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Toy storage question - what do you use?
We are being over run with toys and running out of spots to keep them so they can be put away in the evenings. Regular toy boxes all seem to small and leave no options for the larger push/ride on toys. What has worked for you? Pantry? A second entertainment unit? Storage ottomans? I'm trying to stay away from giant plastic totes since this is going in my living room so I want something kind of nice but not extremely pricey. Ideas please!
There's not much to get rid of as he does play with most everything we have, plus we have both younger and older kids over frequently so I also have toys for them. Not to mention all of the big peoples toys (xbox, guitar hero, laptops, my fancy cleaning tools as hubby calls them, etc..). We have a small closet in the living room already full! Space behind the couch is used up. I've got stuff coming out my ears and have moved outside what I can already! I still have to find a permanent home for our fishtank. We've just moved to a mirror image layout of the semi we were in before yet the cupboards and storage layout is not quite the same. He's too young and his room is too small to put a play area up there. I just need to figure something out until we get the basement cleared out of boxes and then we will have a play room down there as well. Man, I never realized how much space you need with kids, now I know why my parents bought such a big house after I was born LOL
There's not much to get rid of as he does play with most everything we have, plus we have both younger and older kids over frequently so I also have toys for them. Not to mention all of the big peoples toys (xbox, guitar hero, laptops, my fancy cleaning tools as hubby calls them, etc..). We have a small closet in the living room already full! Space behind the couch is used up. I've got stuff coming out my ears and have moved outside what I can already! I still have to find a permanent home for our fishtank. We've just moved to a mirror image layout of the semi we were in before yet the cupboards and storage layout is not quite the same. He's too young and his room is too small to put a play area up there. I just need to figure something out until we get the basement cleared out of boxes and then we will have a play room down there as well. Man, I never realized how much space you need with kids, now I know why my parents bought such a big house after I was born LOL
6 Answers
The push/ride toys belong outside for me. I basically made the rule: anything with wheels go outside. What i did was go to Wal-Mart and buy the chest they sell there for about $25, take off the lid and stick it in their closet, you can just throw things in there and there is no chance of them hurting themselves.
EDIT: Children do gather lots of toys (as well as husbands, lol) If your spouse is handy at all why doesn't he build something? If he isn't handy, maybe go to the garden section of home depot and buy one of those plastic benches that have storage inside. They are plastic (sturdy) and have storage. Or you could get a wood one and re-upolhster the seat to make it look cute, it is really easy, all you need is a staple gun!
EDIT: Children do gather lots of toys (as well as husbands, lol) If your spouse is handy at all why doesn't he build something? If he isn't handy, maybe go to the garden section of home depot and buy one of those plastic benches that have storage inside. They are plastic (sturdy) and have storage. Or you could get a wood one and re-upolhster the seat to make it look cute, it is really easy, all you need is a staple gun!
LOL We have a walk-in closet in our den that is full of toys. AND the pack and play has been taken over. AND a big plastic football AND a 3 drawer craft cart AND a 3 shelf bookshelf AND under the futon in teh den....
One push toy in the house, the rest are outside or in the basement. Everything else goes on shelves. Smaller items go into bins/baskets on the shelves. Bigger trucks can just be wheeled onto the shelf. Toy boxes are useless-there's no organization. You have to dump the entire thing out to find what you're looking for and have more to clean up.
First, try and get as many toys OUT of the living room and into your child's space. We DO have one of the plastic bin storage containers in our son's room and I can't recommend it enough! (http://www.toys… - it has 16 bins that hold all of our son's "random" smaller toys- his little people, cars, play phones, etc. in an organized fashion - things that just get lost and mixed up in a regular toy box. We also put a larger Step 2 bookshelf toy box (http://www.step… in his room that contains all his decent sized toys in the toy box part, and his books and stuffed animals on the two shelves above.
As far as your living room - if you rearrange your furniture so that your couch or love seat sits on a diagonal in the corner of the room, the space behind it is WONDERFUL for hiding walkers and other large toys. You could also try putting walkers, exersaucers, etc. in the living room closet after the kids use it, and storage ottomans work as well. If you really want to get fancy, they sell couches with ample storage underneath each cushion. Hope this helped!
As far as your living room - if you rearrange your furniture so that your couch or love seat sits on a diagonal in the corner of the room, the space behind it is WONDERFUL for hiding walkers and other large toys. You could also try putting walkers, exersaucers, etc. in the living room closet after the kids use it, and storage ottomans work as well. If you really want to get fancy, they sell couches with ample storage underneath each cushion. Hope this helped!
the bigger toys can stay out by the toy boxes rather than go in
also maybe it's time to clear out some toys (this happens every pre bday here and a few toys before christmas)
we give toys away to charities
my daughter is allowed 2 toy boxes and one 3 drawer set if it goes over that then we start getting rid of stuff
her bday party is saturday so i made her get down to 1 toybox and got rid of a few big toys
also maybe it's time to clear out some toys (this happens every pre bday here and a few toys before christmas)
we give toys away to charities
my daughter is allowed 2 toy boxes and one 3 drawer set if it goes over that then we start getting rid of stuff
her bday party is saturday so i made her get down to 1 toybox and got rid of a few big toys
I really turned my daughter's closet into a storage area for EVERYTHING. Literally....our Christmas Tree is in the very very top part of her closet. I bought a bookcase and put in the bottom on the floor against the wall. Her books and some toys are in it. I have "big" toys "parked" under my end tables on either side of my couch and underneath my dining room table. Then she has her "little" toys in one of those pop up hamper deals in her room. If you have somewhere to put them, you can use some of those cloth covered storage boxes (just at Target or Wal-Mart or something) and push them under your end tables or in some of the shelves of the entertainment center, etc.
Good luck and we both will be in a larger house soon!! :-)
Good luck and we both will be in a larger house soon!! :-)
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