When my kiddos were young (they're now 14 and almost 24), brightly colored plastic bins on a big, inexpensive bookshelf unit in their rooms worked like a dream for me. I taped pictures of what went into each bin on the front as well as the word.The bins were small and lightweight enough so that they could easily carry them into the living room and back again when they (or I) cleaned up afterwards. I just lined the bins up along the shelves for them. For DS, the bins were red & blue. For DD, I picked up pink and light blue bins. I found that easy access and the lightweight bins helped them to keep their toys more organized and off the floors. The big toys were corraled in a corner of the dining room when not in use.

I live in a very small house - 1000 sq. feet. My 6 year old daughter knows that her toys must fit in her room and find there way back there each night before bed. I don't store toys in any other area of the house except some outdoor toys are in the garage. She has two shelves on the living room bookcase for her books but all the toys are in her room. At least twice a year (usually before xmas and before her birthday) we sort through toys she has outgrown or no longer plays with to give to charity or neighbors. This makes room for any new toys she receives.

Here is the shelving unit we use for her toys:

Her stuffed animals are in a toy chest just to the left of that mirror under the window.

She also has a small white dresser next to her bed that holds smaller toys. The bottom drawer is for bath toys. Under her bed are two storages boxes on wheels hidden behind the dust ruffle. One is for toys and the other for art supplies.

Oops! I forgot to mention that we do store board games in the living room inside the TV armoir. Her videos/dvds are here too. I love being able to hide the mess away by closing the doors as seen here in this picture:

We store our toys in plastic Rubbermade containers with lids.They are easy to stack if you buy the same size containers. I store them by theme and that way it makes pick-up time much easier for the kids. For example- Barbie Box, Lego Box, Puzzles, etc. Stuffed animals in a big plastic storage box hidden in the closet. I did see a neat idea for stuffed animals in a magazine. Use fishnet and connect it like a triangle in a corner and simply toss stuffed animals on top.

akehcmbf - If the rest of your is anything like your DD's bedroom and your living room, I'd love to see more! The bedroom is adorable and you are so organized!

When my children were young, we practiced the same "sorting and giving" before Christmas and birthdays. We were, fortunate enough to have a huge playroom and MOST ALL toys were to be kept in that room.

akehcmbf, I loved seeing your daughters room and how you've organized it. You've done a great job and given me lots of ideas! Thanks!

Ikea Expedit!

Oh my gosh! My kids' rooms never looked like that...not even after I got done picking them up! Beautiful!

I used to do judicious weeding of their toys every month, since they really only played with just a few and had way too many. We'd pack up half the toys and put them away, then six months later, switch. They thought it was like Christmas.

I was (and still am) a huge Rubbermaid bin fan. Legos, Ninja Turtles, skateboards, Barbies...it all went into designated bins that could be stacked up in the closets and on the bookshelves. Underbed storage bins are great too. Really keeps the stuff out of sight.

akehcmbf, wow your daughter's room is wonderful! It looks so clean and bright!

I live in a teeny, tiny ranch home with one bathroom, yet managed to raise two boys in it and keep my sanity.

As an aside, my sister worked for a toy company and was able to purchase their line at a fraction of the retail prices. This made Christmas for the only two grandchildren in the family nearly obscene in quantity of toys.

Here's how I dealt with the toy issue:
>put a shelf around the perimeter of the bedroom about 12" from the ceiling for the "good toys" that they didn't really play with (porcelain teddy bear, vintage firetruck).

>put a toy box in the bottom of the closet. The little clothes hung way above it and it was wasted space.

>bench seat in living room with storage underneath.

>shallow bins under beds

My sister's idea:
>floor to ceiling shelves in the hall closet with plastic tubs. Handy for quickly throwing toys in when the doorbell rang.

We also did the semiannual weeding out and giving away ceremony.

This Christmas I gave each of my grandchildren a toy box to help out my DIL who lamented about toy storage, a universal and timeless issue.

We live in a single wide mobile home and will until we have the second income and then we'll get a little bigger house (DH and I really just want a ranch with a basement so he and I can have our "hobby" rooms instead of my craft stuff being hidden all over the house! LOL) Our kid's stuff is ALL in their bedrooms. We have learned to only keep the toys that are played with. I have also become more careful about the toys we bring in the house so we're not just blowing money on junk nobody will touch and then I'll end up tossing.

In DS's room, he has bins that fit under the bed with toys in them and also things across his top shelf in the closet and I had DH put three shelves in the corner of his closet.

DD's room has bins under the bed, along with her Graco doll stroller and Barbie house (it folds up and is really skinny). In her closet, she has a small shelving unit on the one side with toys (clothesbasket on one holds her dolls and special stuffed animals, Dora house, smaller bins with her Littlest Pet Shop, Barbie and Polly Pocket things). We also bought her a 'pantry' cupboard that holds her books, all her art stuff, her jewelry and hair stuff and some other things. Everything is picked up and put away in it's place.

When the kids were little and I did have like baby stuff in the living room, I "hid" stuff in other things that fit in with the room and nobody would really know there were toys in there. Also, when we had our old coffee table, I had one of those wicker laundry baskets that fit underneath the table and had the baby toys in it. It was out in the open but cleaned up :)

We use the bins on shelves method to store toys too. Works really well for clean up, just grab a bin and go. Since this pic, I have put little card holders on each bin and labled the toys that belong in each one. It helps the girls know what's in there, so they don't have to dump bins to find toys.

{{!gwi}}

This is what we did at our house. We also have a three bedroom ranch and the kids (4 & 2) also need to keep all the toys in their room. We got both storage systems from Ikea.

My daughter's room...
{{!gwi}}

My son's room...
{{!gwi}}

Kelly

We recently did shelving with plastic bins. At first we/they were real good about sorting the toys into organized bins, now as long as the toys make it in a bin, I'm happy! Anything is better than having them all over the floor.

zipdee -- wow. just wow. i want to be a kid again so i can have a playroom like that.

as for me -- what works for us is to keep most of the toys in the basement. we have a dedicated playroom but there isn't a ton in there; my kids are young (4, 2, and 2) and while they "help" clean up, most of it falls to me, so I prefer to only have one "dumpable" toy accessible to them at any given time, since the general rule seems to be that anything they can reach ends up on the floor by the end of the day - this way, I'm at least not sorting through tons of stuff.

Every couple of weeks I pack up the current crop of toys, take it down to the basement, and bring up new ones. It takes some time, but then the next morning is like Christmas morning as they discover their "long-lost" toys and play happily and independently all morning while I get some other projects done.

Thank you, thank you, for all your sugestions!!! I love the idea of keeping all the toys in their rooms, and I think I am going to try that, and perhaps keep a few things in the living room closet. You guys have such beautiful rooms, and have done some great kid's rooms!!!! I just painted the living room, put up new photographs on the walls, and got a new area rug. I will try to post pictures of what I come up with...for both the living room and the kid's rooms.

Thanks for all the positive feedback. To be fair, my house is for sale so I do keep it hyper clean and organized right now. I'll try and post other photos on a new thread soon. I've lurked here too long without sharing. :-)

zipdee, what a creative use of space! I love bedrooms under the eaves with all those nooks and cranies. You've done a great job maximizing that space.

jeannema, do I see labels on those bins? LOVE my label maker! (P-Touch) It is much easier to stay organized when everything is clearly labeled. Even the inside of my fridge is labled! Yes, it's a sickness :-)

How about renting a self storage facility for sometime? I'm not sure about the quantity of toys or space that you are looking at but if a self-storage unit is something that you think would help, visit http://www.storagedeluxe.com/toy-storage.asp and talk to their experts once.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toy Storgae