People with small children and small houses: do you allow toys in your living room?
I have 2 preschoolers and a 2 bedroom apartment. My youngest is moving into a big bed now which means even less space to play in their room. I suggested to my husband that we get some sort of toy shelf for the living room and he was adamently against it- he doesn't want our common area cluttered with play things. While I agree with him ideally, realisitically I don't think it's even fair to make them keep ALL their things in their room when pretty much the entire floor space is taken up by their beds and dresser. Or maybe they have too many toys? I don't think so- they pretty much just have 1 set of toy shelves now (and outside play things).
Just curious if others in my situation try to keep an adult zone. Or maybe you organized folk have a creative solution?
We are the opposite--toys in the common areas, no toys in the bedrooms. My 4 yr old would never sleep if I allowed his toys to enter his room.
My daughter is allowed to take her toys out of the playroom and play with them in our living room. At the end of the day, they go back into her playroom. You would think having an entire room full of toys she would stay there, but she likes to be with us, so she's allowed to play with them in the living room. And since she has to carry them herself, it's all small toys that fit on the table.
We have a smallish house and in our living room is a sort of a bookshelf divided into six equal "boxes." In the bottom 3 boxes we have found rectangular hard woven bins (that actually match the dark book case) from Target and we do have toys and games in those. The top 3 bookshelf boxes are filled w/ adult books. It works for us.
I dont mind toys in my living room, my husband can't stand it. I like for them toplay in the room where I am and can keep an eye on them. Dad was always grumpy about tripping over toys in the living room. We compromised. 1 toy at a time. It works for us.
Ha. Allow? I tried to fight it. Finally, after making myself crazy for months we bought 3 baskets that can stack or sit separately. I put two in the baby's room and one on the bottom shelf of our entertainment center, where she could access it. During naps, and after bedtime, I pick up the toys in the living room and put them in the basket. She drags so many toys out that one basket in her room, at least, is always emptied by the end of the day. So I rotate out the full basket in the living room with the empty one in her bedroom.
It's actually working really well. We've been doing this about a year and it keeps our toys manageable.
We bought these (http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/stackingBinsBaskets?productId=10027334&N=71232) when they were on sale for $4 or $5 a piece.
My kids do not have any toys in their bedrooms. Bedrooms for us are for sleeping and storage (of clothes mostly). We don't want the kids to associate playtime with sleeping and when they are out of the crib, we don't have to worry about them playing instead of getting right to sleep.
We have brown canvas boxes (target, organizers area) with toys in them in the living room. I am a SAHM and the kids are playing all day around the house. As long as everything has a place, I don't see the big deal with toys in the living room. Yes, it is messy when they play, but it can be just put into bins for "Adult time" later. Why try to hide the fact that you have little ones? And it is temporary anyways. How long will they even need a bigger toy area?
Our house is small. Less than 1,000 square feet. I would LOVE to NOT have the toys out but that's not possible. Having a small house MAKES you VERY creative and forces to to pick-up daily if not HOURLY.
We have ten foot high ceilings--THANK GOD and I stack stuff. NOT to the top but that extra height makes the house feel less closed in. The couch also hide lots of stuff that doesn't get used daily.
My husband and I aren't really into formal living so we just go with it and know it's temporary. They grow up so fast.
Its hard, because when you live in an apartment there isnt much room for things. My hubby and I live in a 2 bed apartment too. Hopefully for now lol. But, organization is the key. In the childrens room get shelves and a big toy box to put as many toys as you can organize in their room, and then make a small part of the living room for their toys or where they can play.
I have two big shelves on either side of the tv, and the lowest two shelves are for my son. We put the toys that are usually in the living room there to keep it neat.
Your husband cant expect the kids to not play in the living room, its only natural.
Just keep it organized and then everyone wins.
We have toys in our living room, but they are super organized and hidden. We don't "live" in our bedrooms, so it wouldn't make sense to store toys there for us. We have some toys in his bedroom, but the bulk are in the living space.
Use "closed" storage and start using the "put it away before you take something else out" rule. It helps alot!
When we lived in a small house we had no option but to have toys literally everywhere. I didn't think there really was another option - and a small living space is more for the kids than not, you know? Now that we have a much larger house I have two ottomans they they are allowed to fill with toys (got them on sale at Kohl's for $9 each!!). That is it though. Those are not allowed to overflor and no toys are allowed on top. My first floor would look like no kids live there if their faces and artwork weren't on every wall :). Maybe you can look into those? Or even a chest? Something that doesn't scream toys and can look adult and peaceful when you need/want it to?
We have a 6 bedroom house... one of those is a toy room with toys.. and toys in thier bedroom. But for some reason they prefer to play in the living room. When they venture into other rooms we remind them to come and clean the toys in the living room up first. In the begining of the day there are no toys... by bedtime they usually have a basket full of toys to take back to thier rooms.
we have a small wood chest that matches the living room decor perfectly. (we got it at the chrismas tree shops but they also have them at oldtime pottery) my son keeps some of his toys in there.
I would get a decorative coffee table or other container with a lid that can look adult when it needs to and hide toys when it needs to.
I have never allowed toys in the bedrooms. Bedrooms are for sleepnig not for playing in.
With my first child we were in a small 2 bedroom, 2 story townhome. The 2 bedrooms and 1 bath was upstairs and the downstairs was a long open area. It was very small. My son's room was also my sewing room and the computer room until we moved the computer into the dining room and stopped using it as a dining room. I didn't want him upstairs unless I was up there and there was no room in his room for his toys with all the other stuff in there.
When we moved someone tried to convince me to put his toys in his bedroom, that lasted a few days before I could not take it. The bedrooms were upstairs and I didn't like him where I wasn't. It also really urked me because it went against my feeling that the bedroom should be for sleeping. And his room was super small.
We have toys in the living room for the youngest and the older kids have their playroom in what used to be the dining room and have no toys in their bedrooms. We've always kept them in nice storage boxes/drawers/shelves. When we were in the tiny townhome we just made sure they got picked up all the time and it was fine.
We have a living room, and upstairs loft area, and my daughter has a smallish bedroom (made even smaller by the full-sized bed) - all those areas contain toys and there's no way they would all fit in her room with her furniture (and she has a play kitchen in the kitchen and an art easel near the kitchen table). We would have to turn the spare bedroom into her own personal playroom and that's not happening! If we get our basement finished, we could consider having a room down there as her play room - but that's not happening anytime soon either. Even if we had a separate play room from the living room, she probably wouldn't play that well by herself because she wants to be around us all the time. We do have a den that is a toy-free zone. To me it seems a little harsh to expect them to just play with toys in their room all the time and a shelf or trunk to keep a small number of toys contained (as well as expecting them to pick up after themselves) could help in reducing clutter. Baskets can look really nice too, especially if they can be fitted under a table or on shelves. Living rooms are meant to be lived in - that's why they are called living rooms. I figure eventually she'll be grown and then gone and that's when we'll get all of our adult space back. For now it's a sign that a happy child lives here and for us that is a great thing!
IKEA is awesome for storage options while dealing with tight spaces and wanting to look cool too!
Yes, we kept toys in the family room when our kids were younger. They are older now. We cut down as the years went on, but we had some sort of toy shelf in there until the youngest was about 9. We were fortunate to have a living room and a family room so the toys were in the family room, but not the living room. I liked them being able to play while I made dinner, did dishes, etc. How about some sort of storage unit with doors or a cover or something that could be closed after the toys are put away? They could have toys in the living room, but you could put them out of sight after they are put away. Personally, I can't imagine not having some sort of toys or toy storage in the living area to keep them occupied. Even now, years after all of the toys have been out of the living and family room, my 12 year old still likes to bring his Legos down to build and play so he can be near us. We also keep some books, puzzles and art supplies in closed cabinets. Good luck.
I grew up in a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, livingroom and 1 bath. My sister and I both had toys. Our toys were mostly in our room because that is where we did most of our play. He bed was on one side of the room. My bed was infront of the window and the dresser got the other wall. That left us will one small corner and the middle of the floor for play.
At one point I was raising 6 kids. Yes toys ended up in the livingroom but there I decided to keep decorative boxes for them, shelves, ottomans, and baskets. These things held their toys but most of their toys were actually in their bedrooms (1 bedroom for the 3 boys and 1 bedroom for the 3 girls).
Key is making certain they clean up their toys every day after they play. They must be taught to put things up where things belong.
We use an ottoman that has storage. We got it at Ashley Furniture! We love it!
I used to allow a lot!, now i have 1 box they can fill up and leave out there, they also have a play table out there . In my room same thing, 1 box. In the pool table room, kitchen, dining room, nothing.