Small toys, and art supplies, etc, can be stored in the over the door shoe pockets with the clear pockets so you can see. If you have room for floor to ceiling shelve where you can store baskets and hide toys at the bottom, that's a winner.

tons?? i guess I"m wondering why they need so much if you live in a small house? perhaps downsize the toys? The kids can adjust. Back in the old days we got along just fine with a few toys. Otherwise, wall storage is your key, along w/double duty furniture (like storage ottomans. pull out drawers under beds, etc)

Every few nights, one of the toys gets sent to live on a farm.

let us hope they don't bring any of those toys back tatts!

Ikea cubbies as a console table?

go to a website called "apartment therapy" they have the best ideas for small spaces.

"Rambunctious/tons/small space" sounds like a bad combo. Post some photos so we can assess the ugliness. : )

havingfun: It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I discovered that "went to live on a farm" was a universal parent-speak euphemism for 'sent it to the pound'.

oh dear, i thought we were talking about real toys?

OP: Baskets are your friends.

IMO kids need about 1/2 of the toys they have we used to put away 1/2 the christmas toys and then trade them for the old ones in aboout June. Get the kids to help sort and maybe donate some. As for storage the under bed drawers are awesome.

Stacking bins. https://www.houzz.com/products/3-bin-storage-cubby-silver-prvw-vr~41381958

Make every piece of furniture count -- storage ottomans, end tables with drawers and baskets, night stands with storage. Use magazine racks as "holsters" to store laptops out of the way. Hanging nets for stuffies. Beds with drawers underneath.

Ages 5-10 are just a deluge of stuff. I think it slows again, but you just have to sort of surf the chaos the rest of the time, and balance a desire for order against a desire to not spend all your time tidying. Keep a tall trash bin for sports equipment and make lots of trips outdoors to the playground, in every season. You'll make it!

Under bed plastic storage containers. Tip: Put the lid face down and the containers on top of the lid. Then you don't have to bother pulling the entire container out to remove the lid.

I always look at Ikea for some small space inspiration!

Ikea has some great storage options. We also recommend using clear plastic bins because you can see what's inside. Uniform containers keep things looking less cluttered. Clear lidded shoe boxes from the Container Store are usually the perfect size for housing kids' collections - cheap and easy to stack. Tip: Invest in an inexpensive label maker so everyone can clean up and put things back where they belong. Here's one client's toy closet makeover we did recently!

https://www.houzz.com/projects/2739504/toy-closet-1

We have slowly started the purge and now the big mess is shoes, books, stuffies and cars. Thank you for the idea of hooks near the floor for shoes! Its his favorite part of coming home at the end of the day: hanging up his shoes and backpack! Ive also implemented a system where he has 3 bins of toys that get cycled in throughout the week and what I've noticed doesn't get played with gets donated.