Hidden Play Area In Plain Sight

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So, I can't complain. We've been blessed to have a great house that I love and hate to even think about moving out of...ever. But, it does lack a lot of things. One thing I always complain about is storage and closet space. The other thing? Kid space on the main floor. Now, that might just be because I don't want to give up my front room and make it a kid zone...but still. It would be nice to have a bonus room or another bedroom on our main floor. These are things you never think of when buying a house without having any children yet :) Now that our little one is our big one and she's getting more and more toys, I had to find a solution for all the clutter.

Luckily, our living room is a decent size that I'm able to hide all the stuff behind the sectional, out of view, for the most part. But it looks horrible otherwise and implodes on itself like 5 times daily. Plus, you can see it pretty bad from the dining room, and when people are over, they always sit on that part of the sectional. So, obviously, they're able to see my hideous secret :)

So, I decided to organize that mess and make the area look presentable. Even when cleaned up, the before was still a mess ...and definitely not presentable. So, this is a step up. And super cute :)

The best thing is, it's still hidden. Even though it's cute and it doesn't have to be. It's like I gained an extra little 50 square feet and created a different room. See, you can't see it, huh? Barely ;)

 Yep, there it is. And even from this angle, it looks good. Of course, I know...believe me I know...this won't stay like this. In fact, I think it's looked this nice 2 times since I've finished it. Usually it's a complete mess. But, luckily, it's super easy to cram every thing into a bin and put it away...and quick :)

 That big black "toy chest" was a bargain I found last year for like $30. I knew it would be hidden so I didn't care about the color and that it completely clashed with my house. It's awesome for toy storage and doubles as a pretend eating area for our little one. But, now she has this huge long area to pretend to eat on all she wants :)

 I missed having my cabinet in the corner, it looked so bare and different. But it needed to go. So, in its place I put a corner shelf. A lot less surface area, but it made the space look complete. And now that mirror doesn't look like it's out of place either like it did without the shelf.

As for the shelves themselves, I really wanted to reuse an old Billy bookcase I had from Ikea. But, it was 8 inches too long and covered the air register. So, I had to figure something else out. Which was too bad, since I didn't want to spend much money on this. Instead, I spent $30 each on the cube shelves. There are two, each one holding 3 cubes. I got them online from Target (click here). I also got the cute bins from Target. They were on sale for $6.99 each (click here). So, all together this area cost just around $100. I think for my sanity sake, it was worth the money :)

 And this doubles as a cute little window seat. Can't beat that! Any other toy hiding secrets you may have? I'm all ears!

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