What do you store your kids stuff in?

[jolies1]

What do you use to store / tidy away the general detritus surrounding small children at the end of the day in living areas?

We had trofast units. And a bit of Stuva. Then some kallax as they got older. (These names might have changed now)

Go to IKEA, work out what works for you with the sizes you need.

I've had everything from IKEA over the years and I find the Trofast stepped units are the best, with the wire baskets as they hold more than the plastic. I prefer the stepped ones because you can store larger toys or books easily on the top of each level, it's harder with the straight units and the top just becomes a dumping ground. Kallax seems great in theory but I've always found it too deep and the drawers don't store much at all.
The IVAR shelves are great too, the 30cm deep ones. They're adjustable so you can arrange the height as you need it. I use a lot of the small clear boxes to store the kids' craft sets.
(I promise I don't work for Ikea! Just love their stuff for kids)

If it is in the living room then you need to consider what it will look like, we have used Ikea Trofast but my children had a playroom, Kallax with the storage cubes and large wooden toy chests with smaller storage inside rather than everything thrown in. I still have the wooden toy chests and the Trofast in my shed with small garden tools in the trays/tubs. They have lasted at least 18 years.

Exactly this! Would love a playroom but unfortunately not enough space - so looking for something that is functional enough to chuck toys / muslins in of an evening but looks okay in the room :)

We have 2 kallax units in the lounge. Got the beige boxes so they're a bit less unsightly. They store all of their toys so I can forget about them at the end of the day!

We got a big wickerwork trunk - it's on solid board so it's very robust. We've had it over 20 years, it stores our rucksacks and birding scopes, tripod etc now. It has two matching cubes so they were good for smaller or more fragile bits.

We have an ottoman seat thing in which all of my son's toys live (bar the blessedly neutrally coloured play kitchen which is obviously too big). It's teal so matches the general decor and just looks like a comfy seat when it's not opened up.

Trofast for clothes, Kallax for toys. We colour-code the cubes/drawers so we know which contain whose stuff, eg DD's clothes are in green Trofasts while DS's are in orange ones. Our stuff is in beige Kallax cubes (the really cheap ones) and the toys are in fun ones with a kiddie pattern (not saying which as this is already so outing to anyone who ever visits my house).

Will this be the only toy storage in the house? As they get bigger, its good having something they can organise themselves...

How about a book case with doors?

@jolies1 we converted a garage to make the playroom and bought this house specifically because we could do that. Think about bigger storage, could you bank a wall with what will look like built ins? Or a sideboard so more stylish but would still hide stuff? Also rotate toys so that it doesn't become overwhelming for you and them meaning you don't have to store everything in the living room.

We have a button storage ottoman from Etsy in living room. You could choose fabric and custom length. It holds all the day to day random stuff and looks nice when closed.

We have storage baskets with lid for duplo, and open baskets for brio and magnetic toys live under the sofa so again toy stuff hidden when not in use.

This MCM sideboard is amazing for storing lits of the kids stuff

Just for the early years when they are too little to play in own rooms! Something that looks vaguely nice we can chuck bits in if visitors pop in or at bedtime. Hopefully when kids are bigger we can manage somewhere with a bit more space.