Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1
    boilermakermom is offline Bargain Alerts forum moderator
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    2,607

    Default Toy Storage Solutions

    Please share how you store your LO's toys. I am trying to clean up the Christmas aftermath, and I am running out of places to put DD's toys. We have an overabdance of stuffed animals. I have gone through them and selected the ones we are getting rid of, but we still have a bunch left over. Where to put them?

    We have the 9 square Closetmaid veneer organizer from Target in DD's room. This holds mostly books, some stuffed animals and other soft toys.

    There are always books, a few baby dolls, and other toys in the living room. I need somethign to put them in...I was considering purchasing another 9 square organizer from Target, but thought I could find something nicer for the living room. Does Ikea have any good storage solutions? What do you use? Where did you find it?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    4,774

    Default

    We have the same organizer for DS' room. But we've purchased extra cloth "drawers" that fit in it. We have a few brown colored ones that sit under a bench we have in the living room/entry way area and no one even notices them, plus they hold quite a bit for us.

    You could get another organizer and just get more basic colored drawers (black, white, tan, brown, navy) that will still look nice in your living room. I don't mean use all of those colors but just use one or two.

    Another thought for the stuffed animals is a hammock for them. This is what we had when we were kids and it really helped.

    Now if only I could figure out how to clean out DH's closet and my closet....

  3. #3
    wimama's Avatar
    wimama is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    .
    Posts
    2,310

    Default

    DS is 4 years old and he has toys in his room and in a basement family room/play area.

    In his room he has a PBK bin for his stuffed animals.

    http://www.potterybarnkids.com/produ...s/?cm_src=hero

    In his room he has a PBK train table with rolling bins underneath. Those bins hold all his Legos and Playmobil. He uses the table to play with them on.

    In his room he has an Ikea Expedit shelving system. This would probably work really well for your living room area. You can find some nice looking baskets to house toys in and it is great for storing bulky toys. We have the 4x2 one and we have it turned so the long side is horizontal. That gives DS a nice surface to store the big old Playmobil pieces that don't fit inside the compartments. There are some really great threads on here about people using the Expedit system with some great info in them.

    http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10103088

    In the basement play area we have a closet with some shelves and two rolling toy bins on the floor of the closet and two low Ikea Trofast systems for the other toys. I don't particularly care for the aesthetics of them at first. But, I love those things for toy storage. Ikea is awesome place to shop for toy storage.

    http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00063672
    Amy -
    J - Spring 2006
    E - September 2011

  4. #4
    smilequeen is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    5,795

    Default

    We have the PBK wall system (but also a big playroom) with baskets. Totally would have gone IKEA if it had been an option at the time though. The PBK is nice, great for organization, and looks good, but it scratches easily and is overpriced IMO. The IKEA always looks just as good for less. We put bigger stuff on top of the shelves or on the train table (rotating). I keep the lego and playmobil in the boys' rooms though as we have a new baby coming and I want the little pieces out of the way.

    In our family room I keep baskets of toys, but we have built ins with doors on them.
    Mama to my boys (04,07,11)

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Utah.
    Posts
    4,254

    Default

    We have 2 Ikea Expedit units and will pick up at least one more for DD's room. We have a 2x4 that is set up horizontally in the basement family room and then a 4x4 in DS's room:

    Daniele
    mama to
    dd1 watching over her brothers and sister from Heaven
    ds1 13 years old
    dd2 10 years old
    ds2 6 years old
    Placenta Increta/c-hyst survivor

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    .
    Posts
    3,673

    Default

    Here's a thread I posted about how I used Container Store storage with the Ikea Expedit bookcase: http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...+store+sweater

    That's how we store our toys.

  7. #7
    WatchingThemGrow is offline Blue Diamond level (20,000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    20,075

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by justlearning View Post
    Here's a thread I posted about how I used Container Store storage with the Ikea Expedit bookcase: http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...+store+sweater

    That's how we store our toys.
    Thanks for linking to that awesome thread. 14 months after you posted, I've finally gathered my parts! We got a Container Store in Oct, and a friend called from IKEA yesterday to see if I wanted anything. They were out of the 4x4 in white, so I settled on a 4x2 in white to store the stuff I don't want my DC to have constant access to - all the playdoh, marble runs, etc. Actually, I need to close my laptop and make a list of labels and a plan for how to organize it after we build the Expedit tonight. Can't wait!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    .
    Posts
    3,673

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by WatchingThemGrow View Post
    Thanks for linking to that awesome thread. 14 months after you posted, I've finally gathered my parts! We got a Container Store in Oct, and a friend called from IKEA yesterday to see if I wanted anything. They were out of the 4x4 in white, so I settled on a 4x2 in white to store the stuff I don't want my DC to have constant access to - all the playdoh, marble runs, etc. Actually, I need to close my laptop and make a list of labels and a plan for how to organize it after we build the Expedit tonight. Can't wait!
    Glad it was helpful! I'm realizing that I should probably update and add more pics of our playroom storage now. I used to have Magnatiles, Lincoln Logs, etc. in baskets on our family room bookshelf. But I got tired of toys all over so I moved all that into their playroom Expedit now. So I really have put the smaller-sized sweater boxes (not the deep ones) to work holding all of those toys, plus their Legos, tinker-toys, etc.

  9. #9
    boltfam is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    3,001

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by daniele_ut View Post
    We have 2 Ikea Expedit units and will pick up at least one more for DD's room. We have a 2x4 that is set up horizontally in the basement family room and then a 4x4 in DS's room:

    This looks really nice!

  10. #10
    essnce629's Avatar
    essnce629 is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    12,008

    Default

    We also use the Expedit shelves and Container Store shoe and sweater boxes. We have one 4x2 (vertically) and one 5x5 in our playroom and one 4x2 (horizontally) in DS2's room. I LOVE them.

    I posted this pic in the other long thread that was linked above, but here's the 5x5 in our playroom (bottom 2 rows are stuff that's safe for 19 month old DS2 to play with).



    Here's the 4x2 in DS2's room



    And we have this bookshelf from One Step Ahead in DS2's room as well. I like it since it lets all the books face out, has different depth shelves so the small books don't get lost, and it has additional toy storage as well.

    Latia (Birth & Postpartum Doula and Infant Nanny)
    Conner 8/19/03 (My 1st home birthed water baby!)
    Parker 5/23/09 (My 2nd home birthed water baby!)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •