Asking the impossible - a beautiful living room with pre-schooler children

[sycamore54321]

My children are 3 and 5. We have one main living area downstairs. It’s been furnished in piecemeal manner with stuff like plastic chests for their toys etc and some hand-me-down furniture. Frankly I’m now sick of it looking a muddle and have some money set aside to make it over. But I can’t find inspiration!

Have you successfully combined something chic with small kids? I love that show house look of, eg modern glass-and-metal coffee tables but can see them swiftly becoming a death trap! Any inspiring ideas or blogs or websites so I don’t need to look like a live in a crèche?

Thank me.

How about some nice wooden chests rather than plastic crates? Also rotate toys in and out every few weeks and keep the 'off duty' ones elsewhere.

Any room for a nice ottoman with a cushion on top or window seat with built in toy storage? No visible toys and luxurious toy storage is what i’d go for. I’ve also seen storage benches used around tables too.

We've used a big wooden chest for toys for years, it was a wedding gift. That and a wicker basket keep things reasonably tidy.

We have a storage footstool from IKEA which contains board games which is fab. And I can put my feet up of an evening 🤣

We have Ikea Kallax units with wicker baskets (2 units of 8 baskets each). They hold a massive amount of stuff and still look grown up.