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Tag: toy storage

How I Organize Kids Toys

If I could, in an ideal world, I’d have a dedicated room just for toys.  Oh, and clean laundry. All tucked away behind a pretty closed door.

Can’t a girl dream?

Since I don’t live in fantasyland (or a huge house with endless rooms for that matter) + I want my kids to be where we are and be surrounded by what they love, I am constantly changing and updating how I store my kids toys.

I want my kids to play with their precious possessions as much as they want, but *I* just don’t want to see them ALL out, ALL of the time.   With 3 kids in a range of ages (1, 6 and 9), toys could easily consume our home as each are interested in something different.

How do I avoid TOY TAKEOVER?  I strive to continually improve on creative ways to store their stuff to keep everyone in our humble abode happy.

How I Organize My Kids Toys: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

How I organize and store my kids toys…

BASKETS + BINS

Using baskets + bins for storage certainly isn’t new or innovative, but it really works.  Having one or multiple baskets in most rooms of the home, helps make cleanup time quick & easy. In our home, I have baskets in many rooms so that as we move from space to space, there is something new to play with.  This is specifically geared towards little ones who attention spans are small.

For the older kids who have a lot of a specific items (animals, superheros, legos, etc), I have labeled baskets + bins. As they’ve grown, their toys have gotten fewer and smaller in size so much of it is in their room instead of in the living room.  But even moving their stuff to their space, I still have created spots for everything.  If everything has a specific place, then it will make it easier to put away items + STAY ORGANIZED!  The easier the better!

How I Organize Kids Toys: tips + unique EASY & STYLISH ways to organize kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

Pretty bins make a difference!  Baskets or bins don’t need to match.  Create a vignette of differing baskets in varying sizes + shapes.  Toys will all of a sudden ‘disappear’ when surrounded by stylish decor.

How I Organize Kids Toys: tips + unique EASY & STYLISH ways to organize kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

UNIQUE TOY STORAGE IDEAS

Storage for toys + kids stuff doesn’t have to be a traditional toybox or a typical basket.  Outside-of-the-box ideas for organizing + storing toys can be anything that will hold something.

One of my favorite items for kids storage are old chests.  Of course, you have to be careful with little fingers, but chests are large (to hold A LOT) and great to look at.   They can be a beautiful element for any interior and serve a dual purpose – toy storage + end table or coffee table.

A chest for storing toys: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

I have several vintage chests around the house. Found from thrift stores and garage sales, they hold a multitude of kids favorites, like the collection of trains that all my kids still enjoy.

A chest for storing toys: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

In our living room, the old world style chest sits under the modern, minimalist lucite coffee table.  Not only does it serve the purpose of storage, the play of old and new makes for a sophisticated styled setting.

Open up this old chest and voila, it holds the kids entire train set (which they still enjoy playing with)…

A chest for storing toys: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

When my daughter got to the age when she was introduced to Legos, the collection of Lego Friends began and has since exploded.  She has quite A LOT and all the creations needed to be organized in some way.   I chose to use and convert the ever-so-popular colorful toy bin, which wasn’t being used anymore, by adding flat shelves to create a ‘bookcase’.Toy Organizer turned Bookshelf: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

Using a 1″ x 12″ cut to the specified width, new wood shelves fit in perfect to create a 4-tiered shelf.  This upcycle idea was easy & inexpensive.  Plus there was no need to buy something – score!

Toy Organizer turned Bookshelf: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.comGO LOW. GO VERTICAL.

Maximize your storage capabilities by using every inch possible.  Wall space is ideal for vertical storage to organize books, collections, etc.

My son is a hoarder collector so when decorating his room, I introduced more storage than he needed and since, he’s filled the extra space with more stuff.   Pallet shelves hold books. Honeycomb shelves give space for displaying favorites.  Leaning shelves hold collections.

How I Organize Kids Toys: tips + unique EASY & STYLISH ways to organize kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

The space under the bed is prime real estate for storage, especially in a kids room.  For my son’s space, these rolling carts (a do-it-yourself project) hold baseball cards, small skateboards, etc.

How I Organize Kids Toys: tips + unique EASY & STYLISH ways to organize kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

Going low and going vertical helps to get things off the ground, thus creating more clear floor area. In closets, add shelving as high as possible for extra storage of blankets or non-everyday items. Add hooks in the entry for additional coat/bookbag storage. Hang additional shelving in the basement and/or garage for more space to put large bins.

COMMIT

Getting organized is one thing, but staying organized is truly a commitment. Rotate toys every month or few months to keep them interesting and fresh. Once you’re organized, take the extra 10 minutes each day to tidy up and monthly to go through each room to purge any unused items or papers – both of these I personally do and IT HELPS!

Expect that there will be minor setbacks throughout the year, but remaining positive will help keep you motivated to stay organized.  Conquering in small doses is best.  It’s continuous work, but worth it to create a home you love and enjoy living in!

The simpler we live, the saner we are! Rid your lives of the clutter and unused things to achieve a more meaningful, organized home.

How I Organize My Kids Toys: TIPS + unique EASY & STYLISH for how I organize my kids toys, www.jennaburger.com

Savvy Storage Solutions using Baskets

Baskets – for toys, laundry, books, and more – are great storage solutions to beautifully organize and give a stylish edge to any space in the home. Baskets not only can control the clutter, but also add a pop of color + texture.

As I look around my home while putting this post together, I realize I have a lot of baskets – all are so different because of the unique purpose each serves.  With so many basket options out there in stores + on the web, it can be a bit overwhelming to decide on what will work best for your needs & space.

Here are my favorite baskets for the many spaces + uses in the home.

Savvy Storage Solutions using Baskets: Basket resources for the linen closet, shelves, laundry, toys, and more!  Inspiration + Tips on choosing the best basket(s) by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Resources

> Laundry

Yellow/White Stripe Hamper / Seagrass Basket  / Natural Drawstring Hamper with Border / Nesting Floor Baskets

> Linen Closet / Bathroom Storage

Bamboo/Jute Basket / Wire Utility Basket / Teal Basket  / Yellow Folding Storage Bins

> Shelf Storage

Wood Storage CrateWire Baskets / Emory Basket / Green Lidded Box /

> Toys

  Half Tone Basket / Alphabet Floor Bin / Mercado Basket  /  Yellow Lattice Bin

Aren’t those some beauties?!

All so colorful and unique…  All serving a different purpose!

When on the search for a basket or a collection of baskets, there are a few things to keep in mind…

Purpose / Use

Keep in mind the purpose of  the basket(s) and/or the intended use.  A collection of photos would be best in a smaller + shallow basket / bin, whereas storage for blankets is ideal in a larger + roomier style.  Toys can often be the most challenging items to contain because of the amount and the vast range of sizes.  Have multiple baskets for different sized items. Look for a basket/bin that is deep with a wide opening for larger items (hampers work great for these types of toys), while smaller baskets are perfect for items like Legos, figures, etc.

Savvy Storage Solutions using Baskets: Basket resources for the linen closet, shelves, laundry, toys, and more!  Inspiration + Tips on choosing the best basket(s) by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.comWith these fun + bright lattice baskets, there is finally a reason to let toys take over!

Size

Depending on what you want to hold will help determine the size of the basket needed.  From large to small depending on the use – towels versus toys – there are a range of shapes and sizes.  Some have flat bottoms, others are rounded.   Some baskets stack, while others can “nest” in each other which will give you a collection of varying sizes. Know the approximate size you need BEFORE you start your search.

Savvy Storage Solutions using Baskets: Basket resources for the linen closet, shelves, laundry, toys, and more!  Inspiration + Tips on choosing the best basket(s) by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.comI adore these woven baskets with a pop of blue – perfect for the bathroom or linen closet

Durability

Who wants to buy something that will fall apart in a short time?  Not me!  Baskets can be pricey, but purchasing something that is durable + will last long makes more sense than wasting time & money buying something twice.  Look at what the basket is made – plastic, cloth, wood, jute – for the purpose of your purchase. Keep in mind who is using the basket.  Plastic bins like this are great for toys (easy-to-clean & will keep their shape), where this seagrass basket is the perfect catch-all for laundry.

Savvy Storage Solutions using Baskets: Basket resources for the linen closet, shelves, laundry, toys, and more!  Inspiration + Tips on choosing the best basket(s) by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.comHow fun is this stenciled wood crate. Perfect for the living room shelves to hold CDs, pictures, or your old vinyls!

Color

There is such an amazing selection of storage baskets on the marketplace and not only do they serve the incredible purpose of holding things, but they also bring color + texture + layers to a space.  Adding depth with accessories & layers, is the key to making a room warm + inviting + whole.  No matter what the function, baskets are ideal for bringing a fun pop of color to a space.  Whether on the floor or on the shelf, the addition of colorful basket to hold toys, books, or blankets, can truly enhance and change a space.

Savvy Storage Solutions using Baskets: Basket resources for the linen closet, shelves, laundry, toys, and more!  Inspiration + Tips on choosing the best basket(s) by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.comColorful baskets, like the fun style made of balsa wood found on the shelves of this cabinet, not only corral trinkets + toys, but they add depth & texture too.

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I hope I’ve inspired you with all the possibilities that baskets can bring to the home… not only for function , but also for style!  If you want to see more options specifically for toy storage solutions, pop on over to My Daily Bubble where I am sharing 11 more favorites

11 Options for Stylish Toy Storage

DIY: Wood Honeycomb Shelves

Even though we veered away from the original design for the revamped shared kids space, my son had his heart set on honeycomb shelves after I showed him the Land of Nod style.  And since this mama can’t let her boy down, I had to pull through.

But instead of buying, what did I do?  DIYed them, of course.  After a little research & this post by A Beautiful Mess, I was confident to move forward.

Not only are these honeycomb / hexagon shelves functional, the whole ensemble is like a piece of art.  And instead of painting the shelves a color or staining them a traditional wood finish, I chose an interesting blue hue which is in-trend and spot on with the other tones that I’ve introduced into the room.

Take a look…

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

The entire shelf composition runs the length of the twin bed, which is about 80″ long, and makes the entire wall truly come alive.  This “installation” also parallels with my Lowe’s Creative challenge project for this month which focuses on introducing the submerged color trend of watery, cool blue hues into a project.  With the size + interesting finish, this project is by far one of my favorites!

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Before we move forward, it has to be said that this project was a big challenge, but the bigger the venture, the better the result.  I don’t often do large-scale woodworking projects and at times I thought it was going to be a big F-A-I-L, but in the end the honeycomb shelves MAKE THE ROOM.  Take Away? Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.  Push through because in the end, it’ll be worth it!

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Like usual, before starting a larger scale project, I sketched out my idea and figured out the supplies I needed.  This was the first sketch…

Design 1 for honeycomb shelves

And then the shelves ended up evolving into this layout instead so not all of the shelves are actually attached…

Design 2 for honeycomb shelves

Supplies I used:

  • (7) 1″ x 6″ x 6′ long pieces of wood – each shelf took approximately (1) board
  • 1-1/2″ wood screws
  • 1-1/2″ corner brackets
  • Plastic toggle anchors
  • Stain or Paint – depending on how you want to finish the shelf surface
  • Other supplies: miter saw, tape measure, drill, sander, level, pencil

To save on time, I often have my wood cut while at shopping at Lowe’s, but for this project, I cut it at home because of the quantity needed + the angles.

Here are the steps I took:

1. I set the miter saw to 30 degrees and never touched the saw again for the entire project.  This angle is crucial so each of the 6 pieces will make the perfect hexagon shape.  I approximated that I wanted each finished shelf to be an overall dimension of about 14″ x 14″, and chose the length of 7″ for the long side of each piece.

After marking the wood with my tape measure + pencil, I made the first cut using the miter saw. Then I flipped the piece of wood over to make the second angled cut.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

This is what the first piece looked like when cut.

Then I cut about 42 more…

Size of cut for honeycomb shelf

2. Before taking the next steps of attaching each piece to make the shelves, I layed all the pieces out to see how they’d actually go together.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

3. Then we were ready to chug forward and attach these bad boys…

The first hexagon box was created using 6 pieces and all the angles faced each other.  It’s best to stand them up on their sides, so the floor acts like the wall. The Mister (who was a huge part of this project as well) and I actually moved from the carpet to a flat, hard surface so the pieces would lay flat.  The carpet was too cushy.

TIP: You must use wood screws for this project.  We started out with screws, but it wasn’t working right (because we didn’t pre-drill), then changed over to using nails.  BIG MISTAKE.

Once you have the angled wood pieces in position, first pre-drill the holes, then drill in the wood screws.  If you don’t pre-drill the holes, the wood will probably split, which is what happened to us atfirst.  Using a nail won’t work because they’ll pull out and the overall shelf won’t be stable / sturdy.  Believe me, these are all lessons we learned along the way!

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

4. When the first box is complete, you can either be done or add on to it to create a multi-honeycomb shelf like ours.  If you continue adding on to the first hexagon, you’ll use one side of the original hexagon to create the second hexagon. This time though, the cut angles won’t touch each other, but instead overlap.  I’ll be honest, it does get tricky at this point and the shelves become a big jigsaw puzzle.  We ended up with (1) 3 box shelf, (1) 2 box shelf, and (1) stand alone shelf.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

Once all the shelves were screwed together, we were ready for the next steps…  finish the surface + install.

It took me some time to determine how I wanted to finish the shelves.  At first I was going to paint them, but then steered away because I wanted to see the wood grain shine through.  That meant stain.  But, what stain?  In the end, I chose a gray / blue water-based stain by Minwax.  The submerged color seemed perfect with the other hues in the room and was ideal with what’s on-trend right now.

5. First, I gave the edges and all the surfaces a good sanding with my orbital sander.   Then using a rag, I applied the wood stain and almost instantly wiped it away so very little actually soaked into the wood.  Because of this, the drying time was very quick.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

6. About a day later, the shelves were ready to install.  I first attached the metal angle brackets to the shelves. Then I determined the height + positioning of where the shelves would be hung.

Next, the Mister + I marked the holes through the brackets and pre-drilled the holes into the wall.  As with hanging anything, I always love using plastic toggle drywall anchors (I shared a pic recently on Instagram).

Once the anchors were in each hole, we repositioned the shelves in place and screwed them in using a drill + screw.  It’s key to use a level as well so the shelf doesn’t get installed crooked!

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

At this point, the shelves were almost done…

I loved the look of the blue shelves against the lighter gray walls, but I still wanted to make them pop.  To do so, I chose to paint the front edge of the shelves a white color which matches the moulding throughout the room.  Two coats later with a small, flat brush did the trick.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

Lastly, so the metal brackets didn’t stand out so much, I painted those as well using the wall paint color.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

And then they were finally complete!

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

Love the under-the-bed wood rolling carts?  I shared the tutorial on how to make them earlier this week.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

These shelves are perfect to fill with books, toys in containers, and any fun thing(s) to display.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

And here is a pretty pinnable picture if you want to remember this project for a later date…

{DIY Tutorial} How-To Make Wood Honeycomb Shelves. Why spend hundreds, when you can make them yourself! These shelves complete the look of the room. So many great projects in this kids room makeover.

So what do you think?

Do you like the honeycomb / hexagon look?  Have you incorporated this new trend into your home? What has been your most difficult DIY project endeavour?

Lowes Creative Team Member Badge - Spring 2014

To gather even more unique, fun, and creative ideas for your indoor and outdoor Spring spaces, I would definitely suggest downloading the Lowe’s Creative Ideas app on your iphone and/or ipad.  I’m always checking out the FREE app for great seasonal + do-it-yourself inspiration.

 Also consider following Lowe’s on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram as well.

Disclosure: I am part of the Lowe’s Creative Team and was provided with a Lowe’s gift card to purchase items for my project.  I was also compensated for my time to use the products.  No one told me what to create, what to buy, how to use the product, or what to write.  All opinions are 100% mine!