House Tour: Children's Rooms: What to do with all those plastic-y, primary-color toys?

In our home, we don't keep too many toys in the childrens' bedrooms.

Well...... that is sorta true.

starting over:
In my ideal home, we don't keep too many toys in the childrens' bedrooms.
{at least, not the large plastic-y kind.}

In my ideal home, I will have a playroom where I can keep the door shut!
but, since our future "playroom" currently looks like this:
I know. I know. Wallboard and such for the playroom IS in the 5 year plan, I promise (as opposed to the 20 year plan... which encompasses the majority of the rest of our "life-sentence" blessing of a home).

I digress.

Soooooo, for now, we have a combination playroom/nursery. Fascinating, isn't it? This combo works for now, since both of my guys nap at the same time - hence, play at the same time.I will have to share the room in a future post, since for now, this post is about:
How to Deal with all those plastic Toys and toys with a bizzillion pieces??

Well, we picked the nursery room to house the toys because it happens to be full of closets.

Which brings me to point #1:
1. USE CLOSETS {insert angelic singing here}
........ ah. one of my favorite words : )

The best form of a closet for toys is an actual playroom. i.e. A large room with a door that is basically a huge, toy-eating, closet.

The next best form of a closet for toys, is, well: closets.
Here is The Joy of Closets in our playroom/nursery:
And behind most of those closet doors we have Junk Galore!!!!!
AND *gasp*, much of it is unorganized. Yes. it is true.
As exemplified here:
And shoved in here:

And rolled in here:2. USE BASKETS, of course.

Baskets really do work well for both Mommy and kids.

• They are easy for your kids to help with clean up time.
• They are a low-stress way of keeping it all together
• They are cheap and available everywhere, in all types of styles and colors
• They are ingenious for Hiding The Uglies. A MUST with plastic-y toys.

Here is a basket hiding behind a chair in our playroom:

Yes. The baskets in Caleb's room do hide a few, choice, plastic-y things:

And I just had to include the basket of plastic-y toys in our bathroom that I keep tucked behind the tub:

Can't see it? Can you????? Ah. Hiding the Uglies is so satisfying!:

And point #3, 3. EDIT, EDIT, EDIT

On a regular basis, I DUMP all of the toys out of a closet or basket, and I sort them into piles. And then, I begin to edit. Here is my method:

1. When my kids are NOT LOOKING, I remove the giveaway pile. This is stuff that my kids don't play with hardly at all. I give it away.

2. When my kids ARE looking, we set aside some toys that we are going to give to charity. I let my kids pick these. Then, we give it away.

Editing is SO important.

It is important for your kids to learn how to part with STUFF. It is only stuff after all. Plus, if toy areas are overflowing, I believe it is too overwhelming for kids' imaginations.

So EDIT AWAY!

So, what do you do with all of your plastic-y, primary explosion of toys??????????

House Tour: Children's Rooms: Stuffed-Animals

Today, I am continuing my Decorating Series called House Tour.
{the one where I am taking a tour around my own home and sharing my thoughts. CLICK HERE to see my first House Tour post: Children's Bedding}

Today's edition of House Tour continues with Children's Rooms: Stuffed-Animals. If you have a child, well... you have stuffed-animals. And depending upon how much your child loves these critters, you may have enough to start a small army. A very soft, fluffy, cuddly, comforting, room-invading army.

So, what to do with these darling thangs??
Unless you are Stalin-mommy, you need to acknowledge the fact that these precious things give your little ones comfort and joy. You should incorporate them into decorating.

But. Please. Do not just stick 'em all on a shelf or a bed, or they will become the focal point of your child's bedroom. Hence: room-invading army.

What to do???? Glad you asked :)

1. Display in Moderation
Many of you have seen these pics of Caleb's room before. This time, take special notice of the stuffed-animal displays. Trust me. He has many more than this, but only a few are on display. This keeps the things from taking over:
Here are the only two that are currently on display in Christian's room. I know that he will have more as he gets older because he really loves stuffed-animals: I think that putting a few lovely or important stuffed-animals on bookshelves (a few. did I say a few? like 2, maybe) is a good way to feature and preserve treasured stuffed-animals, like in the pics above and below.
Below is a pic of Caleb's bookshelf, and at the top you can see two bears. The one on the left is a special stuffed animal that I gave to my grandma soon before she passed away:
2. Give favorite Buddies a place of Honor

Does your kiddo have a favorite, treasured stuffed-animal? Well then. That precious thang deserves a place of honor. Preferably, right smack dab in the middle of the bed.

This says to your child:

what is important to you is important to me.

Nevermind if that particular animal is very, very bedraggled. The seat of honor is where he belongs:
3. Hide the Troops, thereby Hiding the Uglies

Ooh, yeah. You knew it was coming! Hide those Uglies, peeps.

As I said earlier, if you display all of your stuffed-animals, they will become the focal point of the room. Therefore, you must find a way to contain those animals that do not make the cut.

Do they make the cut?
Ask yourself: Is this stuffed-thang any of the below....
1. Priceless to my child?
2. Really, really cute to look at?
3. Enhancing the theme of my child's room?

If not, well... it is time to Hide that Thing.

Here is how we hide 'em at our house:
Baskets:
Window Benches:
Insides of regularly-used closets:

4. Another display option: Feature Stuffed Animals that fit into your theme.

When Caleb was a baby, his nursery had a lamb theme, so we displayed a lot more stuffed-animals at that time:

Do you see my little cutie-patootie?? amongst his lambs?:

Many of the lambs (now that he no longer has a lamb theme) now reside on his his dresser inside the closet. {fear not: We have kept the most important ones out}:

Well. There you have it.

Now go and take control of that precious room-invading army!!!

For more House Tour, Click Here.

And be sure to enter my Giveaway, which ends this Friday, by Clicking Here!

House Tour: Children's Rooms: Bedding

I am excited to add more decorating fun to my blog, at the prompting of my VERY COOL and WONDERFULLY ENCOURAGING readers!

Today, I am beginning a Decorating Series called House Tour by taking a tour around my own home and sharing my thoughts.
(!WOOHOO! I love decorating with friends!!)

I am starting in my own Children's Rooms. Why? Um. Because, they are the only rooms that are remotely close to being "done" in our house (and good houses are NEVER done, ya know.)

So, our first edition of House Tour begins with Children's Rooms: Bedding.
We start with Bedding because it is the mainstay of any bedroom's decorating theme.

1. Hide the Uglies
You knew I would start here!!!
For me, the Uglies include child-patterned-bedding.

It is much more serene to look at this:

than this:

Soooooo, keep that busy-but-happy bedding as a fun surprise for your little ones when they climb into bed at night.

For something Very FUN (but not neccessary!!$$$) have a blast by collecting a few fun sets of sheets, and changing them out to surprise your cute kiddos, or even to introduce a new season (hmmm, where can I find some cool Easter sheets??).

Plus, this makes it easier to change your child's bedroom whenever they are "into" something new, by replacing Elmo sheets with Bob the Builder sheets, for example.

All the while, you (and your cute one) won't be going cross-eyed from pattern overload, and you can delight in Hiding The Uglies.

2. Go with a Theme, not a Specific Pattern

This is related to my first tip, in that, it is easier to keep a Theme simple, and way too hard to change a Pattern once you have drenched your room with it.

Themes (more classic, more bang-for-your buck, more flexible) vs.
Patterns (limiting, costly because they are often priced up and have copyrights, dizzying):

Here are a few Examples:
Theme: Nautical, Navy and Rich Woods vs. Pattern: Boats
Theme: Pink with Feathers vs. Pattern: Barbie
Theme: Red and Racing Stripes vs. Pattern: Lightening McQueen
Theme: White, Cream and Furry vs. Pattern: Sheep
.....getting the idea?? I bet you can think of a million great ones!

With a Theme, you can keep the room simple and classy.

Here is an evolution of Caleb's Room Themes.

I started with a Lamb Nursery, so my Theme was Whites, Cremes, and Furry:

And as he gets older, we are morphing into a Nautical Theme (Navys, Tans, Stripes, Rich Wood): {Morphing is the Operative Word... never "Done."}:3. Make Thematic Connections

Once you have a Room and Bedding Theme solidified.... Accessorize! Add fun, low-ticket touches within your Theme that Connect it all!!

Lamp Shades:

Pillow Shams, of course: Toy Displays:

4. Change it Up

Last, but not least. Have fun with your bedding by trying out different ways of making the bed. Now that is just plain-old, no cost, Decorating Fun.

So, bloggettes! Let me in on your thoughts for Children's bedding, including your money-practical ideas, how you Hide The Uglies with Bedding, and if you can, send me links to pics of your children's bedding ideas!!!!!

Related Posts:

Hiding The Uglies

Before and After: Caleb's Room