What are your favorite (NICE looking) organization products for toys and closets?

[AnimalBabe]

I am so sick of having those plastic bins around the house filled with playdoh, toys, etc. :-/ I want to make my house look a lot nicer and cleaner but am so overwhelmed on what to buy. I have those Tot tutor-esque bins in two rooms (one in our office now and one in my toddler's room) and some other plastic bins to hold puzzles, and playdoh in the kitchen. Still there's toys scattered about, more now that we have an infant. I only have coats in our hall closet...wondering if I should add some floor level bins? Do any of you have pieces of furniture that isn't terribly expensive that you love...such as ottomans that can be used for storage, etc? I walk into other people's homes and rarely see toys around...I always say, what do you do with all your stuff?? Maybe they're confined to the kids rooms but my toddler rarely plays in his room, so I need another solution. Right now I have a whole corner of our family room filled with Imaginext toys and it's driving me insane! I can't even vacuum around this stuff. I don't have a finished basement and we have a laundry room off of the garage (not a mudroom), so maybe I could add stuff to that closet in there too. I guess I'm looking for general ideas or pieces you just love in your home right now. I know I want to get hooks too for underneath our current coat hooks (which of course our toddler can't reach so his coat always gets thrown on the floor). I want him to be able to hang up his book bag, for example, on his own when he starts kindergarten in the Fall.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Instead of plastic, I use cloth or wood storage bins. Target has a nice wide storage crate right now, Threshold brand. They look much better than plastic. Our Imaginext buildings are on the top shelf of a 2 shelf storage cabinet. The other stuff is in that cabinet.

[ExcitedMamma]

If you are a Costco member check out their room divider. It can be horizontal or vertical and comes with canvas bins. There are two rows of I think four cubbies. I use them for everything. Without the canvas bins they make great bookshelves and with the bins to hold toys and art supplies. When I staged my last house to sell I set them up like a U, one vertical, one horizontal and then vertical, so it looked like a nice built in.

[AnimalBabe]

If you are a Costco member check out their room divider. It can be horizontal or vertical and comes with canvas bins. There are two rows of I think four cubbies. I use them for everything. Without the canvas bins they make great bookshelves and with the bins to hold toys and art supplies. When I staged my last house to sell I set them up like a U, one vertical, one horizontal and then vertical, so it looked like a nice built in.


Thanks guys! We actually belong to BJ's, we don't have a Costco nearby. I'll see if they have something similar and will check out what target has too. I am also trying to figure out where to put our costumes and such, would like to have an area for dress up clothes that is within reach for the little guy. Was thinking something like this might help and could be put in my son's closet:
http://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-6021-378-Chrome-Collection-Double/dp/B000QWKP7K/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Any other thoughts for big items, like the imaginext toys? I have the cars/people in bins, but would rather hide the bigger pieces if they're going to be in the family room. Not sure any bins would be big enough for those parts. Maybe a storage ottoman, not sure.

[SnuggleBuggles]

The Imaginext buildings are huge. I can't imagine them fitting in a storage ottoman. My belief though is that my house is allowed to look like I have kids! An armoire could work but that'd be huge and bulky. But, if you really want them out of sight, you'll need something big, I think.

Art supplies, puzzles...maybe some stackable shelves in a closet would work. We have our art supplies in a built in cabinet and it works well.

[123LuckyMom]

When we were showing our house, we hid a TON of toys in a storage ottoman. I think organizing closet floors for storage is a great idea, too. In everyday life, we also had rectangular, rigid side fabric boxes with lids kind of tucked under the arms on either side of each couch. They were pretty unobtrusive and held a lot. I have no suggestions for the imaginext buildings. My son has a huge playmobil castle, and it's just on the floor of his bedroom on top of a huge piece of poster board so it can live against the wall and get pulled out for extended play. I can't imagine that thing fitting inside any piece of furniture!

[WatchingThemGrow]

The firehouse and the old bat cave store horizontally in an expedit cube. Not much help, but some. We have the medium sized planes, cars,etc in a wicker ikea basket


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