When we moved into our current home, it had this great little formal dining room off the kitchen, for which I had no real use. By the time my oldest started toddling, we I purchased some Ikea Expedit shelving units and turned the space into a playroom, where I could watch the kids while I cooked.
It's a small space, and it is fully visible from the front door. My desk and computer also live in this space. So, naturally, I like to keep it tidy and organized since we're looking at it all day!
While the Ikea Expedit shelves (which have since been replaced with the Kallax line of shelving) match with an adorable line of perfectly fitting bins and baskets, they just weren't right for our space - both in price and style. I knew they wouldn't be easy to see into or for little hands to put back (which leads to toy dumping).
These Dollar Tree bins were a great alternative both in price and in style. I like that they are smaller than each cubby so that you can easily add toys or see what's inside without removing the bin completely from the shelf. Other toys fit really well into these pretzel barrels we had collected over the course of a year (that's a lot of pretzels!).
I've had these same labels for several years, but about once a year, I like to reassess the toy categories and change things up. My boys are three and five, so Lego, Nerf, and board games are big for them this year. I needed to add in a few more labels and remove others.
To give my labels a cohesive look, I used my Silhouette Cameo to make some simple black and white labels, inspired by the chalkboard look. I used heavyweight black cardstock that came in half sheet sizes from Michaels and white Oracal 651 vinyl.
In Silhouette Studio, I designed the labels with a simple, easy to read font. This one is called Jasmine UPC. I also drew boxes around each word so that I could weed each word individually.
This little one also wanted to help make labels, so he got some cardstock as well!
I took the project a step further and laminated each label with this laminator to make them even more durable (have I mentioned I have boys?).
A few hole punches and some twine, and my labels were ready to add to my bins. The Lego label was going on a different type of container, so I trimmed the card stock before laminating and used my Xyron Creative Station to add an even coating of adhesive to the back. It stuck to our Lego tote perfectly.
I love reusing containers in creative ways. If you look closely, you'll also see an animal cracker bin for our Jenga blocks and an almond container for our ABC blocks. Often times when organizing, it's tempting to go out and buy all new. But I challenge you instead to edit your collection first, and then see what containers you already have. If I find myself wanting to go out to buy an organizing tool or container, it's a clue that I have too much stuff!
For some people, this style of toy storage is too many categories, but it seems to work really well for us. Although my kids are preliterate, they know what goes in each bin and can easily find the toy they are looking for (no dumping necessary!). And it's less overwhelming to clean up when they can see clear categories and can visually break down what has been left out. Instead of #allofthetoys, they see a few categories: Nerf guns and cars.
Hope you enjoyed my play room tour and label tutorial! It's not the most glamorous or Pinterest-worthy, but it is functional and neat. And most importantly, it's a place my kids want to play! How do you store and organize toys?
