I recently organized my daughter’s toys in my living room, and it has made a huge difference! I actually got the organizing bug in December, before we even made it to the New Year. I started to come up with some ideas for creating an organized toy storage area and then got to work.
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I knew I wanted to create a space for her toys in our living room without sacrificing the esthetic.
If you’ve been to my blog before, you know that I am a huge interior design lover, so it is important to me that the toy storage flows with the rest of the room.
Related: Podcast – How we’re transitioning our home to modern rustic
It’s important to note here that she also has a playroom where the bulk of her toys reside. Since we spend a good amount of time in our living room, I wanted her to have some toys to play with in this space without having to constantly go downstairs to grab a toy.
To keep the esthetic of the room, I decided to use a bookshelf with baskets and ONLY keep her toys that fit into the baskets in our living room, which means I’d have to use this space for smaller-sized toys and items.
This meant that all her larger toys would remain downstairs in her playroom, but that she’d have several toy options upstairs to play with too – they’d just be the smaller-sized items.
How to Organize Kids’ Toys in Your Living Room
Step 1: Use A Tall Bookcase with or without doors
I wanted to keep this project super budget-friendly so I decided to use a tall bookcase that I already owned and give it a makeover. A couple years ago, Jason and I gave this old bookcase a makeover. This time around, I just painted it black.
If you have a bookcase that has doors, that would be a great option. You can completely conceal ALL the toys, which would really help hide them when they’re not being used and keep the room’s esthetic.
Step 2: Secure Your Bookcase to the Wall
This step is incredibly important. Once you decide where you want your bookcase, it’s important that you secure it to the wall.
Our daughter is constantly reaching up for the baskets on the bookcase, and it could easily fall on her if we didn’t secure it to the wall.
We secured our bookcase to the wall by first finding a stud in the wall. Then, we took a long screw and drilled it into the bookcase and then into the wall.
It is keeping our bookcase held super tight against the wall.
The baskets hide the screw so it works just fine!
Step 3: Order Your Baskets, Labels & Markers
To ensure you get the right size baskets for your bookcase, you need to measure your bookcase shelves and find baskets that will fit.
I measured my shelves and found that these bins (size medium) from The Container Store would work perfectly.
I also bought these bin clip labels for each bin and white chalk markers to write on the clip labels.
Step 4: Organize the Toys
Now that you have all your supplies (the bookcase – here is one similar one to mine, the bins, the bin clip labels, white chalk markers), you’re ready to get the toys organized!
I reserved the top-level bins for craft supplies, like play dough, paints, markers and crayons. This works extremely well because my daughter can’t get to them without asking me for them.
Here’s the complete lineup of bin toys:
Top Row: Craft Supplies, Craft Paper
Row 2: Blocks, Blocks
Row 3: Learning, Games
Row 4: Activity Books, Books
Bottom Row: Flower Game, Magnetic Blocks
I’m really glad I decided to use the bin clip labels to organize the toys. This is the first time I’ve used labels for her toys and it has helped not only organize the toys but also KEEP them organized.
Tips to Maintain the Room’s Esthetic
The main things to keep in mind to maintain your room’s esthetic when making a bookshelf full of toys is:
Match the colors of the rest of the room
The main reason this bookcase looks like a natural part of the room’s decor is because I used neutral-toned items as storage. The black bookcase contrasts well with our white walls and the bins are the perfect neutral addition.
Colorful bins would’ve made this bookcase stick out like a sore thumb in our neutral living room.
Put the toys in bins
I could’ve just set all the toys on the bookshelf, but that would’ve looked messy, unorganized and wouldn’t have fit the room’s esthetic. By placing all her toys in bins, I’ve created a neutral storage space AND encouraged organization by bin.
Of course, some colors do pop out the top of the bins, but it’s not too much that it messes up the room’s esthetic.
Make a dedicated space for the bookcase
I thought long and hard about where and how I would organize the toys in our living room. I wanted the bookcase to be in a spot where I felt like it belonged, as opposed to cramming storage bins in every inch of bare space in our living room.
Our bookcase has a dedicated space, where I wanted something tall to go anyway. It makes the perfect storage solution for our daughter’s toys!
