This sounds like it is your command center, what with the mug of pens, scratch pad and phone. My first suggestion would be to see if there is a table with one or more drawers that you could switch out to use as your side table. Then everything but the phone and glass of water could be put away in the drawer(s) when not in use. Or try to find a tray or even two small trays to hold some of the things. One tray for the mug of pens, phone and scratch pads. Somehow putting things on a tray makes it look as though they are there intentionally, not just randomly dropped off on the nearest surface. They sell holders for remotes that fit over the arm of your chair. Or you could put them in a small box that fits under the chair, and only pull them out when necessary. Or you could find a small basket that sits on the floor or slides under the chair to hold most of the stuff. I keep pens, pencils, a nail file, hand lotion, chap stick, index cards and a pair of scissors in a small little canvas tote that just fits between my chair and the wall. The remotes go in a basket on the lower shelf of the coffee table when not in use. When in use, the basket gets moved to the side table.

Buehl, please do! I was just trying to save something of use. I'd been checking the GW all night, turned my back for 15 minutes to watch the Health Care vote, and whammo! all the posts were gone. I kept refreshing, thinking, "This can't be!"

I installed shelves into my hall closet and have bins for everything. Labeled them with whatever is in it, toothbruses, paste, mouthwash. Make up was put in one, and I was saving the old large makeup kit for yard sale. Happened to think one day, that old makeup kit would be a good place for my jewelry pliers, pieces and parts for making and repairing jewelery. Now, if I could just remember where I put it. Found a small footstool with lid, changed it into a sewing kit. Found three long skinny storage bins, fit perfect inside to hold spools of thread. Scissors in one, others with needle threaders, thread cutters, small razor knife, etc. Works great, and so much more storage than small kit I had before. Also was able to store old hanks of embroidery thread. They work great for buttons and making closures for bags without one, add a loop of embroidery thread,( all 6 strands) and button to other side. All done, no muss no fuss. I pick up old notebooks and folders at yard sales, use them for project folders or storing important papers, use magazine holders for all the notebooks, and it is all in handy reach on shelf. even have special one with page protectors showing all my cut outs of excercises from a magazine,just flip to one I plan to do, and can page mark them for different days of week, what body part they focus on, etc. clothes pins, paint with different colors, add name with sharpie marker, and everyone has their own "important paper" pin. can also add magnets to stick on fridge. I use two magnets on my sliding screen door to keep from walking into it, just back to back. Also have some on my kitchen window, fruit and vegetables, my kitchen theme, keeps birds from flying into window and scaring the life out of me! Hung an old door knob with plate outside in my carport, holds wipe off board and marker for friends to leave me a note if I'm not home. have a small rolling plastic cart with drawers, topped it with topper of round table, and cloth with glass on top. Those little round cloth tables were so cute, but I needed extra storage space, can't see the cart. A two drawer file cabinet is the right height for the same thing. And serves as a table next to my favorite rocker. Love all your great ideas, hope I've given you some new ones.

We are below a bluff in a residential area around a river so cell phone reception is marginal - sometimes I can use my phone if I stand very still in a good spot. Landline is essential. We have the cordless phone base station in the bookshelf by the kitchen table. The charging bases are less than 3" by 3" so they can go almost anywhere. We keep one in the kitchen behind the espresso machine at the end of our L. That spot is right next to the patio door and convenient to the family room and kitchen. We have a hardwired phone in my husband's office so we are covered for power outages. Our phone service shares a fiber to the home with our TV and internet signals. I know that there is a battery that is suppose to last for at least 24 hours on the router box that converts the phone to an electrical signal, but we haven't had a power outage of more than an hour in the 10 years we've been on FTTH so there hasn't been any test of whether the system would stay up longer than cell towers if there was a major power disaster.