Right now, we are using just about everything as a toy box. We have 4 of the generic plastic totes (30 gallon or more) these hold big things mostly, like the tonka trucks, etc. One is dedicated just for dress up clothes, purses, costumes, etc. We also have one of those 3 shelf dealies with all the bins. I don't really like it, becase it is hard to get to the thing in the lower bins and almost impossible to remove the lower bins with out first raising up the ones on top. We also have a doll sized cradle that is big enough to hold all my girls' baby dolls in an attractive way. However my favorite storage spaces are the book cases and dressers in my son's room. He has a small dresser inside his closet for clothes along with the bar, so all his clothing is there. He has one bookcase with all his stuffed animals on top, trophies and banks on top shelf and the other 3 shelves with books and puzzles. His desk drawers hold all his video games, play doh, and Leap Frog stuff (OUT OF SIGHT). A third shelf has 3 shelfs (holding all videos, flash cards, learning materials and it also has 3 drawers which hold hot wheels, action figues, and race tracks respectively (AGAIN out of sight!) I love walking into his room and not having toys everywhere, the drawers are my favorite! I would recommend a low dresser ( where your child can reach all) that is not top heavy with easy to open drawers...makes the bedroom or playroom look SO much neater when clean!

We live in a single wide mobile home and will until we have the second income and then we'll get a little bigger house (DH and I really just want a ranch with a basement so he and I can have our "hobby" rooms instead of my craft stuff being hidden all over the house! LOL) Our kid's stuff is ALL in their bedrooms. We have learned to only keep the toys that are played with. I have also become more careful about the toys we bring in the house so we're not just blowing money on junk nobody will touch and then I'll end up tossing. In DS's room, he has bins that fit under the bed with toys in them and also things across his top shelf in the closet and I had DH put three shelves in the corner of his closet. DD's room has bins under the bed, along with her Graco doll stroller and Barbie house (it folds up and is really skinny). In her closet, she has a small shelving unit on the one side with toys (clothesbasket on one holds her dolls and special stuffed animals, Dora house, smaller bins with her Littlest Pet Shop, Barbie and Polly Pocket things). We also bought her a 'pantry' cupboard that holds her books, all her art stuff, her jewelry and hair stuff and some other things. Everything is picked up and put away in it's place. When the kids were little and I did have like baby stuff in the living room, I "hid" stuff in other things that fit in with the room and nobody would really know there were toys in there. Also, when we had our old coffee table, I had one of those wicker laundry baskets that fit underneath the table and had the baby toys in it. It was out in the open but cleaned up :)

I think turquoise would look FABULOUS in your breakfast room. I'd repaint the door, trim, chair rail, etc in that colour instead of the plummy colour. And I'd paint the yellow walls white. I think your dark sideboard, painting and other art, table and floors would all really look fabulous against the white and turquoise. That's maybe more of a Spanish than Mexican look, but I think it would really suit your furnishings and accessories. Just for one more option... ;-)

If you have owned that for 20 years, treat it better. Get the newspaper out of the bottom, buy a couple of Steiff stuffed animals....a tiger would be good as would a couple of bears. And for heaven's sake put that platter in a china cabinet!...I see you have no room in the one you have....better buy another!:-)