what do you use to store toys in down the stairs? or do you take all toys up stairs to bedrooms at the end of the day

[nailpolish]

i need something stylish to keep toys in down the stairs, in the living room. most toys are kept in dd's bedrooms, but they are only little and dont play in their bedrooms, so toys are down the stairs, and i dont take them up at the end of the day

something cheap cheerful and stylish, ive seen lots of things, but expensive

what do you use

thanks

Big plastic trunks ( about £10-15) that I stash everything in at the end of the day and keep at either end of the sofa, not stylish but practical and easy to use...
I have just got my head round that the lounge is no longer an adult zone for the next few years!

I have a chest in dd's room and one of those pop up laundry type things which cost 99p. That comes down stairs during the day and I swap toys about from the chest in to it so she plays with different things.

I've turned the conservatory into a bit of play room though. It's her birthday on Saturday and my mum and dad have bought her a kitchen so we've made space for that and I keep bigger toys in it like trolley with bricks in, rocking horse, hoover and table with chair.

I an just close the door on a night and I don't have to look at it, no toys anywhere else.

We've got one of those storeage drawer things on wheels. Three different boxes, one for books, one for DS and one for DD. And a huge amount of storeage equipment a la ikea in their bedroom.

Asda had some 3 drawer storage thingies on wheels a while ago, that didn't cost too much.

Every so often, Ds pulls them out from next to the sofa and wheels them around the house, playing airlines.

Tea or Coffee madame ??

i have to find you a pic of what I use, it's so lovely, you have to get one! I think it was from GLTC?
it's a little felt house which zips up the sides. we bung everything in that.

In her room she has a big toycupboards and a big wooden blanket box.

I have an old leather trunk downstairs, which holds loads and looks nice too. I pack all 'baby' things into it when ds is in bed. Hate looking at and tripping over toys in 'our time'!!
Was given a lovely pine chest by some friends when ds was born to keep his toys in upstairs.

we have a little cupboard just now, but its not very practical with having doors - the toys just all fall out all over the place, so i need something with drawers, or even better, individual boxes/drawers that can be pulled out, and i have images of each different kind of toy in a specific box, ie paints and crayons in one, dolls in another, cars in another (and im going to label each box, and put the right toy in the right box, oh yeah!)

oh i have images of a tidy house

im glad no one humps all the toys up the stairs each night, thought i was being lazy!

now i like this but its open, dont want to look at the toys, would prefer it to be closed

thanks for the gltc reminder, tc

Letterbox do some lovely ones too.

They're woode and I think you can buy seperate boxes and stack them.

They have a niceset that fits under a staircase too.

Cool bins from IKEA. I love IKEA!

i dont want wooden ones nbg, although letterbox have lots of different things, quite like the storage cubes

off to have a look at ikea!

I don't know if you have a Dunelm store near you but they do decent cheap storage boxes.

IKEA has many different options - stylish, but inexpensive enough that you wouldn't be gutted if the kids got artistic on them .

expat, can you do links? cant find cool bins on ikea site

these, expat?

I got mine there two years ago. They are coloured metal. Perhaps they don't carry them anymore? DD has a cloth mesh flower bin for her washing as well - that's pretty cool, too.

Well, she's got that storage unit, too, for her bedroom. But it has more boxes. It's in the 2005-2006 catalogue.

there is a dunelm, nbg, in edinburgh, ill definitely check it out, thanks

We've got a fabulous 'stool/box' that we got from Wilkinson's. It's looks like cane/wicker from the outside, but inside it's got a sort extra strong cardboard (possible woodchip??) covered with felty type stuff, then it's got a lid which sits on it. VERY strong and sturdy, and you can chuck the lid on in the evening and it looks like a square stool type thing (sorry not very good explanation LOL).

It was really cheap (about £5-10 IIRC).

We have a cupboard we use (from Ikea). DS stands at it, choosing... Looks very sweet.

However, he always chooses "everything"

ohhhhhhhhh, i can't find the thing I'm talinf about. I'll keep trying.

After living in a house that looked like a nursery at craft time I have now removed ALL toys from the living room. The kids who are 7 and 4 now have a double cupboard in the kitchen for craft stuff that they can do on the kitchen table and any toys that do get dragged down stairs get put at the bottom of the stairs at the end of the day and I get everyone to take a bit back up everytime they run up and down...
I wouldnt have even contemplated that when they were toddlers though.

i only have a kitchen downstairs so no toys

I bought a set of 3 wicker square boxes with lids for 35pound from Studio, the large one is great for storing the kids toys in the living area and is very stylish even looks good as a small coffee table when people are round, the smaller boxes are used for dvd's videos etc