How do you keep your house looking good with all the toys?

[Chelsey333]

We don't have a finished basement, so most of the toys are in one particular room on the first floor. I have an open concept house and fairly small (3 bdrm, 2 bath). When I look around, all I see is toys. I have a small living room, which I keep toys out of. But the room with the toys is still very visible when people visit. How do you keep your toyroom organized and not chaotic with toys?

[Momof3Labs]

I'd suggest a bookcase with nice (not childlike) baskets to store the smaller toys and books. The bigger stuff will have to hide in baby's room or behind furniture.

[August Mom]

You don't. LOL It's really hard. I do think that it's easier to keep a handle on if not all the toys are out. If you put a lot of them away in a bin to store under the crib or in the basement or whatever, then the living area doesn't get as out of control. You also can store some in the nursery. We have a toy chest that coordinates with our wood trim and looks nice. I also used to store toys in the PNP (which we used downstairs for the changing table).

[pritchettzoo]

We have a bathroom shelf with baskets from Target. It's not fancy, but it was cheap and neutral-colored. Pottery Barn has some really beautiful options.

Could you put up a screen to hide one corner? You can hinge together the shutter-like closet doors (or shutters) to make a really easy screen. Or plywood covered with batting and coordinating fabric. There are a ton of screen projects on hgtv.com

Anna

[DDowning]

Do you have something like a CostPlus World market near you? I got some excellent dark wicker baskets - one extra large one with a cover for larger toys and a couple of medium size ones with handles. I keep the "toy box" along one wall and the medium baskets are under end tables. It does cut down the clutter and you don't have a sea of blue, yellow and red screaming at you!

[Chelsey333]

Thanks for all the ideas! I really could use a huge wicker basket. I try not to keep to many toys out bec it will overrun the house. But my ds loves trucks, so one wall of the playroom has about 10 trucks lined up. I could use a huge basket to throw all those trucks in. If I didn't have all the trucks lined up, the room would look a lot more neat.

[amydiara]

My Family Room was also being overrun. I weeded out big toys he rarely played with anymore and the swing which he is too big for. Then I went to target and bought a big dark wicker chest (with a lid). And at the end of the day I throw all his floor toys into it and close the lid. Huge difference!!

Amy