My kids always took that stuff to their bedrooms. Much of their homework was done in those bedrooms on desks or, like college students, on their beds. Our living room was too small to be used as a dumping ground. At the end of our hectic school and work days, we needed a space to relax as a family.

Thanks. The older one does take his to his room, but the younger one works downstairs at the island. What do you do with your handbag or work bags?

Get a shoe bench where you enter and put stuff on it. In our house each of us uses a dining room chair. Move stuff to the side or floor for eating.

I would suggest using an armoire. Just remove any shelves you don’t need and use the rod or install hooks for coats/jackets. You can just sit your purses and briefcase at the bottom of it. Everything will be hidden And you’ll have one more nice piece for your living area.

I guess you don't have a near by coat closet that you can pare off space from? Maybe, if you do, take away some of the things that don't really need to be there and use the space for the stuff that you really need at hand. Most houses will have some kind of coat closet.

We have very little closet space -we maximized the space under the stairs for jackets and shoes/gym bags. But there were 4 bags that were left out unless we took them upstairs. The credenzas behind the sofa (pictures posted previously) are working for us now. We don’t have much wall space-lots of windows to take advantage of a great view-so an armoire isn’t an option either. Thanks!

Haahaha! This is our unsightly reality. Sure, I tidy it up nearly every day but it always resorts back to this. Husband is a farmer and we have 3 young kids, two in school. This is in our dining room. We are building a new home and I am mostly excited about a proper mud room.

I have a corner in the dining room where i put my stuff... the kids put on the kitchen chairs and move for dinner or into the dining room to do homework or bedroom... son does work in his room daughter uses my formal living room as her homework/craft spot..

Each adult or child in our home takes his or her belongings to his or her room- lunch boxes go on one specific counter area in kitchen.

We have a low shelf on our sofa table - but most likely I will have to figure something else out as my kids get older.

The best approach to finding a place for things is to take an accounting of what is really important and needs to be there and get rid of the things that don't need to be there and use the space for the things that are most important. Edit, and prioritize and eliminate.

You can't stuff ten pounds of stuff in a five pound bag.

Dallasannie, while weeding out is good advice in general, I think you have missed the whole point of this conversation. This isn’t about having too much stuff. This is about where to put the necessary items like school backpacks and work bags and boots when you don’t have the 5,000 sq. ft. house and fancy mud rooms pictured on this site.

Just remember everybody whose kids bring their , bags to their rooms— I’m a school nurse— eewww on the germs from school brought up to their rooms, not very clean. Mostly elementary where some schools kids throw backpacks on the floor , and kids sneeze , cough without covering their mouths pick their nose. Yuck