Stylish Toy Organization: Where Chic Design Meets Children's Play

Ever found yourself stepping on a LEGO at midnight while wondering why your beautifully decorated home has been overtaken by plastic toys? You're not alone in this daily battle between adult aesthetics and childhood necessities.

Toy storage doesn't have to be an either/or scenario. Through some surprisingly simple strategies, you can maintain your home's style while actually improving your child's play experience. The secret lies in making toys visible and accessible without letting them dominate your space.

Consider board games—instead of stacking boxes in a closet, frame those gorgeously designed game boards as wall art. Store the pieces in labeled bags in a nearby drawer, and suddenly you've transformed forgotten games into conversation-starting decor that actually gets played with regularly. Those tiny collectibles that multiply overnight? Display them in clear decorative jars on console tables and bookshelves, mimicking high-end styling techniques while keeping toys where children can see and use them.

Perhaps most revolutionary is the idea of ditching toy-specific furniture altogether. That console table from the estate sale can become a craft station with supplies tucked in drawers. Your bookcase can intermingle adult reads with children's items, using toys as decorative objects rather than purchasing generic knick-knacks. This approach creates spaces that grow with your family—no more outgrowing expensive play furniture.

By treating toys as intentional elements of your home design rather than intruders to be hidden away, you create an environment that honors all family members. Your home stays stylish, kids play more independently with visible options, and the constant tidying battle diminishes. It's possible to have both peace and play, storage and style.

Ready to transform your approach to toy storage? Choose one idea from this episode to implement this week, then share your stylish toy solutions with me on Instagram @PlayroomChronicles. Subscribe to continue exploring how play and home design can harmoniously coexist in ways that benefit the entire family.

Instagram: PlayroomChronicles

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Website: PlayroomChronicles.com

Episode Transcript

Charlene DeLoach (00:00):
Think toy storage can't be stylish and
playful at the same time?
Well, stick around for thisepisode, because I'm sharing toy
storage secrets that'll keepyour home looking chic while
sparking your child'sindependent play.
Welcome to the PlayroomChronicles podcast, where toys
spark imagination, learning andindependent play.
I'm Sharnley Deloach, a toy andplay expert, but a mom just

(00:22):
like you, navigating buildingblocks, puzzle pieces and snack
crumbs every day, ever wonderedwhich toy will actually get
played with?
Or how do I keep my childengaged without a screen?
You're in the right place.
From ready-day rescues toskill-building superstars, this
is your go-to for honest toyrecommendations, real talk and
play ideas that work, ready toturn chaos into creativity?

(00:45):
One toy at a time, then.
Welcome to the PlayroomChronicles podcast.
Hey everybody, welcome back tothe Playroom Chronicles podcast,
and today let's talk and tacklesomething we all deal with toy
clutter.
I get it.
No matter how much you tidy,those toys seem to multiply,

(01:06):
right.
But here's the secret the waywe store toys isn't just about
neatness.
It's about creating anenvironment that naturally
invites your kids to play moreoften, more independently, in a
way that keeps your home grownup and stylish.
I think a lot of people thinkit's either one or the other, or

(01:27):
that, in order to keep yourhome stylish, you have to get
these really fancy playfurniture things from places
like Pottery Barn Kids.
What I'm saying is that you canactually store toys throughout
your home in stylish ways usingeveryday toy pieces and everyday

(01:52):
furniture, without anyspecialty stores to create those
solutions for you.
So let me break it down.
Let's talk about board games.
Board games, right, we havetons of them in our home.
They're important to have inthe play space because they
offer cooperation, conversation,strategy, skill building,

(02:16):
attending all these skills thatare really important and it
connects the family together.
So we know how important boardgames are, but there are a lot
of them aren't there, andusually what we do is we store
them in the box that they camewith, stacked on a shelf or
shoved in a closet.
Well, what if, instead, youtook the games out of the box,
you took that game board and youframed it and hung it on your

(02:40):
wall?
So, instead of going out andspending all this money on this
decor, these generic art piecesthat we shove on the wall and
spending more and more money on,we in fact frame these board
games, and a lot of them areactually gorgeous too.
Monopoly has versions of Barbieand Harry Potter.

(03:02):
It's fun, especially if you'rea Harry Potter fan.
So why not hang those on thewall?
So not only now have you savedmoney from buying generic art
pieces, but now you have thesegames on the wall to encourage.
Oh hey, we haven't played thisHarry Potter game in a while.
So all you have to do is takethat frame off the wall, put it

(03:22):
down on the table and then gointo a simple drawer where
there's baggies of all thepieces for the different games.
Just label the Ziploc bags andthen pull that out, and now you
can play the board game.
So you reduce clutter, you'veenhanced play, you have these
gorgeous art pieces in your homewin-win.

(03:43):
So also imagine all these tinytoys that we have, those little
pieces, those little superheroes, those little fidgets, those
little micro minis.
We have so many of them.
I am astonished at how muchthose add up in our homes.
And what do we typically do?
Well, we put them all into somesort of bin and shove it on a

(04:05):
shelf or shove it in a closet.
Well, instead, buy some clearjars, whether it's clear cookie
jars or apothecary jars.
A lot of them aren't reallyglass anymore.
There's really nice high-endmelamine and now you have clear
boy storage.
Now kids can see what they have.

(04:26):
But you can artfully stylethose glass jars.
We see it in the high-end homemagazines all the time.
On a console table there's somebooks stacked with beautiful
glass jars with beads and fauxflowers right, we see it all the
time.
Beads and faux flowers right,we see it all the time.

(04:48):
So take that same concept andinstead of the faux flowers and
the glass bead fillers, weactually have a beautiful jar of
Rubik's cubes and superheroes.
So not only do you have nowbeautiful, stylish decor, but a
stylish toy storage, and sinceit's clear, the kids can see
what they have and they'reencouraged to play.
Another tip is to ditch thetoy-specific furniture.

(05:12):
Typically, we say, okay, well,I want our home to be stylish,
so I have to go buy the stylishplay furniture, the stylish play
table, the stylish play chair,the stylish play bookshelf.
Many of us do that.
What I'm saying is no useeveryday furniture pieces and

(05:35):
repurpose those so that way,when the kids do grow out of the
play stage, let's face it, itchanges.
I always think play is alifelong stage, but you know
what I mean.
They eventually stopped playingwith them, little mini
superheroes.
So you basically just purposedregular pieces in your home and
right now they serve an extrafunction of toy storage or play

(06:00):
places that then can grow withyour family.
So let me give you an exampleconsole tables.
Usually they're at the frontdoor or the side door, those
tall console tables you see inall the high-end magazines.
They typically have a littlelamp on them and a stack of
books and a fancy little, somesort of decoration, swirly, blah

(06:22):
, blah, blah sitting on there,and then, as I said, there's
little jars in the corner and alittle bow plant and then
underneath the console tablethere's a bench or two stools.
You just open up a Serena andLily catalog and you know what
I'm talking about.
Well, what if you went thisweekend to a resale place or a

(06:44):
estate sale and you got aconsole table?
A lot of times they're inperfect condition and really
cheap.
Maybe you do want to paint it afun color, like a beautiful
blue or something like that.
If you want a particular area ofyour home, so take that console
table, which is a great height,put the two stools underneath
there, but now that becomes acraft station.

(07:05):
So those drawers in the consoletable.
You just open them up.
Instead of storing the keys,now it stores some crafts, and
those stools aren't just forsitting down and taking your
shoes on and off, but now it's aplace for kids to sit and play.
Yep, there's a little lamp onthe corner.
Maybe instead of the stack ofdecor books that we all see in

(07:27):
the magazines it's like you know, huskin Villa or something.
Right now it's just a stack ofcoloring books or fun books for
kids to read, and on top of that, or next door, are those glass
jars of those minifigures.
And now you have this beautifulentryway space that also serves
as a play space too.

(07:48):
See where I'm going with here.
You can keep your adult spaceslooking grown up by still giving
your kids easy, organizedaccess to toys and to play
opportunities.
And that also leads me into theconcept of bookcases.
We typically go out and buybookcases from Potter, rare,
garden, kids or some big boxstore if we don't want to spend

(08:09):
a lot of money, and that's wherewe put all those baskets, in
bins.
But typically we do havesomewhere in our home where we
store our adult books, and wesee in catalogs these beautiful
living rooms or family rooms andmaybe there's a built-in
bookshelf or some bookshelves,and again it's all styled with

(08:30):
books going horizontal and thelittle figurines sitting on top
of it, and there's a plant andthere's a picture, and we see
these gorgeous styled spaces,elegant spaces.
Well, take those same concepts.
So now, instead of going to thelocal decor store, spending
something from China for $29.99that is like a faux golden

(08:57):
poodle to sit on top of a stackof books Instead, go get the
golden slinky and put it there.
There are so many toys that I'msure that you can think of
right now that you'd be likewell, actually, yeah, that's
very similar to what I just sawat HomeSense or HomeGoods last
week for $19.99.

(09:17):
I can go take that out of mykid's playroom and plop it on
the coffee table on the stack ofbooks.
I can go put that on thebookshelf.
I can go put that on theconsultorial on the four-year
table.
Think about what we already havein terms of the kids' toys and
those can be stylish decor foryou and an opportunity for kids
to spontaneously play when theywalk around the home.

(09:38):
So, yes, bookcases aren't justfor books and generic decor.
Mix toys alongside your booksas the decor.
It keeps the toys accessiblewithout overwhelming your space.
Homes stay stylish and yourkids will naturally stop and
play.
So why does all this matter?
Well, because, as parents, weoften have this internal battle

(10:02):
right.
We want our kids to play, wewant them to have toys.
We know that's an importantpart of their development.
Now the other side.
We also dislike the mess, wedislike how it takes over our
home, and it's this battle oflike oh, I want to do this for
my kids, but gosh, it's takingover my life too.
What I'm saying is, with thislittle simple strategy, you can

(10:25):
actually have harmony and youcan have both.
You can have the storage andyou can have the style.
You can have the peace and youcan have the play.
So here's your challenge thisweek Pick one idea that I've
shared in this episode and putit into action, and then notice
how it shifts play in your homeand even sparks some really fun
conversation communication.

(10:47):
The next time another adultwalks into your home, I
guarantee you they're going togo hey, that's a great idea and
implement it themselves.
So don't forget to share howyou style some of your toys with
me on Instagram at PlayroomChronicles.
I appreciate subscribing tothis podcast or following me on
social media.
It's hard out there, so Iappreciate your support, but,

(11:09):
all in all, thanks for beinghere today.
Keep it playful, keep it simple, keep playing.