The lounge, or living room is exactly that – the room in which we live the majority of the time we spend awake in our homes. They are usually littered with machinery designed to entertain – televisions, gaming consoles, DVD and Blu-ray players which also tend to attract dust and can begin to look dirty very quickly if not regularly cleaned. Aside from the entertainment, our lounges tend to be a hive of activity – it is where the kids play there, the adults relax, and quite often where we will choose to eat and drink. All this enterprise means that as a space it does tend to get untidy quickly, but there are a few tricks you can use to keep the place clean and tidy.

1.    Baskets are a living room’s best friend.
Television remotes, newspapers, magazines, post, receipts; you name it and you will usually find it somewhere in the living room. Left unordered these things tend to work themselves into all sorts of strange places – how many times have you found the television remote down the back of the sofa? If you give certain things a home then they tend to stay in one area, rather than spread across a number of area. This not only leads to a tidier-looking living space, but also makes cleaning easier as there isn’t as much to find a home for before you can even start!

2.    Clear the coffee table before you go to bed.
It sounds so simple, but taking out any glasses or plates to the kitchen and arranging the papers neatly before you turn the lights off will take seconds. The effect this will have on your mood in the morning however will be startling, as you will be presented with a tidy living space in which to awaken rather than one where you have to move things before you can put your coffee down.

3.    Turn your electronics off at the mains if you aren’t using them.
This is important for all manner of reasons, let alone cleanliness. The electrical current that flows through our media equipment, even when on standby, creates a magnetic field that will attract dust particles. By turning them off when you aren’t using them not only are you saving yourself a considerable amount of money in utility bills but you are also cutting your cleaning duties.

4.    Invest in some dynamic storage.
If you have kids with plenty of toys, or live in a cold house where a blanket in the evening is a necessity rather than a luxury, dynamic storage solutions provide a useful and attractive way to keep them out of sight. If you have a bay window build some wooden seating round it, and in the recesses under the seats there is your storage for all those things you would rather keep out of sight. Plenty of coffee tables now come with a multitude of drawers and cupboards, as do footstools and other pieces of furniture.

5.    Clean regularly.
You can keep your living room as tidy as you want, but eventually it is going to need cleaning. While it will be easier to clean if it is kept tidy, make sure you wipe over your sofas and dust your electronics with a static-free cloth (they come with most televisions). Picture and door frames (anything horizontal in essence) are particularly susceptible to dust deposits, so make sure your duster pays a visit to these areas of your room.