Playroom organization tips?

[MrsK]

How big are those lego bins?

I'd try a basket or magazine rack for the library books.

What are the large homeless items?

You are doing great. Please take a break!

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Can you put high shelves along the walls to store your things? I'm assuming those two stacks of totes are your things...

[spotty_dog]

Can you put high shelves along the walls to store your things? I'm assuming those two stacks of totes are your things...

Totes? In one photo to the left of the angled bins, there's a fluorescent green tote that's DS's snap circuits. My stuff is now contained here:

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

[spotty_dog]

How big are those lego bins?

I'd try a basket or magazine rack for the library books.

What are the large homeless items?

You are doing great. Please take a break!

The white-lidded bins are standard shoeboxes. The three orange Trofast are...um, 12" w x 9" h x 11" d? Two are half-full with mostly smaller unsorted bricks for DS, one is half-full of Lego Friends.

The large items are a rolled picnic blanket; a box that unfolds flat and zips up for the Hero Factory/Bionicle Lego pieces (he plays with them differently and we store them separately, he really likes taking the tote to another room and playing and then zipping it up to take it back); two Bilibo; a chess set in a portable storage container that's about 23" long; and two foam battle stick things that are around 3' feet long.

And yes, I've popped in here obviously for breaks, and I'm now at a point where I'm going to turn to the rest of the house and get it tidied before evening and just think about the organizational dilemma for a while.

(Ugh, but one thing not shown is that I just moved the paper sacks into the laundry room. I need to do something about those darned papers.)

[MrsK]

Where do you do your knitting/crafting? In this room? Elsewhere?

What about the homeless items? Where do you use those?

I'd take about 2/3 of the legos out of rotation. Just store them elsewhere or up high until he's ready for them. He's having trouble sorting/ finding what he needs because there is too much. If you suspect auditory processing delays, he may have visual delays too. Finding the lego he wants among many is frustrating.

[MrsK]

Also, I'd really look at vertical space. You have a lot of organizers that are about 3' high. Great for kids but they don't need to play with everything at once. Rotating toys enhances novelty and they'll enjoy the toys more.

[medpedspouse]

Also, I'd really look at vertical space. You have a lot of organizers that are about 3' high. Great for kids but they don't need to play with everything at once. Rotating toys enhances novelty and they'll enjoy the toys more.

ITA. This is why I think the couch has gotten shoved to a corner. I can see it being sat on if it was more accessible. I see a lot of floor real estate covered but not much on the walls. I say go vertical - especially with the stuff the kids do not use.

[spotty_dog]

ITA. This is why I think the couch has gotten shoved to a corner. I can see it being sat on if it was more accessible. I see a lot of floor real estate covered but not much on the walls. I say go vertical - especially with the stuff the kids do not use.

It's actually the other way around, I shoved the couch in the corner in order to embrace its already-foregone function as a storage area and not a seating space. I've had it in the middle of the room dividing different areas with different functions; on every possible wall; and it always ends up accumulating piles of stuff. So this time around, I tried this to see how it went. Answer: poorly, LOL. It's definitely awkward. I'm rethinking the furniture arrangement and will try something new before long.

[medpedspouse]

You still need some seating in the room. Would your DH be ok trading it out. As selling on FB/Craigslist and using the money to get other type of chairs? OR are you guys handy enough to turn it into a love seat?

[spotty_dog]

You still need some seating in the room. Would your DH be ok trading it out. As selling on FB/Craigslist and using the money to get other type of chairs? OR are you guys handy enough to turn it into a love seat?

Honestly, I haven't broached the issue in a while. Ditching it may be more a possibility than it was a few years ago.

[MrsK]

Letting it go would be my first choice because it is not useful in that room. But, if you feel like you absolutely have to keep it, have you considered putting storage under it? How high is it off the ground? Could you put an underbed box beneath it? If you put the sofa on bed risers, would it be too high to sit on comfortably?

[Sheherezade]

Ummm. I think it looks great! Signed, the woman who still has her college freshman's paper sack from third grade in the office closet.

[spotty_dog]

Ummm. I think it looks great! Signed, the woman who still has her college freshman's paper sack from third grade in the office closet.

Thanks! Organizing does NOT come naturally to me, in fact I am actively fighting the urge not to keep every paper from this school year and every toy they ever play with even if it's technically garbage (that oatmeal container was totally a drum three weeks ago before they abandoned it!). So...a place for everything and everything in its place is kind of big. But I know the job is not over until it's a lot easier to get things back in their places, so I don't have to dread the weekly cleaning.

Letting it go would be my first choice because it is not useful in that room. But, if you feel like you absolutely have to keep it, have you considered putting storage under it? How high is it off the ground? Could you put an underbed box beneath it? If you put the sofa on bed risers, would it be too high to sit on comfortably?

Unfortunately I've not gotten anything to fit under there (except gobs of escaped toys!). It's a low sofa but I can't imagine anything riser-y working, between the angled back legs and the slippery wood floor? Our local Lion's Club has its annual garage sale fundraiser coming up and they've started the drive for donated furniture. I will probably see if it can go to them.

[poky]

Unfortunately I've not gotten anything to fit under there (except gobs of escaped toys!). It's a low sofa but I can't imagine anything riser-y working, between the angled back legs and the slippery wood floor? Our local Lion's Club has its annual garage sale fundraiser coming up and they've started the drive for donated furniture. I will probably see if it can go to them.

Totally give it to the Lion's Club - and say hi to my dad if you go to the sale.

[MrsK]

If the Lions club won't take it, Habitat for Humanity or DAV might pick it up.