If you have a small living room...

excitedforlittleone · December 2010

What do you do with all your LO's toys? Every few months I take the "unpopular" toys and distribute them amongst the grandparent's house or donate them but there are still so many. It's getting to the point where you can't walk in the living room without tripping on them. Any suggestions? I desperately need to get them organized and under control as much as possible with a 2 year old.

NHMountainBride · December 2010

We have them all on bookcases. We also have toy bins/baskets in the dining room and in DD's bedroom.

howa0155 · December 2010

I have a large ottoman that has storage inside (it is from target). That contains most of the toys. The larger toys just get put away in the corner after DS goes to bed.

buboo · December 2010

Since our living room is so small (older home) we don't keep any toys in here. We have another sitting room area that we keep a nice storage type shelf with baskets for toys.

just_peachy · December 2010

Acceptance.

I accept the fact that my LR is super small and that it will be "cluttered" for the next few years or until we get a new house which may be eternity.

Every night after he goes to bed, I am down there picking them up and putting them in a pile in a corner until he goes at them the next day.

I also will put a bunch in his pack n play as a toy storage unit until I place him in there the next day and he throws them all out.

Local American Red Cross Shelters need toys for their families and daycares.

Temp67694062501186 · December 2010

We have a bookcase in the living room - the top three shelves are our books, picture albums, frames, whatever. The bottom two shelves are DD's books, coloring books. We also have a small fabric "toy bin" in here for smaller toys. The bin is actually one of those cloth type closet storage bins, but it was repurposed as a toy bin when we organized our closet. Big toys (ride on toys, or the bouncy zebra thing, big wooden cube thing, bean bag) are stored in a corner and put back thru the day.

All other toys - especially those with millions of pieces: certain vtech toys and leapfrog toys, mega bloks, little people sets, puzzles, tea set, sorting rings/cube, stuffed animals, etc etc - all stay in her room. If they make it out here, I bring them back thru the day or remind her to take them back. This organization is all new for us since Christmas but it's so so much better. I"d rather her room be her actual playspace - I'd rather the clutter and mess be in there - than out here. We have one small fabric bin in her room to collect small toys as well and I will pick up before she goes to bed for the night.

The only toy with multiple pieces that lives outside of her room is the fridge phonics and fridge farm - duh, they are on the fridge. :-P

excitedforlittleone · December 2010

just_peachy:

Acceptance.

I accept the fact that my LR is super small and that it will be "cluttered" for the next few years or until we get a new house which may be eternity.

Every night after he goes to bed, I am down there picking them up and putting them in a pile in a corner until he goes at them the next day.

I also will put a bunch in his pack n play as a toy storage unit until I place him in there the next day and he throws them all out.

Local American Red Cross Shelters need toys for their families and daycares.

Hilarious! I may need to find a bookcase where we can put bins in. Thanks!

mndance79 · December 2010

howa0155:
I have a large ottoman that has storage inside (it is from target). That contains most of the toys. The larger toys just get put away in the corner after DS goes to bed.

We have/do both of these things, and they really help. We also have lots of baskets stowed away on whatever shelves are nearby for easy access and quick clean-up.

Mommy2B_Hart · December 2010

I stare at the pile of books to my left, the mega blocks to my right, put down my laptop, and go uncork that bottle of wine in the fridge!

Cleaning up is futile. My child is a tornado. Stick out tongue

OK, I'm back... (I was serious about that wine!) Honestly, we have a bookshelf that is built into one wall, we put books up at nap time and nightly, and a basket for toys. When the Christmas tree comes down (tomorrow I hope) I want to re-assess the situation. I wish I could just accept the clutter, but it's smothering me.

tabi_ja · December 2010

Lots of 'hidden' storage. Bins under the coffee table. An end table with a hidden storage space underneath. We only have one 'big' toy in the living room at a time, and it goes under the other end table so it's out of the walk space. And bins on the bookshelves for his books. It sounds like a lot, but really, all of that amounts to a small toy box worth of stuff hidden around the room.

And yeah, I accept that this is life with a small child. There will come a day that I will miss the toys.

Kailyn S · December 2010

I just bought this for our family room to help control the piles and piles of larger toys that won't fit into smaller bins or baskets. It came the day before Christmas & I'm totally in love. It houses a crap ton of toys (it's actually divided into 2 storage sections), has nice rounded edges (good to have around toddling little ones) it's really nice looking, and b/c it's faux leather it didn't break the bank and I won't freak if it gets a little banged up. I'll never have just a regular coffee table again.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Faux-Leather-Cocktail-Storage-Ottoman-with-4-Tray-Tops-Espresso/14044581

peachypear · December 2010

just_peachy:

Acceptance.

So true!

We have a designated toy area, although it's not very big. We moved the couch a few feet away from the wall and put a low bookcase (it's actually an old, wide entertainment center) against the wall. So there's kind of a galley kitchen type of play area, if you can picture it. DD plays a little bit right there, but mainly we drag a few toys out on the LR rug at a time. At naps and bedtime, everything gets put away and we start all over. LOL, we also use her leapfrog music table as a (not so great) ottoman!

mandolynn81 · December 2010

we have a large bookcase that is 6 feet tall and 6 feet wide. The bottom compartments are 2 1/2 feet tall and there is 3 across. they each have a basket (i got from michaels that say baby things - so cute!!) that has toys organized by kind. books, kitchen toys, stuffed animals & misc. Every day before lunch we pick up the toys together, then again before bathtime. I'm training her early.

I go through them once a month and put things away or take them to the consign store/donate.

CalinsBride · December 2010

Storage options like bookcases and toy bins don't work for us, because as soon as DS sees that we've cleaned up, he immediately sets about dumping everything out again. Tongue Tied

Basically we have a couple of rubbermaid storage containers full of toys, that we keep in another room that DS doesn't have access to without supervision. Then we put other toys in his toy box, which stays in the living room. Every so often we rotate out the toys in the toy basket, so he doesn't get bored. The rest of them stay in storage because otherwise it is just utterly unmanageable.

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