Large family organization tips part 2 the living room

In part 2 of our series large family organization tips, we are going to see how we  organize our living room.

For a family of 12, our living room is fairly small.  But large enough to fit the basic necessities that we need in here.  We have a place to sit and a television to view.  You won’t see coffee tables with “things” on it to clean.  You won’t find knickknacks shelves to dust daily.  Our furnishes and decorating are plain and sometimes not so plain but basic and affordable.    That is it.

We  have owned about 7 couches couches over the last 20 years of our marriage, but none have seem to be able to hold up to so many children.

Some requirements for purchasing furniture in a large family:

• commercial quality
• a sturdy heavy duty fabric
• has to be easy to clean
• has to be a neutral color, something that food and dirt will blend into
• has to fit more than 6 people at one time

We had been diligently scouring the Craigslist ads for a large sectional couch.  We had to wait about 2 months before coming across the one that was perfect. I didn’t want brand new, as I wanted to see how the material of the couch was going to hold up over the years and I wanted something large enough to hold everyone.  We were fortunate that this couch was so big that the person was having a hard time selling it because no one had a vehicle large enough to fit it.  But with seats out of a 15 passenger van, we made  it fit.

We don’t have a coffee table, something more for babies to fall and hit their heads on.  Plus too tempting to want to sit and eat in front of the television.  The only thing I would hope to add in the future would be a footrest ottoman.  But I haven’t found one that would match and be affordable yet.

The only other item in our living room is our TV stand.  Another item that we have owned numerous of. Ummmmm 5 to be exact…….we finally bought heavy duty and hopefully will never buy again:-)

Can you tell my 2 year old was watching her favorite entertainer??? Skippy and Dave

The good thing about owning so many different kinds of entertainment centers,  is learning what you want and don’t  want.  I wanted something that enclosed all of our devices.  No little ones to be  able to rip out videos, or push buttons on the  DVD player. Plus I wanted something that looked more simple.  We found this item at Art Van.  It did cost more than I would have liked to pay, but we only paid full price for a few items in our household— the dining room table and this.  Sometimes if you want  something specific you have to pay for it.  

The plastic bin holds all of our Wii remotes and accessories as well as the games that my children like to play often.

It holds all our DVDs.  Keeps all our devices shut up. Leaves me with nothing but a simple look.

You won’t find knickknacks or other unnecessary items in our home. More stuff to clean, I’m busy enough:-)

*****since writing this post, we have actually had the doors get broken, in our family we need to make things that will last, click here to see how we fixed our entertainment doors for under $10. Here is our entertainment center now:)

Living room done! Check

Look for part 3…the kitchen