Toy Storage: Cool Places for the Kids’ Favorite Things
Designers share 6 tips for displaying toys and collections in ways you’ll love to look at
Jennifer Christgau-Aquino
June 3, 2016
Houzz Contributor. Craftsman bungalow fan turned Eichler enthusiast, vinyl record collector and die hard home renovator who loves to turn antiques modern (a piano yellow, an iron bed hot pink….)
Houzz Contributor. Craftsman bungalow fan turned Eichler enthusiast, vinyl record... More
Kids are collectors of just about anything: erasers, seashells, rocks, Lego models and whatever else fits on a shelf (or floor). Their treasures can turn bedrooms into a mess quickly, especially if you haven’t given children a place to put everything. The designers of these rooms figured out how to tame the chaos without shoving stuff in a closet, an opaque storage bin or — where you might really want to put it — the garbage can. Using a few key tricks, you too can create an inspirational space that honors your child’s favorite things.
1. Create a backdrop. It all starts with how you dress the bedding, walls and furnishings — the things that don’t change.
Suna Lock, owner of Stripe Design Group, keeps palettes fairly simple — one to three colors in a room — to let the collections be the inspiration.
For this teen soccer fanatic, Lock chose a sophisticated blue, a nice backdrop to the girl’s trophies and sports memorabilia. Lock says the girl and and her mother were constantly at battle over her collection until Lock figured out a way to turn the teen’s things into an artful display.
The key to designing a wall like this is to find the item you want to be your focal point, Lock says. In this case, she started by placing the ribbons along the ceiling’s apex. She suggests laying the objects on the floor to figure out positioning before putting anything on the wall.
Suna Lock, owner of Stripe Design Group, keeps palettes fairly simple — one to three colors in a room — to let the collections be the inspiration.
For this teen soccer fanatic, Lock chose a sophisticated blue, a nice backdrop to the girl’s trophies and sports memorabilia. Lock says the girl and and her mother were constantly at battle over her collection until Lock figured out a way to turn the teen’s things into an artful display.
The key to designing a wall like this is to find the item you want to be your focal point, Lock says. In this case, she started by placing the ribbons along the ceiling’s apex. She suggests laying the objects on the floor to figure out positioning before putting anything on the wall.
In this room, 22 Interiors designer Lucie Ayres kept the fixtures in the room black and white to showcase a 10-year-old’s collection of figurines and stuffed animals displayed in clear Lucite boxes.
White walls and furnishings also act as a neutral backdrop for the Legos and toys in this room. The the star-print curtain adds interest without competing with the playthings. The chairs pick up on colors commonly found in toys.
The other benefit to neutral furnishings: You aren’t tied to a theme, a bonus as your child’s taste in cartoons, toys and idols changes with the seasons and years.
The other benefit to neutral furnishings: You aren’t tied to a theme, a bonus as your child’s taste in cartoons, toys and idols changes with the seasons and years.
2. Put toys on display. To handle your child’s buckets of toy cars and trains, think about going vertical. These custom-made shelves were fashioned using stock material from a lumber store and bolts as a decorative touch. You can also buy picture ledges, which are the perfect width for most toy cars and trains.
They’re also well-suited for handling your child’s books, which, when displayed like this, act as a graphic element in the room.
Turn a wall into a giant canvas. This was created with outdoor fabric laid over foam. Favorite lightweight items slip under trimming held in place with upholstery tacks.
Photo by Plumlily Photography
3. Tailor the space to the interest. Parents everywhere have stared down a tower of Legos or an intricately built model and asked: Where am I going to put this?
The answer: in a place set aside for kids to display and create, says Simplified Bee designer Cristin Bisbee Priest, who emphasizes the importance of including your child’s interests in a room’s design.
This ledge runs along the room’s perimeter and is the perfect spot for this child’s enormous collection of Lego models.
3. Tailor the space to the interest. Parents everywhere have stared down a tower of Legos or an intricately built model and asked: Where am I going to put this?
The answer: in a place set aside for kids to display and create, says Simplified Bee designer Cristin Bisbee Priest, who emphasizes the importance of including your child’s interests in a room’s design.
This ledge runs along the room’s perimeter and is the perfect spot for this child’s enormous collection of Lego models.
Sometimes a simple shelf isn’t enough. This custom-made bookcase was crafted to manage this teen’s transformers.
4. Group collections. Legos are one thing, but what can you do with the rocks, seashells and plastic trinkets your kids gather?
Aaron Christensen, owner of Embellishments Kids, suggests putting similar things together in see-through containers to keep things visually organized and make the collections more powerful.
This child had an abundant nature collection. Christensen built shelving over the desk to store some of the boy’s belongings. He fastened Mason jars under the bottom shelf to act as an accessible and visual place for knickknacks, which can be categorized by type.
Aaron Christensen, owner of Embellishments Kids, suggests putting similar things together in see-through containers to keep things visually organized and make the collections more powerful.
This child had an abundant nature collection. Christensen built shelving over the desk to store some of the boy’s belongings. He fastened Mason jars under the bottom shelf to act as an accessible and visual place for knickknacks, which can be categorized by type.
Decorative glass or plastic containers also work well.
For young children, avoid glass and use baskets made of wicker, plastic or wire to hold items.
This room gets stuffed animals off the bed and onto handy shelves.
5. Distract attention. Bold shelving can help take the focus off what’s inside, Christensen says. In this room, he designed colorful hexagonal shelves for a boy’s video games and controllers.
These boxes are striking not only because they are stark black on a light-colored wall, but also because they are offset and of various sizes. This makes you pay more attention to their styling than to what’s inside.
6. Practice editing. Priest suggests having kids evaluate their interest in objects every so often to weed out stuff they’re no longer interested in seeing every day.
Designer Stephan Howard of Flik by Design used a hutch to display a child’s favorite Barbies and bunnies. The rest were stored.
Designer Stephan Howard of Flik by Design used a hutch to display a child’s favorite Barbies and bunnies. The rest were stored.
“Kids’ rooms I always find challenging, as there are lots of items they want out. I embrace the items but showcase them in a specific palette,” Howard says. “It allows everything to be seen that they actually love, but it’s also very appealing to the eye.”
More: Tame the Toy Chaos: Bin Storage for All
More: Tame the Toy Chaos: Bin Storage for All
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This La Lune Collection bunk bed was custom designed and made with a "wall" of attached shelving and lower drawers to accommodate the toys of these lucky children!
Don't forget that kids' interests and collections often change over the years. Make sure that any collection storage you design can age with the child if it's built-in or attached to the wall with something larger than a finish nail. A child interested in stuffed animals when he's young may wish to display his trophies and medals when older. For this reason I didn't buy expensive bookshelves or install built-in books shelves in my younger son's bedroom. I did buy for my older son high quality, solid wood bookcases with closed storage underneath that could easily transition into a first apartment if he wished. All he would need to do to update it would be to restain or paint them and switch out the door pulls.