Happy Friday friends! Â We made it to the end of the week. Â And I made it through week two after knee surgery. Â I can’t say it has been an easy two weeks.. or a fun two weeks for that matter! Â But every day gets a little better so.. baby steps right? Â I can’t think “baby steps” without wanting to watch What About Bob. Â A classic in my book. :)
Talking about organized built-ins for toys today but first.. I’m happy so many of you liked my post on DVD organization! Â I had lots of questions.. one that kept popping up was where am I going to keep the DVDs. Â Oops! Â Forgot to take a picture of where I’m storing them.
{wood oval tray/chair/lamp/wool jute rug/favorite throw}
Right now they are in this cupboard in our family room entertainment center. Â I couldn’t take a picture on crutches today so you get a lovely arrow on an older picture instead. ;)
I might move them into these drawers in our theatre room when it’s finished if there is enough room OR just leave them out on this counter. Â I’m going to see if we are using the DVDs in this room or the family room more.
Alright.. let’s talk toy organization! Â Last summer when I was decorating Kole’s room I started moving his toys into the new space and quickly realized that he had too many. Â Something most moms realize about toys at one point or another, right? Â Between birthdays and Christmas and grandparent visits and trips to Target in-between, kids end up with a crazy amount of toys.
Whenever I’m purging and organizing toys I gather them up all over the house and dump them in one huge pile like the one above. Â A lot of times I don’t involve the kids in this (so that I can get rid of things without a struggle!) but I had a nice pep talk with Kole before we started and told him that he needed to choose some toys to give to other kids who might not have many toys to play with. Â He is better about purging than my girls ever were so he was on board.
We go through the pile picking up one item at a time and decide if it’s a keep or donate. Â If it’s a “keep” we start categorizing. Â I think categorizing is great skill for young kids to work on! Â I let Kole guide which pile something belongs in. Â We ended up with piles of vehicles..
stuffed animals..
dinosaurs, pretend play items..
transformers, tools, snakes and spiders, arrows and swords. Â We got rid of a lot of toys through the process. Â Not as many as if I would have done this process alone, but.. progress.
Kole was a huge help as always. ;)
Now it was time to find a happy home for everything! Â My favorite part. :)
You might remember when I shared Kole’s bedroom that I mentioned designing these built-ins for toys.
I used them for the largest items – all of the “guys” as Kole calls them (transformers, star wars guys, etc.) and then dinosaurs.
Then all of the vehicles go in the two drawers on the right.
I still need to add labels but so nice to have these items organized!
 Easy access and easy clean-up for my little buddy too. #win
The stuffed animals went in the rustic rope bin and the smaller toys went in the top three drawers of his dresser.
I still have a few things to finish in Kole’s room (on the home project list for this year!) but it’s nice to at least have all of his toys organized.
We have other organized built-ins for toys in our playroom and I need to take a new picture of this closet because it’s half empty and doesn’t look like this anymore. Â Some of these toys went to Kole’s room and my girls are playing with toys less and less so we’ve sent some to goodwill. Â I still love this closet with built-in shelves for family games and toys we are hanging onto.
We also have these organized built-ins for toys against the wall in our playroom that hold the girls stuffed animals, etc. Â You can read more about them in this post. Â Fun options if you are building or re-modeling and thinking about built-ins for toys. Â In previous homes I created my own toy storage with baskets and bins and containers and shelves. Â The key with toy organization is purging often and making sure your storage is easy access for the kids so that when it’s time to clean up they can do it on their own. Â Organizing toys feels SO good doesn’t it!? Â Toys can take over a home and drive you crazy if you aren’t careful!
Alright friends.. signing off! Â But first Kenny asked me earlier this week to give him a few ideas for Valentines Day. Â I think he can tell I might need a little pick me up after surviving this surgery. :) Â So I’m sharing my wish list below! Â For him or in case any of you are in need of a little Valentine pick me up too and someone in your life also needs a hint.
To my sweet husband.. I would love any one of the items below!
Or any two or three of them.. ;) Â Love you babe.
{Kole’s Bedroom Sources}
Looks great, Erin! You know…dopey me didn’t even think of where you would be putting those DVDs. I think my head cold has my brain scrambled. Thanks for sharing your ideas. Each sounds good. And the organizing of Kole’s toys looks like it worked really well. Those drawers look amazing. I’m sure he will work hard to keep his toys in the proper places. ;) And we’ve been through the purging of toys as my girls have gotten older. It’s kind of freeing (remember those hamster things that were all the rage a while back, not sorry to see those get donated) and also a bit sad at the same time. Ahhhh growing up, too bad it has to happen! Your gift ideas look dreamy. I hope you get a super lovely pick-me-up or two or three! I saw on IG stories that you are starting PT…hope that goes well and doesn’t make you too terribly uncomfortable! Have a great weekend.
You are such a sweetheart Jeanne! PT went well! A little painful but it feels good to be attempting to move towards normal.. ha. :) I’m laughing.. Zhu Zhu Pets right!? The most annoying little toys EVER! Ours would just turn on and start squeaking randomly and scare me half to death. Same! I was so excited to donate those! And I feel the same way.. so freeing to get rid of a lot of the toys but also sad. The end of an era and some beloved toys I just can’t part with. Have a great weekend too! I hope you are able to relax. :) xo
Please tell me where the quatrefoil stands are from on the bookshelf? I have only been able to find the ones at Williams Sonoma but they are too large for the area I’m wanting. Since you didn’t link them I’m guessing they are no longer available. Thanks so much!!
Hi Terri! I’m not sure what you’re talking about! Are you talking about something on the bookshelf in Kole’s room? Or on his nightstand?
I think she’s talking about the two shapes in the family room, on the shelf above your DVD cupboard. :)
Thank you so much for clarifying that Shannon! I was so confused! Ha ha.. ;) xo
Ahhh! Now I get what you’re talking about! Those were from Target! A couple of years ago so I’m not sure if they still have them. :)
Love those drawers Erin. The one thing this house is lacking is storage. I’ve had to be creative and it can be annoying. Otherwise, I love this house. I had to put organizing on hold for awhile as I just lost my sweet mom. I think it will be a great needed distraction soon. Hope you are healing well after surgery. Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. If your mom is still there, please tell her I said hi. Hope you have a great weekend. xo
Cathy I’m so sorry to hear about your mom. :( That breaks my heart. I know how close you two were. Sending love and prayers your way. XO
Hope you continue to feel better with each day!
You mentioned in your post “family games and toys we are hanging onto”. Can you share a list of family games you love and what toys you’ve found worth keeping?
Thanks Erin!!
Thank you so much Grace! I will try to share that in a post at some point! xo
What is the paint color ?
Ohh.. I love toy organization and purging. Is that strange? because there are no kids in my immediate family (unless you count my not-yet adult brother..) But only looking at it makes me feel happy.
I will stare at these pics some more until they motivate me enough to purge and clean my way more moring hallway :D
I love it too Marina! So fun to categorize everything and make happy bins for it all. ;) Thank you! Happy organizing! xo
I so enjoyed reading this! And Cole’s bedroom is so neat. I love all the details and how it is a perfect combo of where he is at age-wise, but yet can grow with him too! I loved the ideas about TOGETHER sorting and organizing and happily both keeping and purging. Thanks! I am curious if you and your husband had a special way of doing things back in the day when your girls were little and you started getting twice the new girl toys after Addison came along. I’m thinking along the lines of kindly suggesting to family to gift them with “experience” type items rather than toys? Or if you ever set some of their new toys aside and brought them out at a later date? Your post prompted me to think ahead to when we will have a little boy turning 3 in early December, two boys receiving toys at Christmas, and then baby brother turning 1 about a year from ANY DAY! :) Fun gifts are so sweet, but can be so overwhelming!! Especially at this stage where, like you said, new toys seem to show up out of the blue!!! :) Thanks, Erin! I hope you are feeling well today and on the mend!
Ahh I am sorry!!! *Kole!
Thank you so much Genelle! I’m so happy you enjoyed this post! We always set toys aside! Every Christmas and birthday! My kids’ open up the toys they are most excited about and a lot of the other toys I set in the hutch cupboard in our playroom to pull out later. They enjoy them so much more when they are spaced out! It’s just toy overload if you don’t do that. Too much of a good thing! :) Plus it’s fun to have a new toy to pull out on a rainy day or when they are “bored” and can’t find anything to do. :) xo
Yes, that makes so much sense!! Thanks, I am glad to hear it has worked out well. Maybe I should start a stash of new things for myself to enjoy on a rainy day?!! :)
Ha ha.. not a bad idea Genelle! ;)
HI Erin! I love your blog, its been a great inspiration through out our remodel. Can you please tell me what size your cabinet pulls are through out the house (laundry/mudroom/kitchen) It looks like your home sources are “coming soon” and I cant find them anymore. I know they are from RH.
Thanks,
Jackie
Hi Jackie! Thank you so much! All of my cabinet pulls are 6 inches. I hope your remodel is going well! :)
I love this post, Erin! I’m drowning in toys in the playroom and you’ve given me a boost to get things in order! On a side note – what type of carpet do you guys have in your home? We are in need of new carpet and I need something comfy, but durable. Our current carpet has been TERRIBLE for high traffic areas. Just curious what type you guys picked!! Have a great day:)
Hi Catherine! Yea! I’m so happy this post was helpful! I wish I had some info. to give you on our carpet but I didn’t write anything down and I can’t remember! I just picked some out that looked and felt nice and worked with our paint colors and called it good. I know we paid more to upgrade the carpet pad and it was so worth it. People always comment on how soft our carpet is. So sorry that’s not more help!
Hi Erin! How long is your son’s window seat, and how wide is each drawer? We are building our dream home right now (yay! but stressful too :) ), and my girls each have a 7’6″ window seat in their rooms. I’m trying to decide between 3 or 4 drawers. It’s nice to see this visual in your post! Thank you!