I'm a big fan of houzz.com as a source of inspiration - thousands of great photos, neatly categorized. Try you local library - it can be an abundant source of books specializing in home building, decorating and storage/organization ideas. (I often visit our library system website to search for books and then have them sent to my local branch, so I'm not limited to what I happen to see on the shelf.) You might also find some ideas in catalogs or on the websites of places like Pottery Barn (PB Kids too), Ethan Allen, Restoration Hardware, Ballard Designs, etc.. I find resources like these can frequently spark new designs ideas for me.

We have always organizerd our toys with plastic containers. Our first toy room had a closet with sliding doors (not walk-in), we removed the doors and used this for toy storage. We just lined the closet with 3 book shelves with shelves that could be rearranged. We lined most of it with plastic containers from Target (didn't use the lids). Then each container had a label...large legos, medium legos, wood puzzles, animals, people. Our last home we actually bought the storage systems from ikea. they are not "built-in." They work wonderful!

I highly recommend open bins/containers for kids to easily access and clean-up. The wicker type containers (Pottery Barn, etc) are nice looking, but don't seem to hold up or clean up as well. Also, they will scratch the shelves/built-ins. Use as much for this toy storage as possible and don't be worried about building too high. They accumulate too many items/toys as they grow. I also love shelves that are too high for them to reach. This is wear I store board games, etc. thatI don't want them to reach by themselves. Also, older siblings like to have the higher shelves to "protect" their items from little brothers.

I was reading an article today about organization styles and it asked if you were a revealer or a concealer? Do you want stuff hidden or visible? That will determine if you want bins or doors/drawers.

The other thing I'd question is if you really want your kids' things just under the TV. I'd rather have them at one side or the other. As they grow, you don't want them blocking the TV while you're in the middle of a show.

Thank you all for the tips. I have a hard time visualizing how it should look but I did google playroom storage to get some ideas. I'll also check out the other places mentioned. I love the plastic bin ideas and that's what I was thinking might be good down low where kids can put their own toys away. This area is out in the open, so I just want it to still look decent while being functional.

You need to get your hands on a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. They have so many nice playroom cabinets pictured in their pages!

Here is a link that might be useful: pbk Playroom ideas

depends on how you want your kids to play. do you want them to have easy access to their toys? or do you want to be able to put certain things away and let them play with a few toys at a time? i use a couple of canvas toy bins for my toddlers to play with toys. (i used to use plastic bins, but they would hurt their arms against the sides reaching into the plastic bins.) other items that might require parent supervision or toys that are out of rotation go into a closet that they cannot open.