If you don't have a designated playroom...

Where do you have ALL their toys and stuff. Some is in dds room, our room and mostly our den. Eventually we will have to move the coffee table so there is a big space for her to play.

How to I contain her when she starts to crawl? Just use gates or one of those fenced play yards?

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

mostly we keep everything in our living room (which is no longer OUR living room- its DDs living room)

we got a storage table similar to this to replace our living room coffee table (which was glass so we wanted to get rid of it anyway) which is where we keep her smaller toys - but usually once she goes to bed we put them away - during the day the living room is a disaster.

in terms of a gate - we dont have one right now. shes crawling everywhere...we just close all the bedroom/bathroom doors and pretty much keep her in our view when she crawls away. she is so active, i cant imagine her being happy in a play yard

ETA - this is my next purchase
storage bins

Message edited 12/9/2013 11:13:48 AM.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

We have everything in a toy box in our living room. Not ideal but that is where we spend most of our time so it works for us. We never gated him in. We just always kept an eye on him and told him know if he tried something he wasn't supposed to do.

This worked because now at 2 he know what he is allowed to touch and if he can't do it in our home he can't do it in any other home.

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

some toys are in the living room and some are in the basement, where we spend most of our time. We do have gates up (i live in a split level so there are stairs off the living room going up and down).

If you don't have a designated playroom...

We have some of his toys in a toy box in his room and the test in the living room in a few fabric bins.
I have a long gate around our tv because he loves to go over there and touch all the wires .

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

We DO have a playroom but it's on the upper level off the den (split) so its not convenient to the main living area and kitchen. We put our coffee table up in the den to make room for a play yard in the LR. I have a shelf with baskets that has been taken over by the toys too. I also have a play yard with toys in my office and a few baskets with toys in their room too. So, they have basically taken over my entire house. lol

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

Shelving units in both kids' closets, under the bed boxes under their beds, and then lots all about the house. Our house is full of toys and books.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

Gates... and we just bought ikea trofast storage

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

We have some toys in DS's room and some in our living room. We also have a big wooden toy chest for storage. We rotate toys around so he doesn't every have everything out all the time.

We recently sold our coffee table b/c it was dangerous for DS (glass table with pointed edges) and we don't plan on replacing it until we have a house (we're in an apt right now). It gives DS so much more room to play and he loves the space.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

We have some toys in DD's room but most of them are in our living room. We added a padded area rug and have 9 of the large foam squares on one end where most of her stuff is. We pushed our coffee table out of the way but still use it since it has lots of storage and holds bins of books, toys, and puzzles. We have one big toy box, a book shelf, and lots of smaller baskets that I rotate around to keep things fresh. We were lucky and never needed to gate anything other than the bottom of our stairs and even that we only did recently (she's 19 months). DD is pretty cautious, never crawled, and was late to walk so we ended up not needing gates or play yards. She prefers to stay with us anyway!

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

We seriously contain the toys & have them in the living room.

We bought material boxes & store the stuff in there. We rotate toys & store the ones that are not age appropriate in a closet in more material boxes (we have 4).

We ask that people do NOT buy us "big" toys. Important around holidays! For birthdays, we ask no gifts!

With 2 kids, we have 2 boxes of toys in use, 1 train table & put some more toys on the tops of 2 coffee tables (the boxes go under the tables). I purchased to "big toys": a kitchen & a train table. Kitchen is in our kitchen & is tiny. Train table is played with daily & is in the living room, near a wall.

As for gates, your kid is likely not going to be playing by herself... you need to babyproof house & keep eye on her!

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

The toys have taken over my LR and den! I wish we had a playroom.

ETA: We use fabric bins to contain a lot of her toys, but she's a tornado and takes everything out at once. When she was younger, we used one of those octagonal gates to contain her and some toys, but once she was crawling, she hated being in there.

Message edited 12/9/2013 1:59:25 PM.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

wait.. toys belong somewhere?
I'm just happy NOT to walk onto a lego or trip over a toy (too often). She's a kid. Its her house. She keeps her stuff EVERYWHERE! Meh.

We have a toy box in her room
A Ikea cube thingy in her room
a 3 drawer system for some crafts in the dining room
There's a bucket and two sets of cabinets in our room
There's a box in my brother's room
There's the train table in the living room with drawers
There's art desk in the kitchen
An easel in the entry way, with baskets under it
There's at least 4 craft boxes with compartments
3 'grocery carts' that roam the house with toys
two 'stoves' in her room that she puts toys into
plus various boxes and baskets.

Yeah... NOT having a toy staring at me is why I love to travel.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

We have a toy box in our living room. We gate off the kitchen and upstairs. We also have a couple of toys in our den for when we are in there.

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

We have the Ikea Expedit in each of their rooms which holds A LOT of their toys. Then in each of their closets, we have two rows, that run the width of the closet, of the wire closet shelving both of which we store the rest of toys on.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

our den is pretty much DD's playroom. Its a small room and there is a couch and a tv for us and the rest of the room is where all of her toys are. I hardly ever get DD toys, its just what she receives as gifs, and I rotate those and keep the rotated toys in a box in the basement so there are not a TON of toys but there are plenty. We also have a small table and two chairs for her in there.
. DD is 2 now so we don't have her gated in but when she was younger, we jus t kept her in the den/playroom which had a gate at the door -- and used a gate to close off the tv and tv equipment inside the room .
We took out anything else in the room that was dangerous i.e. we had a glass stand/shelf that held photo albums , frames, etc, we moved that into a different room.

Message edited 12/9/2013 11:53:19 PM.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

We keep all toys in our family room. When they get a bit bigger we will put a play room in the basement. We have a living room too and he can play in there when we are in there but nothing stays in there.
The family room is a disaster area during the day but it keeps DS happy. We put everything away when he goes to bed.

If you don't have a designated playroom...

I have everything in the living room. Mine is quite large (i live in an apt) I put the rubber mat with the alphabet and #s down cause we have hard wood floors. I have a toy chest where I put her toys and we have her kitchen in there as well. Now shes walking and goes everywhere but I never gated her in I just make sure all doors were closed and everything was child proofed once she became mobile.

Re: If you don't have a designated playroom...

All in his room & our living room. In his room we have plastic drawers for his blocks & Legos, a toy bin bench, & his bed frame has an attached toy bin. In living room, we have the large ikea cube shelving unit, the top row is for our stuff but the rest is his, some cubes are open w toys & some we have the cloth bins holding toys. We also have bins under our coffee table.