Toy storage solution ??

[toyaargg]

We are starting the process of decluttering our living room from kids toys.

We will leave some downstairs but want to put the majority in their rooms upstairs. They're 2 and 4.

Does anyone have an amazing storage solution for kids bedrooms they can recommend that actually looks nice? Not just plastic bins or ikea stuff.

Or is it just a waste of money to invest in good looking storage when they're this age, because it won't be needed one day?

Any advice from people who've been through it would be greatly appreciated.

They have nice rooms now, I don't really want them blocked up with toys, or is that the only way ?

At the moment they're in big storage containers and also cuter ones.

We have tons and tons of cuddly toys and I'm not sure what to do with them so they don't just collect dust..

Came here to recommend ikea sorry 😂

fwiw we use Kallax with their shelf inserts and the shallower trofast boxes and then group toys accordingly. means they can take a box to the table/somewhere to play and then hopefully return it!

I don't like too many toys in the bedroom, we had cupboards and bookshelves built in either side of the chimney breast in our dining room, toys live in big collapsible fabric boxes with rope handles in those cupboards mainly and when the doors are shut there's no trace of toys in the evenings.
It's also easy for ds to get out the box with his train track and trains etc

Get rid of loads of cuddlies and stop buying them

Another who was going to recommend Ikea.

They're not the prettiest,* but they're practical and they work. As for the cuddly toys, keep one or 2 favourites and send the rest to charity.

*(although you can get a lot of different options to customise them)

Charity shop

I realise this isn't what you're asking but I think trying to put most of the toys in their rooms is a mistake. At 4 and 2, they will just bring them downstairs to play with you and then you'll spend a lot of time taking them back upstairs and eventually you'll give up and they will just be all over your living room floor.

Mine are 7 and 5 and still mostly play downstairs.

We have a big kallax downstairs with lots of inserts and labels so it's not so visually cluttered but the kids know where to find stuff.

Sorry missed you don't want IKEA - we have some stuff from here which is nice

https://www.gltc.co.uk/

And when you put them to bed they will immediately get up and start playing with all the toys in their bedrooms.

If you don't like IKEA then don't fill your house with kallaxs. It doesn't have to be specially made for toys, choose something you do like and put toys in it. When the children are older you can take the Barbies to the charity shop and fill your nice furniture with decorative plates or vintage records or whatever.

I have a big net that attaches to the corner of the ceiling to put all the stuffed toys in. All the other toys go in a kitchen organizer in his room. Don't limit yourself to toy organizers. I bought a kitchen pantry type thing with shelves and bins and secured it to the wall. Bout 4 ft x 4 ft and it works wonders. Lovely painted wood and nice and sturdy. Storage that is specifically for kids and toys tends to be shit.

Yeah these are good points.

We just have so many toys. I'm still keeping some downstairs. I just can't keep them all downstairs anymore.

Any kind of big, sturdy wooden unit with deep shelves is good for attractive toy storage because you can have any old plastic tubs or whatever inside but when you close the doors it just looks like normal furniture.

Bookshelves can be nice wooden ones.

Big wooden chests or trunks are good for dressing up clothes and soft toys. Or you can get wooden toy boxes.

Built-in cupboards are excellent and can be customized into part wardrobe, part toy storage.

Kallax will always look like Kallax, but you can get wicker baskets as inserts instead of the cheap fabric drawers.

Oh - and beds with underbed drawers are also great for dressing up and soft toys.

Do you have space (in a garage or loft) to put at least half of the toys away and rotate them on a regular basis?
There can be a thing as having too many toys - children get overwhelmed with them and it's difficult to keep them tidy. A few well chosen, open ended toys is better for encouraging play.

Same and it's easy for my 4yo to find what he's looking for and keep it tidy with items grouped in boxes. I didn't realise kallax was such a crime. I don't think it is where I live (not in the UK).

Personally but tastes vary, I think the natural wood colour kallax with wicker baskets is quite inoffensive

We have an IKEA Kallax with storage boxes. It keeps everything organised and tidied away. If you don't want IKEA you could get something similar make.

I also get my kids to go through there toys we very year in December. We see what we want to keep and what we can send to the elves for the poor children. Then we bag it up and put it under the Christmas tree ( in the beginning of December) for the elves to take and fix up. DH takes it to the dump / charity shop / school tombola whomever is requesting used toys at the time.

I think this is a good idea.

They definitely have way too many toys.

If I put them in the garage, the way it looks doesn't matter, their rooms won't be clogged up with toys and I can rotate them more easily.

I agree with rotating toys if you have the energy.

The most attractive toys to my DC were always the ones that had been put away for a while (usually to go to the charity shop) and then got re discovered.

Also agree they will bring stuff downstairs alll the time.

For storage- We have a couple of big round laundry basket type containers, one for soft toys and one for dressing up. We also had a giant wicker basket (think it was intended as a log basket) which held a lot of plastic stuff. And a shelving unit with some fabric baskets (from Vertbaudet as I recall). At 2 and 4 there is no point trying to keep things in categories. You want big containers that everything gets chucked into at the end of the day. Some shelves for things like boxed games/toys or stuff they want on display.

If you want kid suitable furniture that’s not from Ikea, try La Redoute, Vertbaudet and H&M (H&M more for decorative bits and baskets).

I used to clear them out as much as I could. But you do have to suck up the big plastic stuff (paw patrol tower - ugh)

I used white ottomans and wicker baskets That I now use in the garage for Halloween decorations etc

but yes- trofast !!

Our cottage is a quirky space and it sometimes feels as if space is at a premium. Discreet simple storage has been our friend. Pop up fabric ottomans were the downstairs toys answer. At night the toys went in and the lid went on. The first thing I did every morning was take lid off for the day. Now DC is older, it’s a seat in his room with clean and spare bedding inside.

IKEA nails the market really. I wouldn't get expensive GLTC sets because they do get outgrown, whereas more generic stuff can be repurposed.

Alternatives I would consider are built in cupboards. Put plenty of shelves in and they can be adapted as kids grow. Alternatively (or as well) wooden bookshelves with plenty of shelves that you can put baskets on etc.

We variously have Pax (sorry!) upstairs with bespoke doors, cladding and trim added by a carpenter, and bespoke built in units with 3 drawers at the bottom and then shelves or hanging space above. The Pax is more adaptable because you can swap out shelves to more hanging space, more drawers etc as they get taller. Clothes get a lot bigger as the toys get smaller.

Personally I am a huge fan of kids being able to see what they can play with, and not overwhelming them with too much choice. In our playroom I tried various different storage options but we settled on a wood colour kallax (to hide most of it) and a few open shelves of things in rotation, Montessori-ish style. Less is more. Kallax does adapt beautifully as they get older - open cubes for big puzzles and games, little cupboards for craft supplies and schoolbooks etc. But you can do a lot with a decent built in cupboard.

I found putting them in the bedroom didn’t really work. They either never got played with or got brought downstairs anyway.

What has worked is a massive sideboard in the dining room, where toys are thrown in at the end of the day. Out of sight out of mind!

Go with the Kallax. The moulded plastic years are short, you can get them nice furniture towards the end of primary that will do them for years.

I have some GLTC stuff and honestly I prefer the IKEA bits we have.

I got these for the teddies, they fit neatly at the ends of their beds and are softer than wicker or wood for when we walk into them. https://www.dunnesstores.com/p/velvet-ottoman-with-storage-and-lid/7758106?colour=Navy Not sure if they deliver to GB but I'm sure there's other similar stuff out there.

Do they actually engage with the cuddly toys? I've ditched all but three as mine largely ignored them.