If you don’t have a playroom or a lot of storage space in your kid’s bedrooms, you may be left with trying to figure out toy storage ideas for your family room.
This post will provide you with 13 family room toy storage ideas that won’t take away from your main living space and will look beautiful, yet functional.
1. Cube Shelving Organizers to Contain All Toys
Cube shelving is perfect for kids’ toys because it allows you to organize the toys based on the type, but it’s also easy for kids to reach and put the toys away themselves.
I have cube organizers all over the house. They can look very nice, match your decor, and hold a lot of different items.
These organizers come in many color options; such as, white, black, gray, or pretty much any wood tone that you want.
The bins are what make the biggest difference though. There are so many fabric bins to choose from in every color and design imaginable. You are not just limited to the bins that came with the cube storage unit.
Make labels with pictures of what can be found in the bins and place them on the front of the bins so that young kids can easily understand which bin to put their toys in.
Books can also be stored in cube shelves. Just leave one or two cubes open without a bin and the books can be stored vertically in the cube. Several of the cubes will have a backing on them so that you can’t see through to the wall. Plus the kids can’t push the books behind the storage unit.
The top of the shelving unit is also usable space. Either put additional bins on top or you can use the top for typical family room decor.
The great thing about cube storage is that it’s really versatile, so when your kids are older, it can be used for other storage purposes in other areas of the home.
2. Use the Storage in Your Ottoman
Ottomans are incredibly functional because they can be used as a table, a chair, and/or as storage.
We have two ottomans in our family room. One that matches with our couch and another that is smaller and tucks away in a corner.
The bigger ottoman is used to store all of our board games and puzzles. I use zippered bags to put many of the board games in so that they don’t take up much space in the ottoman. This makes the games easier to locate and the game pieces don’t fall out.
The smaller ottoman is specifically for toys. I bought bins that fit nicely inside to sort different types of toys. I chose to leave some space on the side for bigger items and then there are three bins that fill the remaining space which makes it easy for my kids to just toss toys back into.
If you want more detailed sorting, smaller bins will do the trick. It really depends on how likely your kids are to sort their toys.
3. Decorative Laundry Bin for Stuffed Animals and Dolls
Laundry bins don’t have to be used just for dirty laundry. They can also be used to store stuffed animals and dolls.
Nice fabric laundry bins that are collapsible work well for stuffies and dolls.
These bins are great because they look nice, can match your decor, and they hide the items that are stored inside. They are also a bit stretchy, so they can fit stuffed animals and dolls easily.
I love that it tucks into a corner in the family room so it’s out of the way, but functional. The stuffed animals are contained and easy for the kids to put away.
4. Under the Couch with Underbed Storage Bins
If you have a couch that has space under it where you can push a bin under, this is a great place to store toys when they are not being used.
Get some underbed storage bins that are short enough to fit under your couch.
These bins are often fairly long, so I would suggest buying some smaller bins to go inside so that you can separate different types of toys.
Or drawer separators would work to create separate areas within plastic underbed storage bins.
These large bins would work well for most toys. However, I would store stuffed animals and dolls somewhere else, as they would take up a large part of the bin.
5. Store Toys in Bins in Your TV Stand
If you have a TV stand, this is a great place for board games, books, and toys.
Buy some beautiful bins to match your room decor and use those for toy storage. You could either get several small bins and put the more frequently used toys towards the front, or buy one large bin that can be separated with smaller bins inside for toy sorting.
If you have a solid door on the TV stand, you could also get clear containers with lids so that the kids can easily see what is in the bins.
Lids making stacking the bins possible, which will allow you to fully use the available space for plenty of toy storage.
6. Install Floating Box Shelves Above Your Couch
For toys that your kids aren’t using as often or that you don’t want them accessing without permission, you could put some floating box shelves above your couch.
Use bins to store craft supplies (crayons, markers, glue, glitter, etc.), Lego pieces, or other small toys that could be a choking hazard.
These box shelves will not typically fit the depth of a 12” bin, so smaller bins would be needed.
They can also be used for storing kids’ books and movies.
There are floating shelves with multiple cubes side by side, or you could get individual cubes so that you stylize them the way you want. Such as putting the cubes at different heights.
If you don’t like the look of cube shelves, you could also put a basic shelf that bins could sit directly on. Then you aren’t as limited on the height of the bins that you buy.
7. Use a Bookshelf to Store Toys
Do you already have a bookshelf in your family room? Chances are, it isn’t being fully used and could also be used for toy storage.
Put the books towards the top of the bookshelf and use the bottom for bins that can contain the toys.
Again, the bins can match your decor and not look out of place. Just make the bins easy to get to so that your children can quickly throw their toys in the bins when they are done playing.
8. Bean Bag Chairs Made for Stuffed Animal Storage
Did you know that you can get bean bag chairs (without beans) that are actually made for storing stuffed animals?
These are great because they are cute, but they also function as a chair and toy storage.
Kids often have their own squishy chairs in the family room anyway, so why not buy something that serves two purposes?
They have a zipper to make it easy for the kids to take their stuffed animals out and put them back in. Then it’s just a quick zip-up to hide them away.
It’s also easy to clean the chair fabric because it’s just the fabric. Take the stuffed animals out and throw the fabric into the washing machine.
This is a great way to clean stuffed animals without damaging them as well. Zip up the chair around the stuffed animals and put them in the washing machine.
Once the kids no longer use them for stuffed animals, they could be filled with blankets, pillows, or you could buy the typical bean bag stuffing.
9. Use a Coffee Table That Has Drawers
If you don’t have a coffee table in the family room currently but would like one, getting a table that has drawers in it would work well for toy storage.
There are tables that have different size drawers. Most are on the smaller side, so storing smaller toys is easier. However, there are also tables that have top to bottom drawers which would work great for most kids’ toys.
If you like things to be organized, each drawer could contain similar toys and be labeled as such. Otherwise, if you just want somewhere that the kids can toss their toys away quickly, these drawers make it easy to just pull open, toss in, and close the mess away.
10. End Tables with Toy Storage Bins
Do you have end tables on either side of your couch?
If your end tables are closed with doors on the front, then the best option would be to buy clear bins with lids, which will allow toy sorting and stacking ability.
Otherwise, if you have a shelf on the bottom and it’s open in the center, I would recommend getting a bin that entirely fills in the space and then get smaller bins to put inside to create separate storage spaces for toys.
11. Use a Standard Toy Box
One of the more obvious toy organizer ideas is a toy box.
A toy box doesn’t have to look strange in a family room. They can be painted or stained to fit the look of the room but yet still provide a simple place for the kids to store their toys.
Toy boxes still need to have some storage inside to keep them really neat.
Keep some open space for large toy storage, but buy bins to fill in the rest of the space so that the kids can put their toys away based on either the size of the toys (small toys in the small bin, medium size toys in the medium bin, and bigger toys in the biggest bin). Or they may want to sort based on the type of toy.
Having everything just tossed into the toy box is going to cause headaches later. This is because the kids can’t easily see what is inside or get to what they want. So then they end up emptying the entire toy box.
Creating spaces for similar toys allows them to just take out a bin and play with everything that is in that bin. Then when done, everything can go back into that bin and right back to the spot that it was removed from in the toy box.
This isn’t always as perfect as it sounds because kids will be kids. However, I have found that there is a lot less organizing needed when using the bin system.
12. Move a Dresser into the Family Room
A dresser may seem strange to move into the family room, but tall dressers that aren’t as wide don’t take up a lot of space and can be painted if you don’t love the look of it.
Then there are 4-6 drawer spaces to store toys and it keeps everything contained in one area.
Just make sure to secure it to the wall so that if the kids try to climb on it, that it doesn’t fall over.
Store anything that the kids shouldn’t have access to all of the time at the top and the frequently used toys towards the bottom of the dresser.
You could also put bins inside the drawers to make better use of the drawer space.
13. Embrace the Toys With Clear Storage Bins
If you have kids, you shouldn’t have to be ashamed of their toys. They love to play and have fun and should be able to get to their favorite toys.
People know you have kids and should expect that when they come to your home, there will be some toys visible.
Based on this, buy some clear storage bins with lids that you can stack against a wall in your family room.
This isn’t quite as beautiful as hidden storage solutions or pretty bins, but they are very functional and still keeps the toys contained. Which is ultimately the goal. Right?
Kids are only small for a short time, so their toys aren’t going to be a headache forever.
Related posts:
If you are thinking about setting up a playroom in your home, check out my low-budget playroom organization tips here.
Looking for organization ideas for a child’s bedroom? This post provides helpful tips.
In Summary
Having kids means a lot more stuff in the house and a lot more to keep track of. However, it doesn’t have to be stressful and time-consuming to find space for the toys to go.
You can have kids and still be able to move around your family room without stepping on Lego pieces or tripping on piles of toys.
Choose the toy storage that works for your family and your space. It doesn’t have to happen all in one day. Sometimes you may need to try a few options out first before you find what works best.
I hope this post has helped you contain the toy mess and make your space functional again.
