Call it the era of Maria Kondo, call it pregnancy nesting, but friends I have been organizing up a storm over here.
I’ve decided to blame it on my mother and all the toys she got for my kids this past Christmas. Come December 26th I was over the clutter and mess which could only mean one thing.
After several trips to the Container Store and more money spent than I’d care to admit (because naturally I decided to organize the whole house after I got there) our playroom is feeling put together.
Finally.
Ready to check out the progress?
Make sure to check the very bottom of the post for ALL the product links you might be looking for.
Tips To Organize
1.Purge First
Marie Kondo says to get rid of anything that doesn’t bring you joy. Well newsflash Marie, none of my kids’ toys bring me joy so that strategy isn’t going to work here.
Here’s a more practical strategy. Ditch the following:
• Broken toys
• Toys missing pieces, toys the dog (or kid) has partially chewed up
• Toys they’ve outgrown (pack away in big storage containers if you have future kids that may use them)
• A solid 25% of their stuffed animals. Preferably the ones you have seen them pay attention to in a long while.
I HIGHLY recommend you send the kids to grandma’s during this purging stage. I don’t know about your kids, but mine are such little hoarders this would cause mass drama.
If you have perfectly good toys, but they are just not being used anymore consider donating them to a local resource center in your area.
2. Group like things together
Legos, magnatiles, puzzles, you get the idea. I’m a big fan of clear containers so the kiddos can see what’s in them and of course get your fancy label maker out. People give me a LOT of crap for all my labels, but guess what? Grandma and babysitters sure do know where everything goes so who’s stupid now?
I went with larger bins for the bigger items like musical instruments (another gift from Grandma) and things that just don’t fit well in a container with a lid.
Plus they are cute and that’s ALWAYS important.
This Elfa Storage system from the Container store is amazing. I’m using it to store the things the girls play with most often. Option to add wheels but that just felt like a bad idea waiting to happen.
One of my favorite things about this storage system is the ability to store art supplies. Yes its extra pieces to purchase, but they are super inexpensive and make for easy organization and clean up.
I’ve gotten a LOT of questions on exactly which pieces you need to buy for this. I will link to all of them at the bottom of this post!
As you can see like items are sorted together and only the art supplies my kids are allowed to have unsupervised are kept low. More on that in a minute.
3. Create a display for artwork
If your kids are anything like mine they have 127 pieces of artwork they want to display at all times.
Fun!
Having a space to display them that isn’t your refrigerator is a nice option.
At our house we opted for magnetic chalkboard wallpaper which I purchased from Groovy Magnets.
The magnets, which are a bit hard to see, are my kid’s absolute favs. I found those at Social Print Studio.
4. Give them a specific “work space”
One of the best purchases I’ve made is a table for my kids to play games and do art at. They seriously sit at this thing all the time. Give them their own workspace and then see what happens.
This table was purchased from Amazon, stools from Ikea. I’m also a big fan of the art table from The Container Store.
A few other thoughts
There are a few things my kids cannot be trusted with unattended. Glitter, slime, play doh, beads just to scratch the surface. I like to keep those things up out of their reach, but obviously still well organized (I am who I am friends).
The colored drawer system isn’t super deep, but its great for storing little crafty things like buttons, stickers, etc.
As you can see the jars don’t match at all, but it works. Labels are from Amazon.
Because we built this house we had the opportunity to do the design work. This bench opens and is perfect for throwing stuffed animals in to get them out of the way. If I were doing it again I would opt for pull out drawers here instead of a bench that opens up.
Next house I guess.
Also, you can be sure if you custom order a bench cushion like this your kids will completely ruin it so don’t spend too much.
While we are talking about things my kids ruined would you like to look closely at our rug? Some people put their footprints in concrete. My kids put their footprints in slime on my rug.
Momlife
Good thing they are cute and they often spend tens of minutes at a time in here not fighting.
Are you prepping your container store shopping list? I’d love to see your progress so make sure to tag me on Instagram when you’re done (@HotandHealthyLife).
If you do your shopping in Des Moines look for me in the aisles, I don’t work there, I’m just ALWAYS THERE.
Product Links
Paint Color |Canvas Bins (similar) or THESE|Clear Plastic Bins (there are a variety of sizes to meet your needs)| White Playroom Table|Art Desk|Rug|Bookshelves|Stools (similar) or this|Chalkboard Wallpaper|Magnets|Art Storage Inserts|Grocery Store|7 Drawer Rainbow Storage
Elfa Storage System from The Container Store
If you go into The Container Store they will do an awesome job of helping you design the perfect Elfa Storage system for your space. I want to say the 6 drawer system we purchased was around $150 on sale. However if you need to piece it together online these are the pieces we purchased:
4 Elfa Medium Cabinet Sized Solid 2- Runner Smoke (Drawers)
2 Elfa Medium Cabinet Sized Solid 1- Runner Smoke (Skinny Drawers)
1 Elfa Medium Cabinet Sized Melamine Top in White (comes in other colors)
Casters (If you want wheels)
1 Medium 10-Runner Cabinet Sized Frame Platinum (Comes in White also)
1 Set of Backstop Galvanized Pins
There are also smaller all in one packages like THIS you can purchase.
Note: Some of these links may be affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you purchase something from the link.
