storing toys in the living room

[alibali]

For two years we've put up with toys overflowing out of plastic storage boxes in our living. But now, my husband and I would like to make our living room a bit more tidy and not look like a playroom at night. How do you store your toys in the living room? The Ikea trofast system is still a bit too child-like for the living room and a big trunk is not very practical either as my kid probably couldn't reach the toys inside- or at least from what I've seen at my neighbors house... Any ideas welcome!

[southside852]

we have a canvas striped tote for his balls and then we have rattan baskets which blend in nicely with dark wood etc....

[aussiegal]

We have one simple but nice wooden box, fairly large that we leave in the loungeroom. I too like our lounge room to look nice so absolutely no plastic tubs for us! Any toys that are still out at the end of the day go in the box. The rest are in their rooms.

The best thing we did however was to put most of their toys away (in cupboards), circulating in different toys at different times. Before not only was the house chaos but the kids had so many toys out that nothing actually held their attention long enough for them to enjoy them. Now they have only a few toys out at a time but they actually play with them for hours.

[spockey]

We have a large coffee table with drawers he can pull out where we keep his blocks in one, crayons and paper in another. The TV stand has storage space where he stores his books and other favourite toys too.

[e-mum]

1. Large boxes w/ fabric covered designs either in plain colour or
patterns that matched the colour theme of your lounge (I put these boxes on my bookshelf and you can't tell that they're for toys)
2. Rattan baskets
3. A large coffee table where you can put toys under in mature-looking boxes.
4. You can hide some smaller toys under the sofa (if you have enough room), again in boxes that allows you to slide in and out easily.
5. As already mentioned you can hide toys in TV cabinets, or any other cabinets/drawers in the lounge!

Hope this helps!

[mumsy]

Some great ideas above. We're having the same problem and considering adding some shelving so that we can put more storage boxes there. Also thinking about getting rid of our wicker chairs and replacing them with ottomans or small sofa chairs which have storage space inside them.

[Neha]

we bought 2 wooden racks from Ikea and stacked up our toys on them and we use small wicker baskets to keep our toys like puzzles, stackers etc.

[leeconnie]

Ikea also has some plastic boxes that can store the toys and safe to the babys or kids.