In a few short weeks, the new toy madness is going to descend upon my house.  By about 3pm on Christmas Day, I’m going to have had it up to HERE with the toys all over the floor.  I fear that it’s going to be even worse now that we have two kids.  I’m already having a fit just thinking about it!

Try as I may to purge unused toys throughout the year, we will still end up with more than we need…which means we have many more than I know what to do with.  In an effort to get myself thinking about updating our toy storage options after the holidays, I put together a list of creative solutions that I have run across.

Ten Creative Toy Storage Solutions

1.  Build a “Fauxdenza” – Anna at Door Sixteen used pre-made wall cabinets topped with a thick pine board to create a faux credenza in her living area.  It looks like a custom piece of furniture and provides tons of closed storage.

2.  Update a covered thrift store basket – Several years ago, I updated a thrift store basket with burlap, spray paint and braided twine.  It’s been used and abused, but it blends with my living room and my kids still pull books out of it to read every day.

3.  Upcycle an old candy box – Now this is creative!  Katie at OhDeeDoh upcycled a candy box into a shadow box for her daughter’s collection of plastic toys.  She used an old shirt box for the shelves.

4.  Incorporate toys into your decor – I love how these homeowners, featured by Kirsten at Simply Grove, tackled the toy storage dilemma head on.  Why not decorate your mantel with some brightly colored toys?

5.  Build a simple storage cube console – This project looks great and is very simple to put together.  See Anna-White.com for instructions. You can leave the cubbies open or add baskets and bins.  I’m considering building this console on a smaller scale for our playroom.

6. Hang seldom used toys with fishing line – Jackie at OhDeeDoh explains how she hangs her son’s large toys from the ceiling with fishing line.  This is not an ideal choice for favorite toys, but for those big cherished toys that don’t see a lot of play time, this is a great option.  Growing up, my husband actually had his huge remote control planes hung in his room in a similar fashion.

7.  Dress up a common storage bench – Kate at Centsational Girl styled this storage bench with pillows and a custom seat cover.  It now serves as seating and a great place to hide toys.

8. Turn a dollhouse into storage – Either use an old dollhouse or find a dollhouse bookcase specifically created for this purpose.  Check CraigsList or yard sales for used dollhouses.  Or, if you have money to blow, buy this one from Land of Nod for $300 (yikes!).

9. Use or build chicken coop style storage bins – Chicken coop storage is all the rage, and it’s a great solution for toys.  Although the storage is essentially open, the lip on the bottom of each cubby keeps the toys contained.  Buy pre-made coops or build them yourself using plans purchased online.

10. Hang wire trash bins – Open baskets hung on a wall get the toys off the floor, yet allow your kids to see where everything is stored.  Put lesser used toys higher than those the kids play with on a daily basis.  When they are ready to play with a particular bin, say the musical instruments, just take it off the wall and they can dump it on the floor.  I recommend hanging the baskets on screws correctly anchored into your wall.  Via Dcoracao (in Portuguese).

What creative solutions for toy storage have you found?  Do any of the above examples give you any ideas?  Do you feel the panic of too many toys setting in like I do?

Photo credits: Door Sixteen, Living With Lindsay, Katie Steuernagle, ShootFactory, Ana White, Jackie Boucher, Centsational Girl, Land of Nod, IronTimber, and Alessandra Amaral.

When we moved into our home several years ago, we hung temporary shades on the five large windows in our bedroom.  Our intention was to use them for some privacy for the few weeks before we could hang some custom blinds or shades instead.

Well, those “few weeks” sped by fast.  And then a month passed.  And suddenly, I realized that those temporary shades had been hanging there for 9 months, and I could no longer refer to them as temporary.  Yikes!  I tore them down and hung curtains that we just opened each morning and closed each night.

This past March, I took those curtain panels down, too.  The old panels no longer fit the vision for my master bedroom, and they have been relocated to a friend’s church.  I turned to temporary shades…again.  And they are still there…again.  Do you see a pattern here?  Temporary shades are meant to be temporary, and apparently no one clued me in on that.

Our windows are very tall, which is wonderful for the natural light that pours into the room.  However, it’s awful when you have to buy blinds and shades because they have to be custom made.  As we all know, custom usually equals much more expensive.

I found a place online that had cordless Top Down/Bottom Up cellular shades for a great price.  But as with any purchase from an unknown online retailer, I was concerned that the quality or experience would leave a lot to be desired.  So, I just ordered one as a test.

Yep.  So now, instead of having 5 temporary shades in my bedroom, I have 4 temporary shades and 1 fabulously priced cordless Top down/Bottom up cellular shade.  I am getting ready to place my order for the 4 other cellular shades, because the quality is so top-notch.

I wanted to wait until I had my one test shade installed before I told you about Payless Decor, the online retailer where it came from.  They don’t know me at Payless Decor, don’t know that I have a blog, and certainly never asked me to write a post about them.  I just couldn’t help but share their site in case you are looking for new custom blinds or shades for your home.  Compared to the other retailers I received quotes from, I think I paid about 30% less than the other places (even when the other retailers were running 50% off sales!).  From the free sample swatches, to the quality of the shade, to the personal email I received as follow-up, I was very impressed with the entire process.

If your temporary shades have become permanent, I would definitely recommend you checking out Payless Decor.  I can’t speak for anything other than the cordless shades, but they also carry faux and wood blinds, roller shades, bamboo shades and drapery.  I’m looking forward to replacing those other 4 almost-permanent temporary shades.

Oh.  Are you wondering about that oddly hung chandelier in the photo above?  It has a whole back story which I’ll get to next week.  Obviously, it’s not staying where it is.  My five year old son has helpfully pointed out that it is too low and that I need to move it.  I can’t wait until he starts telling me how to dress.