What do you do with toys in the living room?

[knittingmama]

We don't have a playroom and DD is still too young to be going up and downstairs to fetch toys. (And I'm not in a state to be doing it for her- getting over a nasty virus) We currently have a few baskets of toys scattered around the living/dining room. DH wants a big toybox to chuck it all in- easy to clean up. I think it would mean a big pile of mess, totally unorganised. Anyone have a good solution?

[citronella]

I chuck them all in a box at the end of the day.

[lilyloo]

we have all ours in a big brown leather box which we sort out every few months!
At least they are all away in the evening then and it doesn't look too much like a toy box!

[lazaroulovespastries]

We have a toybox and everything goes in there.

we also have one of these

[SammyK]

I have two of those towers of 3 drawers tucked in my under stairs alcove, better for organisation but just to pre warn you children and partners don't care for toy box filing systems as I discover far too often!

Mine are black plastic frames with opaque white boxes, but you can get all different colours and sizes.

[solo]

I've got two linen bin things(pop up type from Primark)and a toy basket of the same ilk in my living room for Dd's toys. She doesn't have a bedroom so there really is no choice but to have them all downstairs. Drives me mad!

[moosemama]

We bought a lovely carved bench seat with storage space under the seat, that way they could have toys out in the day but it returned to an adult space in the evening. DSs are 6 and 4 now though and have to keep their toys in their bedroom. DC3 is due in January and we will be filling the bench again soon after methinks.

A good alternative would perhaps be a window seat or large trunk style coffee table.

I also found it useful to keep some toys upstairs and some in the living room and rotate them every once in a while, that way they didn't tend to get bored of them.

If you think it would be too disorganised having all the toys thrown into one toy box you could get some smaller baskets that will fit inside it and use them to separate out different types of toys.

[knittingmama]

Yes, I am starting to hate my own tidy filing system. More work than it's worth- I sort it all out at the end of the day then DD just comes along and wrecks it all anyhow. I'm thinking of a nice coffee table or a footrest thingie with storage space... oooh sounds like a good excuse to go online shopping! Carved bench seat... mmmm sounds lovely...

[knittingmama]

Starting a new topic on where to find a nice storage ottoman!

[Anna8888]

I have boxes for toys - one for farm animals, one for dolls' house furniture, one for magnetic letters/numbers, one for pencils etc - and sort the toys at the end of the day and keep them either on a bookcase in the dining room or in the hall cupboard.

No toys are allowed in our sitting room - only in the dining room.

[solo]

moosemama, where did you get your bench from please?

[bethoo]

my sofa is at an angle against the wall so i put toys behind there. i have no room for boxes.

[moosemama]

km I know what you mean. My boys have all their toys in one large unit with individual baskets for each type of toy (some have baskets within baskets ). When they were younger I found it easier to keep everything in the right basket and had them both trained to use one basket at a time. Now they are bigger they just seem to empty five baskets at once, create havoc and then shove everything away willy nilly when told to tidy up - drives me to distraction. I'm so sad that I wait till they're at school and go through all the baskets sorting them back into proper order!

I also have a crisis if they are given a toy that won't fit into any of the baskets! - I know, I know, I need help!

btw I'm really not that anal about everything, the rest of the house is chaos!

[moosemama]

solo sorry, found it online years ago when my two were tiny. Try searching for 'wooden storage bench' or 'settle' - they come up on ebay occasionally.

[solo]

Thank you moosemama, I will.

[halia]

we had a big toybox and it did turn into an absolute mess. It was good for just chuckin stuff in but in a short tiem bits got broken and fell to the bottom and it got crumby and yucky. So I put my knitting and sewing in there and got some big wicker baskets for the bookshelves instead. We have a tlal bookcase with deep shelves at the bottom which can take baskets about 30cm deepx40cm+ wide x30cm high. I find those are big enough for most toys and the shelf itself will take his garage or anything a bit too large for the basket. He has 2 baskets downstairs and then we use tub storage from Ikea in his room and I allow one of those tubs brough down (so he might bring his farm down or something). The medium and small tubs will fit on the bookcase as well if I need a quick tidy up but generally tbh they stay out and get swapped over a couple of times a week.

[Blandmum]

I blast them with my killer laser vision and make them all evaporate.

In my dreams, in my dreams