Old Style Storage

16011996

i agree with wizzkid, thats still what i do with youngests toys, works really well, plus they get all excited about aving "new" toys every week to play with. As for painting stuff i have a plastic 3 drawer car on wheels i got cheap (wilkinsons) i think, that all that stuff is kept in, one drawer is painting, one dd hama beads, and other pencils, felt tips etc, works really well. its kept in a corner of the living room (as thats where we paint and do stuff like that) as i didn't want it in one of the bedrooms and late night painting going on!!!!!!

hth

nearlyrich

When my 2 were young we lived in a 2 bed cottage small bedroom was tiny because the bathroom had been taken off the smaller room. Children had bunk beds and my OH built a storage unit which held the plastic crates on runners so they could get to their toys. The top of the unit was a bookshelf.

Previous to this we had a living room full of toys and I felt the house was always untidy. I haven't got any pictures but the unit was just MDF panels screwed onto battens on the wall.

shell2001

I have a storage unit from argos. One of those canvas shelf things. It is wardrobe height and the front can either be rolled up or down. Its great because during the day the cover is rolled up so the girls can get at what they want easily, then if you want the space to look adult (or have house on market as we do) you roll down cover and the toys are hidden.

I have plastic storage boxes for the paints and craft stuff and they go on the top shelf - littles cannot reach this yet.

HTH

shell2001

I have a storage unit from argos. One of those canvas shelf things. It is wardrobe height and the front can either be rolled up or down. Its great because during the day the cover is rolled up so the girls can get at what they want easily, then if you want the space to look adult (or have house on market as we do) you roll down cover and the toys are hidden.

I have plastic storage boxes for the paints and craft stuff and they go on the top shelf - littles cannot reach this yet.

HTH

jcr16

i bought these from instore they are £4 each. i got 8 in total and put them on top of kitchen cupboards. the kids have 3 one has playdough and bits in , second paints and stampers and the last one is crayons and felt tips. they work really well plus look good and don't clutter up space.

eryn_kathleen

Wow, those do look really nice. It looks like you have a lovely, neat home!

spiddy100

We have one of these units from Argos (bought it on sale a while back)

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8759535/Trail/C%24cip%3D41700.Furniture%2Band%2Bfurnishings%3EC%24cip%3D41711.Storage%3EC%24cip%3D41718.Children%26%2339%3Bs%2Bstorage%2Band%2Btoyboxes.htm

We bought six boxes which fill the bottom six compartments, these have enough space for the kids' toys, the top three are then used as bookshelves. The great things about these is (a) all the toys can be put away at night in about 3 minutes, then the room is left looking semi-smart once the kids are in bed and (b) they can reach everything and get it down themselves.

If you or someone you know is handy at DIY, you could probably make something like this very cheaply. It just came as flatpacked lengths of wood which you screw together.

My DS's art stuff is kept in a plastic box with a lid which he can't open on his own - ditto playdough, bubbles and other messy stuff

nearlyrich

The unit that spiddy100 has looks an awful lot like the one we had, except it was screwed to the wall not freestanding.

code-a-holic

I have the same as shell2001!
Made a start on orgainsing it today funnily enough. The bottom 2 have storage boxes and the upperas are used as book cases and the kids best looking toys!

Alisonpennypincher

Thanks everyone, some really great ideas. :T

The baskets look lovely on top of the kitchen cupboards, I had not thought of that, the baskets themselves are lovely too. Is instore also poundstretcher?

I like the toy store that can have some shelves used as book shelves, i will show all these to DH later, and maybe we can finally get sorted, before i go completely bonkers!!!

Thanks again,

Ali x