I need some inspirational storage solutions for the children's bedroom...

[DeliaRose]

Our main problems seem to be in the form of:

Books... They are slung in a wicker basket. Not practical. However - I'm not forking out £100+ for a 'TidyBooks'

and

Playmobil / Lego... currently spread all over the floor, waiting for a foot to imbed itself into. We have a trofast, but the tubs just get tipped out onto the floor whenever a particular 'piece' is desired.

Somebody please help, I'm one Lego/foot injury away form black bags...

I bought DS a normal bookcase and put all his picture books on the lower shelves, upper shelves are for toys and games with little pieces so he has to ask me to get them down. I have a square washing up bowl and I put 20 or so in. I rotate the books in there with the ones on the shelves regularly (when I get sick of particular ones) and leave it on the floor -he is only allowed to choose bedtime stories from there. Added bonus, if he isn't well I can just chuck the books out and voila-a sick bowl (scrubbed and sanitised before books replaced). When he gets bigger he can still use the bookcase.

The Lego - big plastic sheet on the floor. Lego etc only allowed to be played with on that. End of the day you can grab all the corners and tip the Lego back into the boxes. You can buy proper mats to do this, with handles/drawstrings as well but a groundsheet would do the job just as well. Or threaten to hoover it all up.

The sling bookcase is currently half price with any other purchase from GLTC - £28. We have one in each of DC's rooms, thinking of getting another for downstairs too. Depends how old your kids are though, normal bookcase is probably better for school-age. DD has a normal one too for books with spines thick enough to have the title on. She has been taking books out and putting them away from the sling bookcase since she was about a year old; it's only the past couple of months that she's managed to put books back in the 'proper' bookcase. She has a shelf in the study for activity books (ones with magnets/stickers/fuzzy felt/other stuff I don't want all over her bedroom carpet) and a Kroom cardboard box on wheels www.amazon.co.uk/Krooom-Cardboard-Storage-Box-Wheels/dp/B004A1YDQW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339591543&sr=8-1 under the coffee table in the sitting room. I like their themed bookcases too e.g. www.amazon.co.uk/Krooom-K-218-Castle-Book-Case/dp/B0049CTVR8/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1339591543&sr=8-12. They're surprisingly sturdy, relatively cheap and can be used as play-settings too.

She's still on Duplo (she's 2.11) so no small Lego issues yet but for her Duplo and Happyland stuff we use the zip-up playmat/storage boxes from ELC. Pull up the sides, everything slides into the middle, zip up the corners and velcro the lid. DD can put everything away herself that way, I just have to lift the box back into the cupboard when she's finished.

sorry, links: box on wheels and Castle cardboard bookcase.

Get a Giant sheet/ old blanket/ old duvet cover, cut into big circle, punch holes at roughly even spaces a round the edge, thread cord through the holes and tie the ends together when they meet with the sheet flat there isn't lots of loose cord. Tip all the Lego in the middle. When they finish playing, throw any bits that have crept off the sheet back on, pull the cord, hang on hook somewhere.

We got loads of boxes from Ikea - not just Trofast but stuff with lids for lego and playmobil, animals etc - sort them into types and label. Get the ones that stack. A bit anal at first but at least you can find it. Get nets (like the ones schools use to carry footballs), for soft toys of which we had hundreds. Just get a bookshelf for the books?

We have a concrete mixing tray from Wickes on the floor for lego and other small bits- stuff they are playing with gets put out on there and can stay out. The rest of the lego is sorted by colour then men/wheels/shapes.

oops, just posted this on the wrong thread! Here ya go:

Tidy book alternatives (if I'm not too late):

www.ikeahackers.net/2011/04/books-budgets-and-bekvams.html

reviews.vertbaudet.co.uk/5173-en_gb/705013840/bookshelf-reviews/reviews.htm (