Tag: toy room

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Jen's reno Kids Rooms

Playroom storage ideas: what we used in ours and why

As promised in yesterday’s playroom reveal post, today I’m giving you a closer look at exactly what we used to get the storage sorted and why it works so well. It really is a storage dream now!

The heroes of this room are the IKEA TROFAST units. We have used both the regular version and the wall-mounted version. I opted for all-white units and all-white plastic boxes you buy separately, but there are many combinations, colours and options available.

The units themselves come in either white (like ours), black or light stained solid pine. I like the look of the pine ones too, but ultimately, the white version was more suited to our home. Because I knew there’d be plenty of colour from toys, rugs and art, I also wanted to keep the base as simple as possible to avoid it being too visually busy. There are several shapes and sizes of TROFAST units available so it’s a very flexible system.

The boxes (or drawers) are plastic and come in loads of colourful options but again, I knew there’d be enough colour from everything else and I’m still glad I chose all-white. They come in three different sizes. All the units come with the same plastic guide rails (or drawer runners) and the beauty is that you can choose which size boxes work for you. You’ll see we have got some with three large boxes each and some with three medium and three small boxes each. Should your storage needs change later, you can simply go and buy different boxes (from $4). Or you can change colours for a completely different look. I took great satisfaction in using a DYMO labeller to dictate what each one was for! This makes packing away so much easier and quicker!

I am IN LOVE with these affordable units ($126 each in this combination including the boxes). The plastic boxes are hardy and they’re easy for the boys to pull out (and for Sebastian, if not Charlie, to put back in). You can bring the box to the toys, which makes tidying up a lot quicker than if you were having to take all the toys (knowing kids, one by painfully slow one) to a fixed drawer. The units are hardy (they’ve already been given a workout by the boys, who aren’t the most graceful) and I can confirm that colouring pencil wipes off the top with Windex. They’re at just the right height for the kids to be able to put their own stuff away (sometimes!) and to also play with toys on the top of them. I’ve started leaving different toys out on the top every day to invite them to play with them.

You’ll see we have also used two of the wall-mounted versions of the TROFAST and this is to keep things out of Charlie’s reach, specifically paint, craft supplies and Lego! As an added bonus, we can display some of Sebastian’s favourite Lego trains rather than have to hide them all away.

We chose to put books up high in the FLISAT shelves (which look so lovely in solid timber) because Charlie has zero respect (yet boundless enthusiasm) for books and they were all getting ripped and scribbled on! It’s great that they’re still facing cover-out and easy to pick from. And they’re nice decoration as an added bonus. We store Charlie’s less vulnerable board books in the play kitchen (from Pottery Barn Kids).

IKEA have a great range of kids’ tables and chairs and the FLISAT table and stools appealed firstly for their aesthetics, and then for the table’s extra (and fun) storage inside. Underneath we have the wipe-clean Grace & Maggie Baby Driver Boho memory foam mat, which is reversible and has a road on the flip side. This means they can eat at this table or sit on the mat having a snack.

One mat is never enough for kids, and our other favourite is this incredible IVI Interactive Play Rug from Urban Baby. The boys have not stopped driving cars around it, creating airports and mini cities, since we got it.

Something we always had trouble with hiding (I mean storing!) were our extra large vehicles (think Tonka garbage trucks!) and I found a great solution for these in the STUVA/FRITIDS bench. The drawer part is on castors and pulls out really easily and safely for the kids.

Both our boys love music, and telling Google what songs to play (via Spotify) so we love our new SYMFONISK WiFi speaker (a collab between IKEA and Sonos) which is wall-mounted below their TV. It’s also designed to sit neatly on a bookshelf without the bracket, or you can even mount it by your bedside and use it as somewhere to pop your book, glasses and other essentials! I love this kind of smart and practical design and it’s a great price too, from $149 (also comes in black).

So, that’;s my roundup of the main elements in this room and why they work so well for us. I hope you found it useful if you’re struggling with toy storage too.

Our new top tip for flatpack assembly without risk of divorce is to get an Allen key attachment (also known as hex bit) for your drill. SO MUCH QUICKER. You’re welcome!

If you have any questions about any of the products in our playroom, please drop a question in the comments below!

Disclosure: Items in this post were gifted by IKEA.

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Jen's reno Kids Rooms

Playroom ideas: revealing a room I’ve never shown you!

Welcome to our new and improved playroom! I’m finally proud of this room, but let me tell you how we got to this point!

It’s almost three years since we bought our “nanna house” and as we’ve ticked off transforming it bit by bit, I’ve never really shared the playroom with you and there’s a reason why! Before I tell you why I came to loathe it, let me first tell you how much I also love the fact we have one!

Having a playroom is the ultimate luxury for a mum of two boys who is also a bit of a neatfreak (that’s me, if you hadn’t guessed). I love my home to be tidy at all times (just don’t go into the master bedroom unannounced as that’s where it all comes undone!). I also have two energetic boys with lots of toys and I want them to have fun and to be able to pull things out and not get all antsy about it because life’s too short and I’m not going to be that mum.

When we saw this house, with its “family room” off the living room, we didn’t hesitate to earmark it as the playroom, and that was when we only had one toddler! Another huge bonus is that the boys’ bedrooms are only for getting dressed, reading and sleeping and, as such, they stay really tidy! So at least I am dealing with just one messy room, not three!

Fast forward to now having two kids and there are even more toys and a 16-month-old who loves to pull everything out and is too young to know how (or want to) tidy up his mess. Things were reaching a peak level of chaos in the playroom, with nightly tidy-ups a battle with the eldest and me only being able to cope because we have doors between the living room and toy town crazy, which meant I could at least hide it!

But the reality of our home is that those doors are always open so we can keep an eye on the boys and interact with them while they do their thing and we do ours, frequently crossing back and forth into each other’s spaces. And we love that we can do that.

We can now leave these shutter doors from the living room to the playroom open a lot more!

But the mess. Oh, it was an eyesore! We had a lot of baskets with stuff chucked in them. We had one large inherited (from Damian’s room at his parents’ house!) IKEA Expedit (now Kallax) unit full of felt boxes. We started off with different boxes for specific things, but as they weren’t easily identifiable or labelled, we soon ended up in a position where any old thing ended up anywhere, just to get it off the floor. And the toys need regularly removing from the floor so I can deal with the crumbs. Don’t get me started on wandering children with snacks! Every few months I’d say “enough!” and have a declutter and sort out. But it never lasted long.

Adding Charlie to the mix (particularly when he started walking a few months ago) made everything so much worse. Everyone told me you couldn’t have a nice or tidy playroom and that there was no point trying to improve it. And I probably listened for a while, which is unusual for me because I believe everything can look nice (if not perfect) and you can have nice things, even with kids. And I suppose there’s part of me that felt bad about wanting their room to be pleasing to me as well as them, like that was a bit selfish.

But do you know what, it’s okay to want organisation which makes tidying up and keeping things tidy easier. It’s way less stressful having a room that doesn’t look a right mess from your living room all the time. And Sebastian (Charlie’s too young to care!) really loves how his new room looks and feels and how easy it is to find what he wants to play with.  I’m actually surprised at quite how much of a difference this new playroom has made to our stress levels, and that includes things like the nightly nag to put the toys away before bed.

The room also looks so much bigger and nicer. Having all the storage at the same, kid-friendly height along the back wall, gives the impression of more space. An unexpected bonus of the IKEA TROFAST units is that they’re the perfect height for the boys to play cars or draw at, which I’d never considered.

There’s so much more to say about the playroom that I’ve decided to split this into two posts, and, in part 2, I tell you exactly what we picked for the room and why it works so well for the kids (and us!).

Thanks to IKEA, who collaborated with me to finally get the storage and organisation under control in this room!

See more of our home | Charlie’s nursery | Our master bedroom

Photography: Jacqui Turk

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Expert Tips Interviews Kids Rooms

Toy room storage ideas: Tips for a clutter-free space

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Image source: Pinterest/

There’s arguably nothing more challenging for the house-proud than the arrival of a baby. It’s always astounded me just how much little ones accumulate and it only seems to get worse as they head into the toddler years and beyond. For me, whether your toy area is a dedicated room (lucky you!) or simply a corner of the living area, storage and organisation is key in maintaining some semblance of order in the home. And this is a sentiment shared by professional declutter Jo Carmichael of All Sorted Out who shares seven secrets for creating a clutter-free kids environment.

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Image source: Pinterest/fiolajewelry.com

Storage
“Getting the toys and games up off the floor is step one. If there isn’t a built in cupboard to use in this space, line book shelves or cube storage along one wall. The different shelf heights means you can easily see and find things. Also, placing a combination of clear plastic or cane baskets onto the shelves or into the cubes, keeps the toys from becoming jumbled,” says Jo who recommends using the top of the shelves to display the big chunky toys.

Like with like
“Group the toys and games into the tubs as per a ‘like with like’ system. For example, you should put all the toy cars, figurines, blocks, animals and transport toys into their own separate tubs. If your kids play with cars and trucks together it makes sense to group them in one tub. If there’s volume, maybe separate transport into small and large pieces,” says Jo.

Zones
“Create a ‘chill’ area with book shelving attached to the wall, from the ground level up. Have pillows, bean bags and a soft rug there for both kids and adults to lie on and read books or turn pages. This is where learning to read can start when they are only a baby,” says Jo.

PlayroomAges
“Make a bench area – something like a toy box or chest at approximately 70 cm high would suffice. Pre-schoolers can stand at it to do a puzzle or construct something but it’s also just out of reach of a crawler or younger toddler. With a lid that opens, this bench can also provide storage for bulky toys or ones not in current rotation,” says Jo.

Create
If space allows, a low table and chair set is a great addition to the toy area and is a good spot to store stationery – try looking for one with built-in storage in the table top or drawers beneath. “This could even be a coffee table with chunky stools, which has pots of pencils, crayons, craft scissors, pads of paper and pots of Play-Doh at the ready. Keep messy paints out of reach until an adult can supervise. This is a place where they can learn to enjoy writing, scribbling and making,” says Jo.

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Image source: Pinterest/kidcrew.com.au

Labels
“Labels are key to keeping both the toys and the space organised. You can hand write or draw the words describing the contents of each container. Choose a large font so it’s easy to read, as this is a way to introduce reading to your little ones too. Labels remind young and old where to find something and where to put it back,” says Jo.

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This cupboard gives me serious organisation envy. Image source: Pinterest/thesunnysideupblog.com

Pack away
“The secret to keeping the toy room a fun place is to introduce ‘pack away’ time. Make it as fun and musical as you can. Shake a tambourine or put on a favourite song to herald the time,” says Jo who recommends doing this before the next activity or meal to keep on top of the mess throughout the day.

“Keep snacks or meals as a reward for having returned the toys to the correct tubs.
If a construction or game isn’t completed and you know there is still time to play with it later, then put this aside to be finished. When we learn to put things back, we also teach our little ones life skills,” says Jo.

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Like so many others, this play room makes great use of the IKEA Kallax storage units. Image source: Pinterest/12oaksblog.com

“If the toy room ends up in a crazy state after visitors or a busy play date, maybe the next play time could be spent resorting it all back into the tubs,” says Jo who recommends making a game of it by asking them what each toy is called and then helping them find the appropriate tub. “They can then toss the toys back into the tubs with a sense of achievement too. The less clutter the more fun!”

For more | The latest fabulous kids’ room decor