Now that the decision has been made to house our toys in the living room, I have to figure out what that actually looks like.
The problem:
I don’t want to lose the fact that it’s still our living room. It’s the first room you see when you walk into the house. Right next to it is our kitchen, but since our kitchen table really only fits the 3 of us, we don’t do much entertaining upstairs on the main floor. Instead, we use our basement since it has a table that can hold many more people for dining as well as several couches for seating.
So, I have a combination living room/playroom situation that I’m looking at. Not just a living room. Not just a playroom. It’s a combo room!
The layout:
It’s a fairly decent sized room, but there are many limitations. One wall has the front door. One wall has the doorway to the kitchen. Another wall has the hallway leading to the bedrooms. I can’t disrupt the traffic flow.
There are also windows on 2 of the walls that I don’t want to block. There isn’t any lighting in the room except for lamps on the end tables that are controlled by an outlet, so I need to keep those where they are. I’m not interested in having someone install ceiling lighting installed.
The possibilities:
I don’t want to buy new couches and end tables – I like what we have and I don’t want to spend that much money. Basically, I’m looking at possibly re-arranging furniture and adding in something to store toys.
Some things that I’m considering:
Toy Chest
What I like: We have one of these toy chests as a hand-me-down. I could just use that for storing the toys. So, cost: FREE! and it holds bigger toys as long as you can fit them into there.
What I don’t like: There isn’t any organization to the toys. They’re all just in a big box. And it isn’t very attractive. I’m also concerned since I can see little ones being rough with the lid and damaging the walls.
Wall of Storage Bins
What I like: I could build the compartments as big as I needed to. I could paint the fronts to match the colors that I’m already using in the living room.
Bookcases With Cute Storage
What I like: Bookcases are easy to come by. And I could build storage crates fairly easily and paint them to again, match the colors that I’m already using.
Bench With Storage
What I like: Seating and storage all into one! We’d probably have to build it (she used Ikea bookshelves), but the beauty of that is that we could do whatever length we wanted.
Anyone do anything clever?
Let me just say, that in my experience, the toy box is best. Because while the idea of something sleek and organized is attractive, you will be cursing your organizational ideals as, for the 15th time that day, you pick up the toys scattered about your living room. Pinterest lies; it is against the laws of nature for toys to stay organized for more than 20 minutes. And if it isn’t already, Phinehas’ sole joy in life will soon be throwing every single toy out of storage onto the floor. Over and over and over. So, why not ditch that Little Tykes toy box for the ugly lump of plastic that it is, and buy a nice wooden chest from Goodwill or off Craigslist? Then no one will know there are toys in it. Oh, and whatever you do, I definitely wouldn’t do the bookshelf, unless you bolt it securely to the wall. He’ll climb it to get a toy from the top shelf and it will fall on him. Reading it over, this post sounds really negative, and it’s not supposed to. It’s just that I can promise you, that faster and easier you can get toys put away, the happier you will be. Oh, and the sooner Phinehas can start doing it himself, which is always a bonus.
I guess I should add, this only applies if you plan on actually organizing toys into specific bins. If you don’t care if they get tossed into the bins willy-nilly, then it doesn’t really matter.
Great advice Arliss — thanks!! I’m still undecided on what I’m going to do. He, so far, doesn’t take too many toys out, but that’s a strength problem, not a lack of trying. It won’t be long til he’s able though!
I vote the wall of storage bins! You could make it look awesome and even if the toys are still “thrown” in the bin, they are smaller bins, so you don’t open one bin to 100 toys, only 10. Plus, eventually you could organize them for different kids, different ages, etc. Also, you’re creative and could make it look great!