How can I store soft toys cleverly?

[~Trish~]

I get a massive nesting urge when I'm pregnant LOL! I spend my second and third trimesters going mental - decluttering, cleaning, rearranging, etc. I am a woman on a mission!

So, one of my missions is to find a proper home for our boy's soft toys. They have been given so many teddy bears and things and they do love to play with them so I can't make them "disappear" to the op-shop . BUT I have no neat place to store them. Currently they are sitting on an armchair in a corner of our lounge room that is covered most of the time by a door so they're not in-your-face IYKWIM. I really want them out of there, but I don't know what do do with them . I am trying to keep DS1's room as decluttered as possible because DS2 will be moving in there with him soon. I don't really want them on display (like on top of a set of drawers) because I think it will be something I have to constantly "fix up" when they pull them all down.

Does anyone have any clever ideas of how I can store them so they aren't in the way all the time, but the boys can still easily access them? I don't have a toy box and don't really want to get yet another large item to find a home for LOL! Oh, I'm making this hard on myself aren't I? There probably is no answer to my question .

Please tell me, what do you do with your kid's soft toys?

TIA

[Pandora]

we have an inexpensive netting thingy that hangs from the roof,so its on display in the sense that you can see it, but all the toys are insude so no need to "arrange" them or anything like that.

[~Trish~]

Ooh thanks rayray, does it look a bit like a hammock? Or is it something different to that? Where did you buy yours from?

[Pandora]

mum bought it for me, but places like kmart, target, even ikea have them. I have seen ones like hammocks, but ours hags vertically so like a tube

[Willow]

I was going to suggest the same thing - Ikea have them too, I saw them on the weekend. Theirs is like a long netted tube thingo with holes in the front to put the toys in. Have a look at the website, I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

PS you don't have a toy box??!! Where do all the toys go?!

[~Trish~]

Thanks rayray and Willow, I know what you mean now, they are a great idea! I will definitely have to check them out (and get it past DH, he is so picky about storage).

Willow - I have a clear tub that I keep everyday toys in and I have some in storage for toys we don't use that much, but I'm trying to avoid getting more, they take up so much space!

[tattoo_mama]

yep i was gonna suggest those clear tubs like they sell at red dot, that have click on lids and wheels on the bottom...i have 2 that are already full of soft toys for baby and they fit right under the cot and are out of the way...if your boys have room under thier beds maybe this is an option/ having the little wheels on the bottom are great cause they dont struggle to pull the box out....i got mine from red dot for like $10 each

[nic]

We have the toy net as well Got it from Howards and it also has the chain with it. DH is yet to put it up though.
We were given a little poohbear box on wheels with a pull along handle, and this is what we stored DD's toys in for quite a few years. It is now in DS's room, with some toys in it as well.

[LimeSlice]

when we were kids we have big plastic chains with clips on them that hung from the ceiling...they were ace

[Nelle]

Lime! We had those! Oooooh the memories. They were ace.
I was coming in to suggest a hammock/fishing net thing too... you could even theme the room a bit under-sea-ish if they're into that, hang fish from the bottom of the net, or turn the net into a boat that all the soft toys live in.

I want one when we move house, I reckon my kids would love throwing their toys up there at cleanup time. And conveniently out of reach too.

[Willow]

Trish - we have a big plastic tub for each child in the lounge area, a few other larger toys out there too and that's it. We don't have any toys in the kids rooms. I prefer to have them all in one place than scattered all over the house. Makes clean up time easier. Compared to most kids, we don't have many toys at all really and we like to keep it that way.

DD does however, have half a bed full of her stuffed animals. She loves them all and each has a name etc so I could never make them disappear either. They've been sitting at the end of her bed since she moved to a big bed, but I'm finding it such a hassle to sort them out every time I make her bed, to the point where some days I just don't make it! LOL. I might think about getting one of those net things myself actually. Only thought about it this morning.

[Tinks]

when we were kids we have big plastic chains with clips on them that hung from the ceiling...they were ace

I was going to suggest those too. They are called Teddy Chains.

Ikea have these hangy things made of mesh with compatrments that you can stuff stuff in. For the life of me I can't remember what they are called but they are reasonable cheap. THey are quite funky.

[HotI]

when we were kids we have big plastic chains with clips on them that hung from the ceiling...they were ace

Lime! We had those! Oooooh the memories. They were ace.

me too! i agree, they were the best.

[DoubleK]

i have one of those pop up hampers for stuffed toys. they're tall rather than wide, so dont take up too much space. and they're easy for little people to get into. we also have one full of dd's doll clothes \and blankets and bits and pieces.

i got them from Kmart, they were clearence $9each. one is Dora, and one is the wiggles. they also have Thomas. they do still sell them, not sure why they had clearence on them!!

we also have one of those Ikea net thingys, but because we rent, i dont want to put a hook in the roof, and i think dd would pull it down anyways

i had those teddy chains as well as a kid! loved them!

[~Trish~]

Thanks everyone for your replies! We have soooo many toys it's not even funny which is why I'm trying to find a way to make our soft toys not look so cluttering. I told DH about the hanging basket thingy and he said he thought it would look cluttered . Like I mentioned yesterday, he is really fussy about things like that, but he can't give me a solution either . At least I try LOL! I still think a hanging thing is a great idea and I actually can picture a really good place for it where it's not obvious. Will have to discuss it with DH tonight.

The hanging toy chain sounds so cute! I must be deprived, I never had one growing up LOL!

Thanks again everyone!

[squidipa]

space bags under bed thats what we do

[Tinks]

WHy don't you space bag the ones that she doesn't play with and alternate them every month or so? Then you'll only have a few at a time to worry about.