The living room has to do the most jobs and still look good when someone knocks on the door. It is the playroom, the office, the cinema and the place toys, blankets, books and cables all migrate to and stay. This page collects living room storage ideas that pass the looks test: every idea either hides inside furniture, reads as decor, or contains one specific kind of clutter. There is no garage-style open shelving here.
Work through furniture that stores, then media and cable control, then books, games and kids' things, and finish with walls and corners. Use the cost and difficulty ratings to choose a quick fix or a bigger piece, and save the ideas you like into a short list before you buy. Measure first, because storage furniture that is too deep will shrink the room it was meant to save.
The short version: 68 storage ideas for this room, each rated by cost and difficulty with a “best for” note, so you can pick the three that fit your space instead of buying twenty that don’t. Filter and save your picks in the idea finder above; the full list is written out below.
Furniture That Stores: Ottomans, Benches and Coffee Tables
- Storage ottoman for blankets and games — A lidded ottoman works as footrest, extra seat and coffee table while hiding the blankets and board games inside.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: blankets and games with no cupboard - Coffee table with a shelf or drawers — A table with a lower shelf or drawers holds books, remotes and coasters in the centre of the room, off the top surface.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: coffee tables buried under daily clutter - Lift-top coffee table — A rising top gives you a work or dining surface and a hidden compartment for laptops and chargers underneath.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: working from the sofa most days - Storage bench by the door side — A bench near the living room entrance catches bags, shoes and post, and stores scarves or dog gear inside.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: living rooms that open straight from outdoors - Nesting tables instead of one big side table — Nested tables slide out for guests and drinks, then tuck away, and the smallest often hides a basket underneath.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: rooms needing flexible guest surfaces - Sofa-side table with a shelf — A narrow table at arm height holds a lamp above and books, glasses and remotes on the shelf below.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: sofa arms used as permanent storage - Armrest tray or caddy on the sofa — A fitted tray or fabric caddy over the arm keeps remotes, phone and a drink stable without another table.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: remotes lost down sofa cushions - Storage cubes that work as seats — Cube ottomans hide toys or blankets inside, serve as footrests, and line up under a console when not in use.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: homes needing spare seats plus toy storage - Console table behind the sofa — A slim table behind a floating sofa adds a display surface, lamps and baskets below without taking wall space.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: sofas floating in open-plan rooms - TV stand with closed cupboards — Choosing closed doors over open shelves hides consoles, routers and game boxes behind a calm front.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: media units showing every cable and box - Footstool with tray top and storage — A footstool whose lid flips to a tray does drinks duty for guests and storage duty the rest of the week.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: small rooms needing multi-use pieces - Trunk as a coffee table — A vintage-style trunk tables drinks on top and swallows throws, cushions or the toy overflow inside.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: large blanket and cushion overflow - Window seat with storage below — A built-in or freestanding bench under the window stores board games and seasonal items where the space is usually empty.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Hard · Best for: bay windows and low empty wall zones - Sideboard for the everything overflow — One proper sideboard with drawers and cupboards absorbs games, candles, chargers and table linens behind furniture doors.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: rooms with no built-in storage at all - Magazine file box beside the sofa — A leather, wood or fabric file keeps current magazines and the TV guide upright and off the coffee table.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: reading material spreading over tables - Choose furniture on legs — Raised furniture makes a room feel bigger and lets low baskets and the robot vacuum slide underneath.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: rooms feeling heavy and boxed-in - One closed basket per seat — Give each sofa spot a small lidded basket for its person's things, so personal clutter has a home that travels.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: each family member's things spreading out
Media, Remotes and Cable Control
- Cable management box on the floor — A lidded box hides the power strip and adapter tangle behind the TV in one dustable, child-resistant container.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: cable nests behind the television - Velcro ties instead of zip ties — Reusable hook-and-loop ties bundle cables neatly and open again when you change a device, unlike single-use plastic ties.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: cables that change with every new gadget - Remote caddy on the coffee table — One small caddy or tray for all remotes ends the nightly hunt and keeps them off cushions and floors.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: three or more remotes in daily use - Charging station inside a drawer — A drawer fitted with a power strip charges phones and tablets out of sight, clearing every surface of leads.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: chargers trailing across side tables - Charging shelf by the sofa — A tiny wall shelf with cable slots gives phones a parking spot at the sofa instead of the arm or floor.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: phones charging on the floor by the sofa - Label both ends of every cable — Small labels at each end of a cable turn a ten-minute unplugging puzzle into a ten-second job when devices move.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: identical black cables behind the TV - Cable raceway along the skirting — An adhesive channel along the skirting board hides the run from socket to TV, painted to match the wall.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: cables crossing the room to the TV - Wall-mount the TV and hide leads in a kit — Mounting the screen frees the whole stand surface, and an in-wall or cover kit hides the drop cables behind it.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Hard · Best for: stands crowded out by the screen itself - Headphone hook by the TV — One hook or stand for gaming and TV headphones stops them living on cushions, tables and the floor.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: headphones migrating around the room - Game controller dock — A charging dock keeps controllers paired, charged and in one visible spot instead of under cushions.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: controllers and batteries scattered nightly - Router hidden in a ventilated box or basket — A slatted box or open-weave basket disguises the router while keeping airflow and signal strength intact.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: routers and blinking lights on display - Streamline to one streaming stick — Replacing three boxes with one streaming device removes two power bricks, two remotes and a shelf of clutter free.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: stacked media boxes from different eras - DVD and game cases into a binder — Discs in a slim binder free whole shelves that jewel cases filled, and the binder stores like a book.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: shelves of rarely watched disc cases - Power strip with a switch by the sofa — A reachable switched strip kills standby lights and chargers at night without crawling behind furniture.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: standby glow and unreachable sockets - Speaker stands that free the sideboard — Proper stands put speakers at ear height and return the sideboard top to books, plants and breathing space.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: speakers crowding every flat surface - Basket for the current knitting or hobby — One attractive basket holds the active project and its tools, so hobbies live in the room without spreading.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: craft projects taking over the sofa - Nightly remote and cable reset — A one-minute evening pass returning remotes to the caddy and leads to their clips keeps the system from decaying.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: systems that unravel within a week
Books, Games and Kids’ Things
- Cube shelves with fabric bins — Cube units with pull-out bins sort toys, games and craft supplies into labelled, child-height categories.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: toy storage children can actually use - Toy rotation boxes in a cupboard — Keep a third of toys out and swap monthly from lidded boxes, so the room holds less and old toys feel new again.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: too many toys out at once - Lidded baskets that match the room — Baskets in the room's colours contain toys and blankets while reading as decor, not as a playroom takeover.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: toy storage adults must look at daily - Low bookcase for kids' books — A forward-facing low bookcase lets small children choose and reshelve books themselves, keeping them off floors.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: children's books piled in corners - Board games stacked in a sideboard or ottoman — Games stored flat in one closed piece near where you play them stops boxes colonising shelves in three rooms.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: game boxes spread across the house - Puzzle and game small-parts bags — Zip bags inside each game box keep pieces together, so boxes stack flat and nothing is lost under the sofa.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: games with pieces escaping their boxes - Rolling under-sofa toy bins — Shallow bins on castors slide toys under the sofa at tidy-up time and back out for play in seconds.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: fast nightly toy resets - Art supply caddy that can leave the room — One handled caddy for crayons, paper and glue makes art time portable and the cleanup a single lift.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: craft supplies taking over the table - Bookends and a strict one-shelf rule — Limit living room books to one shelf with bookends, and let the rest live in bedrooms, keeping the room restful.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: books overflowing every surface - Magazine and newspaper recycling point — A small basket by the door for finished papers stops the slow paper drift across tables and floors.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: paper clutter arriving daily - Dress-up and play costumes in one trunk — Costumes in a single lidded trunk by the play corner contain the glitter and capes in one washable place.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: costumes draped over furniture - Homework station box — A box with pencils, ruler, paper and charger that comes out for homework and packs away before dinner.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: school supplies living on the dining area - Guest toy basket — A small basket of toys for visiting children keeps guests' kids happy without your children's full collection emerging.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: visiting children and total toy tip-outs - Display one collection, store the rest — Choose one shelf for the collection you love and box the remainder, rotating pieces seasonally to keep it fresh.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: collectors whose shelves overwhelm the room - Soft toy hammock in a corner — A fabric hammock strung in a high corner holds the soft toy population off beds, sofas and floors.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: soft toys occupying every seat - Five-minute family tidy with a basket each — Hand everyone a basket and a timer: five minutes of collecting beats an hour of one person tidying alone.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: nightly resets that fall to one person - Label bins with pictures for young kids — Picture labels on toy bins let pre-readers tidy correctly, which is the difference between a system and a hope.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: toddlers and pre-readers tidying up
Walls and Corners: Shelves, Baskets and Blanket Storage
- Floating shelves for books and plants — Two or three floating shelves use wall height for display and books while keeping every surface below clear.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: walls doing no work in the room - Picture ledges for rotating display — Shallow ledges hold framed prints, records or books cover-out, and change the room's look in minutes.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: display items that need frequent rotation - Blanket ladder by the sofa — A leaning ladder holds throws folded over rungs, storing textiles as texture and colour, not as a heap.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: throws and blankets in sofa heaps - Large lidded basket for spare cushions — One big basket corrals the cushion overflow when guests sit down, instead of cushions migrating to the floor.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: cushion overflow during gatherings - Corner shelving unit — A tall corner unit turns the room's deadest square foot into stacked books, baskets and a plant or two.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: empty corners beside the sofa - Wall baskets for post and paperwork — Woven wall baskets by the door catch letters and school notes before they reach the coffee table.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: post and paperwork landing on tables - Hooks row for bags, hats and dog lead — A short row of sturdy hooks near the entrance keeps daily carry items off chairs and the sofa back.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: bags and leads dropped on seating - Above-sofa long shelf — One long shelf above the sofa back displays art and books safely out of head range, using the biggest blank wall.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: the large empty wall above the sofa - Radiator cover with a shelf top — A cover turns an ugly radiator into a slim display shelf, with no storage claims it cannot keep in heat season.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: radiators wasting a whole wall run - Under-stairs drawers or cupboard — If the living room holds the stair understair space, fitted drawers turn it into the home's best hidden storage.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Hard · Best for: understairs cupboards that swallow things whole - Tall narrow bookcase in a dead alcove — Alcoves fit a slim tall bookcase perfectly, giving library capacity in a footprint no other furniture wants.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: alcoves beside fireplaces - Fireplace basket for kindling or blankets — An unused or working fireplace hearth basket holds logs, or in summer, rolled throws, in classic living room style.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: hearth space sitting empty - Plant stand tiers in a bright corner — Tiered stands group plants upward, freeing windowsills and tables while giving the corner a deliberate look.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: plants crowding every surface - Wall-mounted fold-down desk — A folding desk panel gives open-plan rooms a work spot that disappears behind a picture front each evening.
Cost: Medium ($25–75) · Difficulty: Hard · Best for: working from the dining table daily - Curtain off an alcove for hidden storage — A simple curtain across a storage alcove hides boxes and the vacuum while keeping everything reachable in seconds.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Medium · Best for: alcoves used as open dumping zones - Seasonal decor boxes in the highest spot — Decorations live in labelled boxes on the tallest shelf or cupboard top, seen twice a year and forgotten in between.
Cost: Low (under $25) · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: seasonal items taking prime storage - Keep one surface completely empty — Choose the coffee table or the sideboard and defend it as always clear, which resets how the whole room feels.
Cost: Free · Difficulty: Easy · Best for: rooms where every surface is full
Pro Tips
- Apply the guest test to every purchase. If it would look at home in a garage or a stockroom, it does not belong in the living room. Closed, upholstered, wooden or woven beats open, metal or plastic in the room everyone sees.
- Contain tribes, not rooms. Living room clutter comes in families: tech, toys, textiles, paper. One good home for each tribe, a cable box, a lidded basket, a blanket ladder, a post basket, does more than a general tidy ever will.
- Buy depth carefully. Storage furniture deeper than about forty centimetres eats living space fast and swallows items at the back. In small rooms, shallower and taller almost always wins over deeper and lower.
- Closed storage is the cheat code. The same objects look like clutter on open shelves and like nothing at all behind doors or under lids. Spend on doors and lids before you spend on more volume.
- Leave one surface empty on purpose. A single always-clear table makes the whole room read as tidy, gives guests somewhere to put a drink, and shows you daily what the rest of the room could feel like.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add storage to a living room without it looking like storage?
Choose pieces that are furniture first: storage ottomans, lidded trunks, closed sideboards and woven baskets in the room's colours. Avoid open industrial shelving and clear plastic boxes, which read as warehouse. If a guest cannot tell it stores anything, it is doing its job.
How do we keep kids' toys from taking over the living room?
Give toys a hard border: one cube unit or two lidded baskets is the whole toy footprint in this room. Rotate the rest from a cupboard monthly, use picture labels so children can reset it themselves, and keep a rolling bin for the five-minute nightly sweep.
Where should all the remotes and chargers live?
Remotes get one caddy on the coffee table or sofa arm, no exceptions. Chargers move to a single station, ideally inside a drawer or a shelf by the sofa, so one spot holds every lead. When each cable has a labelled home, the nightly reset takes under a minute.
What storage works in a rented living room?
Almost everything on this page: ottomans, benches, baskets, ladders and cube units need no fixings at all. For walls, use picture ledges on existing screws or adhesive strips rated for the weight, and keep the filler in a drawer for move-out day.
More Idea Lists and Guides
- All Home Checklists, Calendars & Idea Lists — every list in one place
- Small Apartment Storage Ideas — The rated catalog for studios and 1-beds: storage furniture, dividers and studio systems, all rental-safe.
- Closet Storage Ideas — Double rails, shelf dividers and shoe systems — cubic thinking for reach-ins and shared wardrobes.
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