This seems like the best solution! Thinking I’m getting some kind of low cubby system with cube shelves for his room with fabric boxes. Moving from a very large house to an apartment is gonna be nuts.
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The cube storage things are fantastic. Because if you have a big single piece toy you can just set that out on its own, or if it’s a multi piece thing like a train set you can put it in a bin, or you can put a little basket with puzzle pieces next to the puzzle tray for example. It’s pretty versatile with how you present things to the kid, while not encouraging shelf swiping and dumping
Also, it’s a limited number of slots so it kind of enforces your toy rotation plans 
I wanted to get one but we already owned the TV cabinet so… sigh. Weird TV stand it is 
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Problems I have had with the fabric bins: Children are bad about keeping them assembled (they will fill them with the bottom flipped up, and then you have to take everything back out), and you can neither see what’s inside nor label them. We also have one that looks like an animal, which is super cute, but has a sort of mesh window that flips in and out and creates further problems. Also, not all of my cubbies have backs. This is good for the 1 cubby where BB charges his tablet and Chromebook but not so good for the cubbies where his million pieces of paper crafts fall out the back.
For the library toys (back when we had library toys, sniff) I have a cubby organizer with clear plastic bins,* and that is the route I will go at home if I ever procreate again, I think.
*Mine are from Lakeshore so they are SUPER durable, as befits public toys.
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I don’t have kids but I do have fabric bins and they are not as nice as I hoped. I think they can be great for organizing light things… Yarn, plushies, etc. They fall apart quickly with more substantial contents. IKEA has bamboo ones that are supposed to fit Kallax that I have my eye on. I think Target sometimes has some as well…
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Cloth bins and baskets are nice for living room toys because you don’t have to look at the toys, but I made most toys stay in the playroom or bedroom (which works better post-toddler age) and clear plastic shoeboxes with lids are better for sorting little pieces.
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I’m favoring something that my kid can’t see into. I’d rather it be an out of sight out of mind thing so we can rotate toys that are visible and accessible and can keep hidden toys that are annoying enough that I want them to be a sometimes thing.
My toddler is soon going to have access to his room when I am asleep and I’d rather not have ALL his toys easily accessible in that room all night long RIP me when this happens
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O.M.G I am about the biggest slob in the world but even I can’t comprehend b.s. like throwing detergent caps behind the washer. Isn’t that what a garbage can is for? It’s not like ~behind the appliance~ is an enchanted chamber with erasing capabilities
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This conversation has gotten me thinking better about how to rotate and make accessible our toys. Thanks for making everyone give up their secrets.
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We have a black book shelf in the tv room/main play area and I got a couple of black fabric cube things. It’s wonderful for just sweeping up all the detritus and random bits. If I ever have energy ever again I’ll probably trash a bunch of what’s in them, but for now it avoids the drama of “But you CAN’T throw away my favorite broken cheap plastic crap toy thing! And that’s my favorite scrap of paper that I don’t actually remember what I drew on it but it’s my life’s greatest achievement!!” They’ve taken some damage but when they’re put away properly you can’t tell, and they’re cheap enough that I’m just going to ride it out till he’s old enough to be less destructive with his things.
They don’t get pulled out that much because black on black makes them kind of invisible and we have sturdy clear containers for Legos and magna tiles which are out all the time plus some other larger items that aren’t really containter-able (ukulele, toy laptop). I attempt to roughly group other things and rotate them (train set, play food, action figures, cars) but I’m over due.
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I’m enough of a slob to think this stuff was left on the washer, fell and wasn’t pulled out
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I think our houses have the same floor tiles.
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This is what we have! It’s 1000 times better than the fabric boxes because they are hard. You can also get shelves and lids for the bins. So if you had a smaller space with another place to store toys you could easily put lids on the bins and stack them in a closet. We previously had the fabric boxes and also cats which have claws.
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OMG I didn’t even think of this and now my toy rotation problems are solved. Duckling’s closet is empty, his clothes are all in a chest of drawers and we could totally fill his closet with “out of rotation” toys. (It used to contain a baby bassinet, which is now in use).
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Oh neat! What system
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It’s the trofast from Ikea. It’s super reasonably priced too! The wood standing parts I think we’re about $40 for the smaller ones. Bins were $3-$5 depending on size.
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I’m curious if everyone feels this way, but the more I learn about this place, the more I’m curious about the past owner’s life!
To name just two things beyond the washer issues, we spent $1500 on repairs to the crawlspace so that rabbits would stop coming in and out. We were texting with her about something unrelated, and she sent a text that implied that she knew about the rabbits in the crawlspace and thought it was cute. We were too shocked to be annoyed with her!
Also, we’ve figured out that the ENTIRE house was painted this color of blue. Please ignore the bathroom chaos, it’s my next room to organize.
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At least it’s a pleasant blue? But that’s definitely a bold choice for an entire house!
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Where do I apply for my unfucked badge? Because we unfucked a whole house this week and greatly deserve a badge. Or a GIF. Something.
@bernadette. I am definitely the kind of nightmare human who would be like “bunnies! Cute”. But luckily I listen to the sane people who tell me to store my wild bunnies outdoors
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You know as she described this person I was thinking, “oh shit it is meeeee”
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Omg, obsessed with you and @Meowkins. Luckily there are still lots of bunnies around the house, just not inside.
My final anecdote about the former owner is that she had a huge collection of Troll Dolls: I believe the 800-square-foot basement was filled with them. When we were doing an inspection of the place before she had officially moved out, there were about 30 (not an exaggeration) boxes labeled with various Troll Doll descriptions. When we talked to her about it, she mentioned that she had sold most of her Troll Dolls a few years back. The stacks of boxes we saw were only a small fraction of what she’d had before!
She’s a very beautiful lady in her early 60s, and I know she’s now living her best life with her 3 dogs in a condo in Florida. She is an icon!
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