Stay at Home Moms
Toys in the Living Room?
During the day, DS and I mainly play in the living room. I used to haul all of his stuff (Exersaucer, bumbo and lots of small toys) back into his room every night and then back out in the morning but it's really a PITA.
BUT... I hate clutter.
What do you guys do? Any creative storage techniques? Haul it back into their room every night or leave it in the living room?
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Re: Toys in the Living Room?
I hate clutter too. I leave his jumperoo and swing in the living room. But, we also rearranged in a way that they sort of fit without driving me crazy. We also have a two story house so there is nowhere else for me to store it without lugging it upstairs.
I also have a cute toy box and several smaller decorative baskets around the room to store baby clutter. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.
I did incorporate a basket to hold his small toys the other day and I am happy with that. The exersaucer is just so obnoxious looking. lol Maybe rearranging furniture would help...
Yeah, but she's so frickin' cute, who cares? lol
The cuteness wears down the 15th time you've stepped on a Mega Block or tripped over a ride-on toy.
lol
Ahhh, yes I guess there's that.
lol ~ ditto Mainly! down to the last word she said.
I pretty much have a no toys rule in two rooms- our bedroom and the den (where DH and I relax) the living room is pretty much Gisele's main play area- Gisele doesn't have many toys in her bedroom- a basket of stuffed animals and her books- that is about it. But that is how i was raised- bedrooms are for sleeping- not playing. No judging- just saying how it is in our house.
When my boys were younger, I would do the same thing you do.
Now, their toys have to stay in their room, not that it happens but I play mommy the maid all day long.
I am going to get one of those big wicker baskets with a lid from Target to put all of their toys that keep making their way into the living room into.
At your son's age, we left the exersaucer in the family room and just pushed it to one corner in the evenings. We also have a designated toy basket that I regularly clean out. So it has all the smaller toys that he likes to play with. Also now he has a plastic tractor that he likes to ride around on that is in the family room. But the tractor and the basket of toys are tucked into a corner between the couch and wall and the basket is really cute (think seagrass with a linen washable liner) so I don't think it looks too bad. He also has a small wooden table with 2 chairs in our family room, but they are wood grain, not painted so they're not overly "kid-style". We are the same about not wanting too much kid stuff sitting out or clutter in general. In his bedroom are the rest of his toys in a couple baskets and bins. Then I have the rest put away in a cabinet and I sort of rotate them between the downstairs basket, his bedroom bins, and the cabinet to keep things interesting.
I would find a cute bin that you like for your living room and use that as the designated toy storage bin and keep cleaning it out so its never over full. Then when he is bigger he knows where he can get his toys and also knows where to put them away. A friend had a cute trunk that she used for this purpose, or you could use a storage ottoman, or whatever. (Although may want to think safety on having something with a lid).
Good luck!
When DD was little, her toys were 100% invisible in our house.
Now that she's been around for 3 yrs and has accumulated larger items, the toys live in our livingroom. I've had to make my peace with this issue.
It comes down to the fact that DD's bedroom is very small and her toys wouldn't fit in there if we tried, and I also don't want to spend my day in her tiny bedroom. So her stuff is in the livingroom. It gets put away in bins, which are all organized and DD knows where to find every single item. But the bigger items are clearly visible - play kitchen, easel, etc.
I really love the Expedit bookshelves from Ikea. They fit the Itso cubes from Target and are the perfect size for storing toys.
Wow, you haul his exersaucer into his room?!? I would never have the energy or desire to do that! I know having a family/living room taken over by toys is a PITA, but it kind of comes with the territory of having a baby. And trust me, it will get a LOT worse as Jackson gets older. DD's toys have multiplied exponentially, and I've come to accept that our family room is now the play room.
It does help to keep a lot of the toys in her room, but I don't haul them anywhere. She plays with them when we are upstairs and I'm doing laundry or we're just hanging out in her room. They stay up there. I bought a shelf/organization system at target to contain some of the smaller toys and all of her books in the family room, as well as two large wicker baskets to contain the rest. Even with all of that, we still have a small pile in the corner of the room. *sigh*
Now with baby #2 coming soon, we are going to have baby AND toddler toys in here, and I've just got to accept it. You'll be in the same boat in about 7 months! ;-)
When DS was an infant, all of his gear I bought was tan and chocolate, and fit in with my decor. (I think it was the boppy brand). The only thing that was bright was his "Jump Jump Baby" and that lived in his room. We have baskets in the living room for his toys, movies, etc., and a big tub in our living room closet for toys. He's allowed to bring his toys out here, but they go back in his room (ideally twice a day, but, uh, not lately
). I hate it looking like I live in a daycare- mainly because I was a pre-k teacher for years before DS came along.
DD#1~8/17/96------DS~10/24/05
We used to have all of his toys in the living room too and it was driving us crazy. Jordan asked to move into the guest bedroom because her room was cold at night during the winter. We said ok and turned her old bedroom into his playroom....giving us our living room back.
I haven't read the other responses, so this may have already been suggested, but Target has really cute storage options w/ open shelves and you can use baskets as drawers...and they're not terribly expensive.
Something similar to this was what I was thinking.
Or something like this with cute baskets.