Organizing Your Playroom

Let’s face it, if you have kids, you have toys. True story: I received an email at 11:58 on Christmas eve from an anxious parent who had just laid out ALL of the presents under the tree. They wrote, “My kids have all the toys they could ever want, and come tomorrow, I’ll have no idea what to do with all the new toys—HELP!”

You asked, we answered. Here’s my four must-haves for any EO playroom.

PILLAR ONE

STORAGE SYSTEM

You need a functional and versatile system for kids toy storage to hold all the things. We love the cube storage system from Target. The free shipping is a plus, and you can get the cubes in a variety of combinations (2, 4, 6, 8) to fit any space. Pro Tip: stick to the 13” cube size as the quality is significantly better.

We also love the TROFAST system from IKEA toy storage.

PILLAR TWO

STORAGE BINS

Contain, contain, contain. Stick to large baskets sans lids for younger kids. Group items in broad categories and cleanup is breeze for them (and you!) because they know where things “live”. As kids get older and the toys get smaller you’ll need bins with lids. We love these lidded bins from the container store because they come in a variety of sizes.

If you’re using the cube storage system, you’ll need some cube storage bins to group categories. These are great to use for anything from coloring books to cars.

PILLAR THREE

COLOR CODE

It may seem like a fad, but organizing by color not only looks better, it helps kids follow a system that they understand. I’m amazed how my three year old knows his books just by looking at the spine!

PILLAR FOUR

LABEL

Whether you label with a label maker, hanging tag or picture, this is the final step that will keep you from puling you hair out (trust me!). The system will become second nature to your children because mom, dad, grandma, caregiver and babysitter can follow the system. It’s not a system if you are the only know who knows where things go or how to use it! Sometimes we just need to help ourselves help ourselves.

There you have it, the four pillars of playroom organization.

There is one caveat, these pillars only work after a thorough sort and purge session. You can’t organize clutter, otherwise you will be “tidying” all day and the system won’t stick. If you have questions, be sure to shoot us an email. We answer every. single. one.