Toy Room Ideas

This is not really a storage idea, but my kids always loved a fort or tent. We started out making a fort with a card table and a blanket, but then I found a cute indoor tent at Target. We did not have a playroom so I would just set it up in the den for an afternoon. They were always sad to take it down.

I like the Trofast system from Ikea and you can sometimes find pieces on Craigslist for cheap. Go to Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod and look at their playroom ideas for inspiration!

Also saw an awesome idea online to use Ikea wall mounted dish display racks as bookshelves! So cute!!

Hi, my answer is more of an FYI... we turned a guest room (we had two guest rooms) into a playroom for our then, 4 and 5 y/o boys (they have always shared a room). One thing I didn't do was paint the walls. Most of house was that slightly off white color from the builder. I can't tell you how dirty the walls have gotten. So I would suggest putting a color on the walls that doesn't show dirt (as easily). Also an inexpensive rug, carpet or something in the main area where they will build lego's, have snacks, etc. I picked up a small bookshelf at the resale shop for $10.00, some cute pictures and a foos ball like game table- theirs actually is a ESPN football game, at the same shop for about $20,00. It's so ironic that this summer, I've consented to the boys to have their OWN rooms! So the playroom will be converted to a 6 1/2 boys room. Have fun with it. I see you are in Allen, I Love the the Frisco Resale and The Colony Resale shops

Target has toy organizers with plastic bins. these are the best.
also, clear tubs with lids that you can reintroduce when they get bored.

We have a lot of IKEA furniture that works awesome for toys! I say walk through IKEA in search of ideas they always give me a ton of inspiration.

The Trofast from Ikea is great so is the Expedit book case - we use one as a room divider in our living room/playroom - then I bought the medium mesh baskets from The Container Store, they fit in the openings perfectly and are light weight and crushable :-). The Expedit case allows my 5 year old to store his Leapster and camera and GeoTrax train engines up where the 1 year old can't reach them. The main upper shelves would make great storage for stuffed animals that don't see much play.
If you get bins that are not see through I'd recommend this. Take pictures of what goes in each bin with a camera print them out and stick them on the outside of the bin. Makes it easy for them (especially the older one) to easily pick out what they're looking for.
I store Legos in large, yet small enough for my 5 year old to lift, ultra sturdy Rubbermaid bins with LOCKING tops to eliminate the oops factor when they get carted around, I think they came from Home Depot.
I also agree about painting a color that doesn't show dirt and maybe part of a wall with chalkboard paint.
Also a cute idea for hanging their art work is to string some heavier yarn across the wall and use clothes pins to hang individual pieces - you could have them paint the clothes pins with wood craft paint.

my daughter got a tall shelving unit it is about 3 and half foot tall has 6 cubby spaces in it. it came with or she bought 3 canvas baskets that slide in and out. she put lego's , action figures, etc in teh baskets and books and games on the others

We have th e toy closet. It is 4' x 4'. I put shelves up and used clear bins. In a small and medium size. It was easier to sort the like things when they can see them and also only take out the bins they will play with. Shelves also work for games, puzzles and books. The rule is they cannot climb the shelves or take the bins down by themselves. It kind of controls the toy chaos a little. The toys have evolved over the years but the bins and shelves have stayed the same. I also have 3 ikea wood units, two which my SIL gave me, I had to purchase the 3rd to match, but it cost about $60. Its very sturdy.

We converted a room in our house as a playroom. We got rid of the toy box because it was just became a "catch-all" mess! Instead we found a small 6 drawer dresser and a 3 drawer end table. The drawers were made of wicker and could be removed easily. I divided each drawer into categories of toys such as a drawer for blocks, balls, shapes, musical items, puzzles, etc. When I ran out of room, I stored the extra toys in our basement and rotated them into the playroom every week or two. We also had a kid-sized table, a book basket and a story rug. It worked really well and was easier to keep organized. Hope this helps!
A.

Don't know about your boys, but my boys (ages 3 and 6) love to play with action figures- all kinds-characters from his favorite movies (like the character sets you can get at the Disney store), superheroes, transformers, etc. They always want something in particular and the little figures are impossible to find if just dumped in a toy box. I bought one of the racks with the removable plastic bins and it's one of the best purchases I ever made (ours has 9 buckets I think-3 large and 6 smaller). They have all their things organized so they can find what they want quickly, and it's always easy access and easy clean up (cars in one, diego toys in one, dragons/dinosaurs in one, bakugan/transformers in one, superheros in one, etc.) I wish I had a small bookshelf for their books. We don't have room for another bookshelf (they also share a room, but we don't have an additional room so all their toys are in the room with them and so space for a bookshelf). Their books currently take up the bottom two shelves of a larger bookcase that we have in the family area, but we're running out of book room. If you have space, I would definitely recommend a bookshelf. It's good for books, board games, puzzles, movies, or other little knick-knacks or odd shaped things you may want out but have no place to put.

I bought a childs bookcase at Toys r Us for about $30 I think. I LOVE it, it is so cute and holds a lot (canvas 'shelves') and my 18 month old can get his books out of the bottom racks. It seems well made, and it's pretty to look at.
For toy storage I went to Walmart and bought two of those $15 bookcases. They're only about 3 feet tall or so, and have 3 shelves that you can adjust the height on. They don't have doors, but they look very cute with his toys put on them - and again, my little guy can get his toys without having to open doors. I found those to be more reasonably priced than actual 'toy storage' things because they are just sold as bookcases. Also, because they don't hold an infinite amount, the amount of toys that stay in our home is limited (which is the way I like it).
We have hardwood floors so for his playroom I put foam mats down - some blue ones my MIL gave us (which I've seen for sale at Toys r Us) and some of the cuter ABC multi colored ones, which I bought very cheaply secondhand.
I did buy an actual toy box, one of the fisher price plastic ones, but I find that I don't use it at all. It's not very attractive and it doesn't organize toys - it just jumbles everything together in one mixed up pile. So it just sits in the corner gathering dust.
I also put an armchair in the corner with a small side table next to it so I have somewhere to read him his books.

cubicle shelves with baskets or shelves with baskets
big tubs for toys such as stuffed animals or things that aren't easily organized
plastic bins for arts and crafts, puzzles
hang their artwork on the walls
put a table in there for them to do their artwork, puzzles, etc
have some bean bags or chairs for them
I like to look through pottery barn mag for ideas. you can also go to hgtv.com for ideas. fun!