really really like the idea of shelves either side of the patio doors, however so I need to be concerned that there's a plug socket at the bottom of one side?

TV Unit is now in shed, already sold it on FB so getting collected tomorrow.

That will be £50 towards some shelves!

That lovely remaining mess on the corner is an issue. It's actually the mass load of cabling for the CCTV cameras, it's really long but all bundled up. As there are 4 cameras it's a gigantic mess so I'm going to need to hide it once I work out what is going where. And it's taken me an hour to unplug everything from the TV unit.

I think the idea of having a housing for all the console shit is a good idea but only if I can manage to keep it compact. I do have a 5x5 white kallax unit in the shed, had considered replacing all the Billy bookcases with it but don't want to regret it!

Oh and there's even another lamp I've kept hidden from view. I have lamp problems

The dining table and all the stuff makes it look cluttered. If you have space to move the table and sideboard then do it. As for the stuff - I think you should probably do a furniture clearout. Open up the walls by clearing out the bookcases & mount TV on the wall.

I really really like the idea of shelves either side of the patio doors, however so I need to be concerned that there's a plug socket at the bottom of one side?

You could:

Have open shelves attached to the wall
Have an open backed shelf unit
Have the shelf unit on castors
Build your own unit that allows access to the plug/cables

I think Kallax is too chunky when you have limited space. You don't need shelves that wide for books etc nor that high. You will need a Kallax twice the width and height of the shelf space you actually need to store your items.

Maybe step 1 before you decide on shelving needs to be to clear the shelves of anything you don't want or that could be relocated elsewhere in the room or house eg decorative items.Then work out what you actually need in terms of storage.

Also, you can get DVD/console game/book storage coffee tables, which would save some space.

You need a cable management box for the cables!

It’s a decent size room, not too narrow at all - it’s just absolutely overwhelmed with furniture and “stuff”.

I would try the following:

• Remove tv unit, desk and cat tower.
• Put sofa on the opposite wall, and sideboard where sofa was. Put tv on sideboard and x box etc inside (you can always open a door while it’s being used if ventilation is actually a problem.)
• Turn dining table 90 degrees, and put against wall where desk was.
• Remove hoard of bookcases and contents. Reduce contents by 50%. Then consider some shallow floating shelves either side of the window, or where the cat tower was.
• Reduce lamp collection by 50%.

Suggested layout.

“Lamps if you must” haha

Just dropped off some miscellaneous furniture at various places. Unfortunately none of it came from the living room!

Operation move sofa and sideboard commencing

If anyone has any cable management suggestions for:

The good news is the desk has gone and I’ve relocated two bookcases. The bad news is I can’t find a home for my behemoth of a home server that’s lived hidden away behind the sofa for a year. It’s huge!

Put a door on the bottom shelf where the server is?

Honestly it’s so cluttered it’s reaching hoarder level, sorting that, and I know you’re trying will you a long way to sorting thr issues.

Can you switch ends with the sofa and dining table?

Get rid of most of the furniture. It's all actually too big for the room. Including the sofa too actually.

But if you have to keep the sofa, keep it, the table and get something new for the tv. The TV unit and sideboard are too big.

See what it looks like with the dining table in front of the Billy bookcases. But if its still too cluttered, they'll have to go. In fact, looking at the photos, the Billy bookcases are empty. So get rid of them.

Be ruthless. There's way too much big furniture and clutter in there

(are you the poster with the H who has guitars and a massive gaming system in the spare room?)

Get rid of most of your lamps - can't see how many you have, but you don't need them.

Get rid of the massive cat scratchy thing - again it's too big for the room.

What's the home server for ?

Surely anything important goes in the cloud or is located on a device (game storage on X box/files on laptops?)

If it's wireless ie. things upload to it remotely then put it under a bed?

It's an aesthetic thing but your lamps aren't matching - not in style or in age. The individual ones are lovely (get matching shades) but the two tall ones either side of tv look very dated now

Also, you say you've got a sideboard and a dresser - I can't see the dresser ?

Also you've got a Christmas candle out from last year, a glass bottle (Chuck it) and a febreeze as 'extra' items on one small shelf

Remove

You've loads of books you're not reading (you're not reading Dickens and text books) - I keep all my out of use books somewhere else (spare bedroom and landing)

Do you watch all the DVDs? Worth getting a DVD zip up storage case - chuck all the boxes, then slide the discs into the storage case. Takes up the same space as a Lever Arch File and would hold all DVDs. Do the same for the CDs. Do you use the stereo?

I can't help with the layout but I like the colour on your walls what you can see of them anyway

@LaurieFairyCake

What's the home server for ?

Surely anything important goes in the cloud or is located on a device (game storage on X box/files on laptops?)

If it's wireless ie. things upload to it remotely then put it under a bed?

It's an aesthetic thing but your lamps aren't matching - not in style or in age. The individual ones are lovely (get matching shades) but the two tall ones either side of tv look very dated now

Also, you say you've got a sideboard and a dresser - I can't see the dresser ?

It has scripts running that do various things, media management and it runs an instance of Home Assistant that automates my house, lighting, heat, that sort of thing.

I actually like my dated lamps, mainly because when the colour changes (hue bulbs) it looks cool.

Update to clearing out the house.

DVDs all gone to music magpie. Secret box of CDs you couldn't see also gone

VHS and actual tapes gone to the tip.

AND I spent 4 days moving my living room around to receive a phone call from my landlord giving me notice!!!!

So now my house is in absolute chaos, we move out 21st November.

I don't know where I've found it all from but I've taken two car loads to the tip from the living room.

All the books are packed, I got rid of a couple of textbooks from an old module but kept the rest for future modules and also my sister has started university so she's going to take the rest.

I have no idea how to pack a house to move but at least its a good chucking out exercise.

New house is twice as big, Don't worry I won't fill it with twice as much stuff but maybe, my stuff will look twice as little....