7 Out Of Sight Toy Storage Ideas

I remember the days that my house stayed perfectly clean and uncluttered. The only thing I ever griped about was my husband leaving his cup out. Now with two kids, those days are long gone. I wouldn't say that I long for those days back. The kids stuff everywhere means we are making memories and shows a house well lived in. I wouldn't trade any of that for the cleanest house in the world. Even with that said, I still long for order.

We have a decent size house, not huge though. We are living in about 1900 square feet of space. That's just about enough space to contain all of our stuff and the kids toys. The only problem? It is lacking any built in storage. No linen closets. No coat closets. No real laundry room. No pantry. I wish we had a loft or a kid space, but we don't. I could get rid of our front room/guest room and make it a kids zone, but once again, I long for order :) And a kid zone being the first thing you see walking in the house doesn't sit well with me. I also have a weird thing that I don't like the kids having their toys crammed in their room. I know I could and that would alleviate the need for anything I'm about to show you, but I do love having the kids play around the common areas of the house and not cooped up in their room. Plus, I think having less toys in their room makes it easier for them to take naps and go to sleep.

So, long story short. I was in need, desperate need, of out of sight storage solutions for toys and crafts and books. Storage that blends in seamlessly with the design of my house and decor. Throughout the years I have come to learn what works best for us. Here are a few ideas that hopefully you can take and use for yourself if you are in search for toy order :)

1. First up. Benches. Benches with storage are my best friend. You can see them throughout my house. I think I have 5 of them in fact. They are versatile, stylish and dual function. What more can you want? This cute little bench I got from Target actually hides a huge stash of kitchen toys and food in our front room.

 I found these bins, also at Target, that fit perfectly in there which help to separate all the toys. The top lifts up easily and the bench is the perfect depth.

2. Another secret of mine are baskets and totes. I have more of those that I would care to count :) They work wonderfully to hide everything. Some of them really do have a full amount of blankets stored in them. Some have pillow cases. But most of them have toys. Lots of toys. Like this little one below is all the baby toys. It's a perfect spot for where we have floor time and can grab them easily.

 And when not in use, or when company come to visit, I just throw a blanket on top. Easy and stylish :)

 Here's another large tote I use in our front room that is full of all the musical instruments we like to play with. My favorite places to get cheap totes are from Home Goods, Ross, and Gordmans.

3. Another great place for storage is underneath console tables. I use these cute little foot stools for our book storage. This would also be a great place for large baskets. I got these at Ross. They match the bench in our dining room.

 Here they are open, jammed pack full of books. Plus a bonus place to store stuff, is in these drawers. I have a ton of craft supplies in them :)

4. And to be truthful, we do have those large toys that can't be fit into a bench or basket, so I line them up along the back of the couch. For the most part, these are out of sight unless you come into the dining room.

5. Also, behind the other side of the couch where the main lot of the toys are stored, I have this cute little window seat that I shared with you all a year ago. It works amazingly to organize and hide toys. This space has changed a little bit since I last shared with you a decor-wise, but the window seat and organization still remains the same.

 I have added little tags for each of the bins to keep up with the organization and where everything is.

 6. As for the bedrooms, as I said, I like to keep these as toy free as possible, but toys do end up in here :)  So, keeping them out of sight works best for me when there are some. I utilize the closets for most of the clothes, so all the dressers are used for toy and book storage. 

 We have a ton of books in our house, so the bedtime books are stashed in the nightstand drawer. I also have a little basket to the right of this chair that has the favorite books in it.

7. And sometimes, you have things or make things that are just too big to hide anywhere but your kids love them and you want them to still enjoy them. So, for this case, I made this tent to blend in seamlessly with the rest of the decor. I knew it would find it's place somewhere in our main living area so I wanted to make it match.

 Here's the full view of our living room with all the storage that you really can't see :) It's mainly all behind the couch, out of site. Another great place to stash stuff is in a storage ottoman. I'll be building one of those shortly for this room! Can't wait :)

I have many, many other secrets on how I store things which will be coming in an upcoming post! I heard a quote the other day, "The more storage you have, the more crap you have." This is so true! I'm realizing that now as my mindset has changed with the possibility of moving. I have so much crap lol Seriously, just think about moving and it will make you want to purge like no other!