Playmobil Storage Ideas?

[emschwar]

DS is slowly becoming the playmobil king, and I need a way to store it all! Right now, we have this in his room:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2599/4051130029_325588e229.jpg
except it's much fuller. The shorter unit on the right is actually an old (circa 1997) ikea TV stand, and it holds the larger sets - the zoo, airplane and airport. Plastic shoebox bins are on the sides, labeled, holding all the little crap (one for animals, one for clothes and weapons, one for furniture, one for people, and another for miscellaneous). The unit on the right are the wooden cubes from target, and they hold all the smaller sets. (It's full now - this was taken mid-move.) The victorian house doesn't fit anywhere and just sits on the floor.

He's getting at least 2 big sets for the holidays (pyramid and the horse set from costco) and may get a 3rd (the police headquarters) depending on what the other grandparents buy. He's got 2 closets in his room, so I figured we'd just throw some sort of shelving unit in there, but what? I'm a big expedit fan, they're all over the house, but I'm afraid the cubes will be too small to hold the bigger sets. I really wish ikea still made that old TV stand!

Any other ideas?

[brittone2]

:popc1:

Right now it is all in a big storage tote for the most part. I like that they can combine sets, etc. and it is more open ended.

But...they are getting more for Christmas, and I'm thinking of starting to divide them into 1-2 sets per (smaller) storage tote/container, and then rotating sets in/out of the attic more often.

[hbridge]

I found that shoe-box size plastic storage bins work best for us. At one time I sorted them by type (animal, house, hospital, ect), but they've been dumped out so many times that I refuse to sort them all again. Multiple smaller bins seem to work better than fewer larger bins since it's easier to find things.

We have what is essentially the Pottery Barn Kids Cameron open Base Cubby system (essentially 2 cubbies and 3 bases, the base in the middle has the dollhouse), and the bins, small doll house and most of the larger misc. playmobil pieces fit in the cubbies or on top.

We LOVE playmobil and they are everywhere. I don't keep sets together or rotate because they are used for open ended play in every way possible.

[american_mama]

A few people here have put together Expedit so that two of the cubes are together, which might help provide space for longer items. they have not found a loss of structural integrity with only one wall taken out (you can do a search in this forum to read their comments directly, as I think that's where I read them).