Have you been following along on Instagram for our Legendary Lighten Up series? If you missed any of my easy tips for organizing your home, you can find it all in a highlight bubble on my profile page! Look for LLU. Let’s talk affordable and sustainable organization options for toys!
shop playroom sources here!
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One of those most requested topics for organization and decluttering was TOYS! The amount of time your children play with toys is so fleeting, but while you’re in it, it’s so frustrating having toys everywhere in your home! I have some simple, affordable ideas for how to store toys that won’t leave you sacrificing your style or sanity!
Where do you keep children’s toys?
In my experience, toys usually end up EVERYWHERE, so having a dedicated place to play and store them definitely helps with clean up. We are fortunate in our home to have a living space that we don’t really need, so we chose to make it the playroom until Jackson is older.
Almost all of his toys are stored in this room, and if he moves them around the house to play, it’s been easy for him to understand where they need to go when it’s time to clean up. If you are like most people and don’t have a dedicated playroom, here are a few tips:
1. Keeping toys together makes clean up easier.
By storing them all in one place, it’s much easier to clean up – both for kids AND you!
2. Dedicate a space in the room where your children primarily play
Whether it’s your family room, kid’s bedroom, or other space – if it’s where your children gravitate to play, that’s where you should keep their toys.
see our DIY Lego display tutorial HERE!
3. Think outside the box
Utilize the back of closet doors, under beds, or hanging storage if you’re tight on space.
see Jackson’s closet transformation here!
How can I make Toy organization look Pretty?
If you have a separate playroom or keep your children’s toys in their bedrooms, it’s probably less important what the storage itself looks like. BUT if you’re keeping toys in your main living area, it would certainly be nice if it actually looked good, right?! Even for our home where our toys are in a dedicated place where the doors can be closed, I wanted the room to feel styled and beautiful. These simple tricks will help:
1. Choose matching bins or boxes
Everything looks prettier AND more organized when it matches!
shop the look
2. Choose a neutral color palette
If you’re trying to blend toy storage into your family room, stick with storage items that don’t stand out!
see details on our Basement Art Storage here!
3. Choose organization with LIDS!
No one will know that beautiful lidded basket is filled with bright colorful Lego, when it’s contained and concealed!
4. Want to go bold? Choose acrylic bins!
The opposite of concealing is obviously to embrace the playful color and show what’s inside! We organize our Lego by color, and storing them in these beautiful acrylic bins keeps everything tidy while also looking beautiful on the shelf! Skeptical if color sorting actually keeps things tidy? Our family has a had a lot of success with keeping our Lego organized this way!
How Can I Organize toys on a budget?
Organization products are expensive!!! Especially if you want them to also look pretty in your home! These affordable organization solutions are both functional and beautiful.
1. Thrift Stores
Check your thrift store! I always see so many baskets and bins that would make great storage while also looking beautiful in my home! For some simple thrifting tips, don’t miss this post!
No luck thrifting? Don’t miss my round up of affordable storage at the bottom of this post!
2. Second Hand Furniture
see our family’s favorite games here!
Whether it’s a piece you inherited, or something you find on Facebook Marketplace, look for pre-loved storage furniture! We used this antique armoire in our playroom to store puzzles, games, and art supplies. You can see how we customized the shelves and painted the armoire here!
While you can always buy a new piece of storage furniture, checking second hand shops will save you SO much money. And it will probably be better made too! Look for armoires, vintage trunks, buffets, dressers, blanket chests, and storage benches.
3. Minimize the amount of toys you have
I know this one is a sticky subject because some people are adamant that we should let kids be kids and not take their toys away from them. And I wholeheartedly agree! But how much do children really NEED? In our experience our son only consistently plays with the same core toys, even though at one time, his playroom was overflowing with different toys. Simplifying means less to store AND less to clean!
Looking for more organization inspiration? Don’t miss these posts!
- Command Center Organization
- Our Garage Pantry
- Our Garage Mudroom
- Closet Organization Tips
- Seasonal Decor Organization
