Toy and Art Area Dreaming

I am finding that furniture, arrangements, and organization that worked in our old home, just don't work as well in our new home. I loved the kids' space I had created in the downstairs of our first home.

The Expedit shelving and bins from IKEA were perfect for storing the toys and the area around it worked well as a play area. I am not thrilled with how the Expedit is working for us in our new home. I think part of the problem is that it isn't tucked away on a lower level. We have it in a part of our upstairs living area, so it is always right there. Mess and all! Another issue is that I am using the area for all of the art supplies now as well. We used to have them split up a bit between levels.

Hmm, I wonder why this area has itself firmly planted in my target . . . YIKES

In order to get some ideas of what we could do with the area to make it more user friendly as well as pleasing to the eye, I turned to my good friend Pinterest. (Don't laugh. That site has gotten me through many a sticky situation.) Here are a few of the ideas that caught my eye.

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1) Toy Bags: One of the toughest things to organize are all of the little toys that go together, but don't need an entire bin. My old solution was to put them all into one bin and call it a day. Obviously this has many shortfalls. I love the idea of making bags for them. I like that you can see what is in these bags, too.

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2) Shelves and Bins: Isn't this toy area just adorable? I like the idea of using bins to coral some toys, but putting others out on display.

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3) Art Supply Storage: I need a way to contain the explosion of art supplies. We make use of them everyday, so they need to be accessible. Also having them be able to be moved around would be a plus.

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4) Art Display: I would love to find a place to display the kids' art work. It would be a bonus if they could change it up themselves.

Pinterest to the rescue again. Now if only it would also come to my house to implement the ideas. Is there an App for that?