Toys & Storage

[Llee]

So we're getting ready to have #2 come on board and with 2 little girls in the house, we have/will have toys. It's mostly Little People, mega blocks and such things. There are big LP things too, like the firehouse and dollhouse and a baby doll with attendant stroller, etc.

What do you do for storage? I want to figure out how to store toys so they look nice, are easy to access and put away. We have a humongous bookshelf in our living room, which has the lower 2 shelves for her. One shelf of books, the other of toys. We have the sides of the entertainment center too for storage (most of the dvds are in the man cave). And we have her room.

I'm thinking of something like this: http://www.furniture-4kids.com/8trmost.html, but a little less expensive. ;)

Any ideas? Things that work for you?

[MaybeGracie]

We use baskets. It works great, is simple, and looks nice. He has one basket for cars, one for misc toys, and one for library books. We also have some drawstring bags that work nicely too (and would look especially nice if you could hang them on a wall or some hooks). He has one for his wooden people/animals, one for his train set, and one for his building blocks. Duplo are all in the container they came in. When it's time to clean up, he just has to throw them in the appropriate box/bag and he's done. The baskets can be lined up nicely along the wall and the bags are currently tossed in a corner of his room.

[Aerynne]

We have Ikea's trofast storage:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/12018/

I love that you can use different-sized bins and customize it how you want it. Ideally I eventually want to glue tiny picture frames to the front of each bin with a picture of what is in it. For now we just have labels.

[Mama Calidad]

We have this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-7-Drawer-Wide-Tower/10803773 It's not something I'd want out in a formal living room or anything, but it's inexpensive and easy to organize/store toys in a more out of the way spot. :)

[Llee]

Oooh, some good ideas...I thinks we has to get ourselves up to the IKEA some time soon. :rockon

[Drew]

We have these in P's playroom.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40047675

Also Ikea but not the trofast line. I wanted something that would age up with her and I prefer the look of these shelves.

[Treenahurricane]

We have the closetmaid cubicle in the playroom and in each cubicle we have the linen collapsable cubes that go in them like drawers but come out all the way. We picked a different color for each of the bottom 6 cubicles and sort toys by kind each in a different bin (dolls go in our yellow bin, little people in the pink, cars in the green, etc). Then the top 3 cubicles (and top of the shelves) is where we put the larger things like the Little People barn, big trucks, etc. Something I liked about it (besides the fact it's cheap and goes on sale regularly lol) is that closetmaid makes cabinet/drawer combinations that match, too. You can stack them (if you bolt them to the wall) or they fit side by side and work nicely. We have one cabinet for board games, and one for books.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/183-1099136-1464904?ASIN=B0002I265W&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B0002I265W|Cubicles_9_Cube_--_Maple&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B0002I265W&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001

[HomeyT]

I personally like baskets too. They look really nice, especially for the select toys that are in our livingroom and family room. But I also use them in the kids bedroom, the plastic look isn't my thing. I also have some cloth bins from Ikea.

[meredithmommy]

Right now we have 2 bookshelves in our schoolroom. That is where the toys go. Big toys sit on the shelves and little toys go in baskets on the shelves.

[abh5e8]

we have 3 tall bookcases across 1 wall of our family rrom. the top is decor and framed pics, one shelf has the TV, other upper shelves are all books. bottom 2 shelves are toys. some just sit and some are in baskets. also 2 shelves of kids books. we have a few more plastic bins and games in the closet in the family room.

[ronioli]

We've had the ClosetMaid 4x2 cubicle for several years, but I'm going to replace it with the Ikea 4x2 Expedit instead. The Expedit is MUCH sturdier and looks nicer, imo. I also think dd could use it for many years to come.

[Llee]

Well, I got all the clothes and toys sorted out and we bought some new plastic totes for the clothes. So they went downstairs and we took the clear plastic ones and used those for now. Can't get to Ikea for a month or two, so these will do for now. I'm hoping to hit up Goodwill to see if they have a couple of baskets for living room.

So in Dressy Bessy's room we have 4 totes. One has all the Little People. One has all the stuffed animals, one has puzzles, one has misc. The bottom two shelves of the living room bookcase have her books and the big LP stuff and cars/trucks. The entertainment center hods the little misc. things like Easter eggs and such.

But y'all have given me such great ideas! :rockon