Tidy the Toys

I've had a real bee in my bonnet lately about clutter. Like most parents of small children we are facing Plasticgeddon; the slow obliteration of our living spaces by the garish plastic army of giant melody (if you can call it that) making toys my children are accumulating. I mean, I know they should have toys to play with but why the hell do they have to be so bright and so big and why oh why do people - Grandparents especially - think it so hilarious to bring over yet another oversized plastic monstrosity to displace your own, carefully and aesthetically chosen furniture?

For example, it was with great excitement last year that I began planning and designing my little girl's bedroom. Having been in a neutral nursery since birth (as we hadn't found out the gender of our baby before arrival) and because she had to make way for the new addition, it was time to embark upon the creation of a our little girl's Utopia. When it was finished, I was thrilled. The vintage bed we had bought in France had been restored and painted with the finest Farrow and Ball had to offer, heart shaped lavender bags in pink hung from door knobs and a wooden dolls house took pride of place. It was Pintrest eat your heart out, no joke, until the plastic pink castle went in and the pink plastic baby bath and the pink kitchen and the giant Peppa Pig teddy bear and the Baby doll pram and so on and on and on...

Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to be deprived of the things that make her happy but I am now literally running out of space in her room to put any more toys and, well, Christmas is coming and we all know what that means...more toys. So I'm trying, kind of, to fight back without blowing the budget on some suitable ways to contain the plastic. Here are a couple of things I've found recently to help:

Red fabric storage boxes from IKEA:

These were a bargain at £2.50 and they are a decent size. I was quite sceptical upon purchase that they would look any good, especially because they are so cheap, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was also quite impressed with how many toys they held and the fact that they were quite robust and easy for the kids to pull out so that they could get to their games. They are certainly an improvement on just piles of toys.



White Cube Shelves from Amazon:

I needed somewhere in my little one's room to store some of her books and other ornaments and wanted something that looked quite cool. These were a more expensive storage solution, coming in at around £33 but I was really pleased at how good they looked once up and might invest in some more.


So, although my home doesn't resemble a show home (how I wish) I guess it resembles most normal houses, you know, the ones where people actually live and, if I am able late at night to have somewhere to pack the toys away that provides me with a few minutes of calm, personal space, then that's great.

SHARE:

Labels: Amazon , Budget , cheap , clutter , declutter , family life , Farrow and Ball , IKEA , not enough space , plastic toys , space saving , storage