A question that comes up a lot on Ohdeedoh is whether to sequester your children's toys in their bedrooms or store them in other areas of your home. But what if your child doesn't have a bedroom? My son sleeps in our office and while we keep his books there, his toys occupy our living room which, in essence, has become his play room. After nearly 2.5 years of shoving his toys in a corner, it was time to carve out some real storage space for his things there. It's like inviting your boyfriend to move in and giving him his own drawer and spot to hang his toothbrush.
I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but we have three large drawers in our media console that could easily be converted into toy storage. The first drawer held dvds which we rarely watch. They certainly don't deserve prime living room real estate and now house my son's growing block collection which he uses every day. The other two drawers hold unused tech stuff and will soon be cleared out to make way for my son's puzzles, cars and other small toys.
Here are some other family living rooms that I'm inspired by:
I still remember Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely's small storage basket in the living room. What might have otherwise held magazines and newspapers is now an attractive depository for some of her daughter's toys.
Wee Wonderful's Hillary Lang uses an Expedit bookcase in her living room which allows for plenty of storage. She modified hers to hold a television which we think is brilliant.
Tanie of Unicorn Parade divided her large living room into a kids living room and an adult living room (especially helpful since she does home childcare). She used a mural on one wall to visually distinguish between the two.
LJ and his wife Elena are architects and were able to redesign their 500 sq. ft. studio when their son joined the family. They cleverly built inconspicuous storage into their space which could be used for toys.
This family's living room/play room had help from a design firm and I love that they've just embraced the compromise of this shared space. There's no attempt to disguise that this home has young inhabitants or their accompanying stuff.
If you're wrestling with your living room becoming a playroom, here are a few other posts you might want to read:
• Toys in the Bedroom or Living Room (or Both)?
• Integrating Children Into Your Decor
• Incorporating Children Into the Decor
• Ten Storage Solutions for your Expedit
• LJ Wraps Up
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Emi & Nathan's Natural History
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sprout Side Table
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
We have a playroom, but we still have toys stashed throughout the house!
I don't keep toys in my middle daughter's room, because she has trouble settling down at night. My youngest is in our room, so we don't keep many toys in there (and my oldest is too old for toys, so not an issue).
Our playroom is in the sunroom off our living room, but it's a long narrow room with three windowed walls (and a long radiator under the longest wall) and a wide arched doorway on the fourth, there aren't a lot of options for arranging furniture.
We have a small room in the back of the house where we keep the kids' books, art supplies and games are kept in the kitchen eating area and toys are kind of stashed wherever. It kind of drives me crazy, not having all of the toys and things together in one room (especially since we have a playroom!), but the kids tend to play wherever we are anyway.
Since our playroom is right off the living room, we try to keep it fairly neat anyway, but I am in the process of turning it into more of a kid friendly living room (sort of like the one with the murals, but not nearly as cute!), with a couch and chairs. I think if it's more comfortable for the adults to spend time in there, the kids might play in there more and we will be able to keep things contained better.
Love all of these ideas! I'm a big fan of Wee Wonderfuls, and the TV shelf as doll house display unit is adorable. Just wanted to point out though that it probably wasn't modified. You can buy the Expedit in TV stand form:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70103090
We have a wooden chest that sits very unassumingly in the living room. Toys that don't fit in there need to go either back to the bedroom or to goodwill.
We also have an expedit with 2 baskets that hold art supplies and finished drawings.
Best decision I ever made was moving my son into my daughter's room so that his room could be converted into a playroom. We do keep a few (hidden) toys in the living room, but everything else is tucked away in the playroom - books are kept in their bedroom as there's a couch in there where we can sit to read. Our whole house functions so much better now!
My daughter has a bedroom - but there are no toys in it aside from a few bedtime books!
We repurposed an entertainment center / shelving unit that is sofa table in height. A large, shallow basket from Ikea fits perfectly and stores small toys. Larger toys, balls, and books are stacked directly on the shelves.
We also cleared a low shelf in the kitchen for some toys and books.
Luckily, our living room is decent sized enough so that we are able to portion off a section behind the couch to be the "play area". The couch blocks the play area from view when you enter our house. We use an ikea expedit bookcase directly behind our couch that we stuff our kid's toys in but it never stays in that area, ever. Our whole living room AND our dining area becomes the play area with scattered toys and what nots. Our kid also has a bedroom upstairs but it never gets used, even to sleep in (except for house guests!) - go figure.
We bought a 2x2 expedit with red plastic bins as drawers to put our daughter's toys in. It sits in the corner of the living room that she tends to play in and works fine for us.
Part of her night-time routine is putting her toys away, so once she's in bed they're totally out of the way.
Great post. I'm glad to know we're not alone!
We had our kids' train table in our living room for awhile. We recently got creative in rearranging and got all of the toys + table back into their room. They still play in the living room, but have to clean up as part of bedtime routine.
We too got an expedit - the 2x4 - and put it on its side. I got some simple baskets and have the toys stored along the bottom row, and then books, larger toys and puzzles along the top row. The TV is on top of the unit - it's in our main livingroom area.
We don't have room for a separate playroom at the moment, and having toys in my son's room is pointless because he drags them all into the livingroom anyways.
I found by sorting his baskets into animals/dinos, cars/trucks, people/playhouse and trains that it keeps things simple. I have extra baskets downstairs with other things like blocks, and switch them out every 2 weeks to keep things interesting for him without having to have a TON of toys always kicking around! Kids don't need a TON of stuff anyways - by keeping it simple and switching them out we avoid the "I'm bored with ALL these toys" thing. I've already cleared out some toys for charity and have empty baskets ready to go for the influx of xmas gifts too.
We (again like ratgrrrl!) have a bedtime routine of having him tidy up, so they're away at night, and it all looks good.
It would be awesome to have a separate playroom - but for now this seems to work for us!
We got an IKEA captains bed with drawers for the playroom- drawers help with storage, bed serves as couch when there are no guests. The kid's playroom is also my sewing room. IKEA book cases (dear departed Ivar) hold games that are slowly being replaced by books as the kids get older. I like the idea of having the kid's books in a common room- we don't need more than one set of the Harry Potter books, for example- and so we are moving towards having a common library. There's also a shelf for kid books in the living room, just to make it easier to pick up.
I bought four faux-leather cube ottomans at Target. They were on clearance for around $40/each. While not the nicest things ever (pleather!), they are certainly functional at this point in our lives. We got rid of the old coffee table and pushed the 4 cubes together. Extra seating, flexible floor plan (can be pushed to the sides of the room to create a bigger playspace), and STORAGE!!!! I love the end of the day when we just toss all the toys into the cubes and my DH and I get our "adult space" back!
The Ikea expedit 4x4 bookcases have also given us a ton of storage in our 7x5 guest room/play room!
we keep a large basket under our coffee table filled with my son's toys plus a pop up tunnel from ikea (best $20 ever!). we keep a small basket under one of the end tables filled with his books for reading time. it works for now since we dont have much extra space in the condo.
These under-the-bed rattan storage baskets have saved me from the brink of insanity. We keep two under our coffee table, and because they come w/ casters it is a breeze to wheel them in and out.
http://www.thecompanystore.com/Under-Bed-Storage-Box/XN79,default,pd.html?dwvar_XN79_color=DARK%20BROWN&start=1&cgid=home-decor-storage-organization
I'd love to see a "When your dining room is your play room" version of this!
britta, I agree. I'm in the process of planning how to turn our dining room into a play room!
Our small living room is divided in half - one end is for her play kitchen, little table, and bookshelf, the other end is the adult zone with the couch and coffee table. Which is amusing to say, since it's such a small space, but it's divided naturally by the door outside. The adult zone is a recent rearrangement and we sure love it, it's like a breathing corner.
Her toys are on restaurant shelving in baskets in the laundry room, our only room with a stretch of wall. And out of sight, directly off the living room. That was about having a clear get-it-out/put-it-back setup than aesthetics, but it is pleasant not seeing them as it turns out.
I think if we had a playroom, it would either be unused or our living room would be - we have one of those sheepdog kids who is right where everyone is, or we're with her. It is what it is!
My 2 year olds play kitchen is on the wall next to my kitchen - and it gets played with all of the time. It also acts as toy storage - she wants to be out with the other people in the family, not stuck away in a different room. Her small kids table and chairs are in the living room along with her wooden rocking chair. All of which is used all of the time. Other toys are in her room, they are drug out to the living room and every day or two we take it all back to her room. Not a big deal.
Childhood is so fleeting and a few toys in my dining room/living room are just not that much of an issue to me. People who come over know that I have a kid and if they don't like my kid friendly decor, well, they don't have to come visit. My child is first in my life not the guests.