Teeny Storage Solutions
Little people, big [toy] problems? I'm sharing my five kid storage go-to's plus what I'm gifting my tots for Christmas.
If you ever questioned who has the most stuff in the family, try packing for Thanksgiving. I’ll leave it at this: gone are the days of carry-on luggage only. As most parents quickly discover, the same principle applies to the culprits of junking up the home — spoiler: it’s the kid(s)! I don’t care how minimalist you are on the toy and baby appliance front. Tonight I’m sharing my favorite nursery storage furniture and accessories along with what I’m gifting my minis for Christmas. My bambinos are one and two years old, so I cannot pretend to be an authority on children, and I welcome further suggestions or even rebuttals in the comments!
A vintage bamboo bookshelf I found on Chairish, pictured in my son’s bedroom in our old rental apartment in the West Village as seen on his nursery tour on Domino, photographed by Kate Sears.
LET EVERY HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM
And by ‘him’ I mean Santa.
The Montessori Playshelf, linked below.
My son’s shelves filling up over about a one year period.
Keeping things unedited, here you can see a shelf explosion with sloppy stacked bins (very un-Montessori! i.e. this is when you know it’s time to clean and purge) and my darling son with out-of-control drool and a runny nose. That said, this is also pretty perfectly imperfect to my eyes… and ears!
Even if you’re not into Montessori like my family, I highly recommend this Lovevery Montessori Playshelf. It fits perfectly at the bottom of my son’s closet for truly discrete storage and almost exclusively holds his toys. In fact, I use these shelves’ capacity constraints as a litmus test for when it’s time to clean and give away (or pass to sister) items that are no longer in use. Behind the shelves is hidden storage so that you can rotate your toys. [After giving toys a “break,” pull them out a few weeks or months later and you’ll find them received like new.] It’s well-made and attractive. It comes with a few trays, but this is not enough on the container-on-the shelf front for our mountain of Magna-Tiles, Duplo Legos, and train sets. Enter the search for bins.
Recycled Colour Crates, linked below.
Left: my littles have taken the Magna-tiles crate off the shelves and started building a tower. Right: a medium size crate with play food.
Becca Crawford, my most significant creative partner in life thus far, turned me on to these Recycled Colour Crates by Hay. I have them in a range of shades and sizes in both my kids’ rooms. Never thought I’d fall in love with a plastic bin — never say never! I use a large mint crate for musical instruments, a medium powder for play food and kitchen utensils, and a small lavender for an extensive collection of mini agricultural vehicles and equipment (tractors towing various farm tools is a big hit in my toddler world). You get the idea.
A couple of the vintage options linked below — a bamboo bookshelf and campaign dresser — and the Dockatot bassinet, all as pictured by sellers.
Bamboo bookshelves as the backdrop to our wheel-filled lives.
IMO if you’re getting a gift for a small fry, books are a true MVP. We have the mother load of children’s libraries, and it’s in heavy use. Shelving for this is key. I hesitate to say I do not believe in children’s furniture because a crib is essential, and I also own this ecoBirdy table and chairs set which has proved to be a workhorse (ok, ok, and the aforementioned toy shelf, though remember that’s hidden in the closet!). Otherwise, I’ve stuck to furnishing my kids’ rooms with “real” furniture, bookshelf included, that will age with them. That brings me to the vintage bamboo bookshelf (pictured in situ at the top of this post) in my son’s room. It has moved seamlessly with us from our previous rental to our current home. The upper shelves are nice for tucking away framed photos and other delicate decorative items, or books that are a bit too mature. I will say that you need to anchor it to the wall because both of my children have tried to climb it like a ladder. The price of similar pieces ranges, but here are a few examples: this, this pair (which is low to the ground, so great for tot accessibility, and could later be mounted on the wall), or that.
Left: another image of my son’s old nursery showing his dresser with a changing topper, photographed by Kate Sears. Right: My daughter’s dresser with changing table set up.
My now-potty trained son’s dresser with some of his favorite playthings. Peep the laundry basket noted below.
In the same vein of buying furniture that can age with your child, I’m a strong believer in avoiding the changing table. For both kids (who were simultaneously in diapers for a solid 9 months), I used vintage dressers topped with changing trays (something like this). Depending on your closet space, the lower dresser drawers can serve as toy storage and once the changing table is no longer needed — voilà! — you also have storage space atop the dresser, like an additional shelf. Any dresser you love will do. Apparently I like a campaign style for kids (I unintentionally chose that for both) and this search term will land you a healthy amount of results in a resale marketplace. From a style perspective, this is similar to my daughter’s, and that, to my son’s. [I did not have time to extensively search or price shop these options for you, dear reader, because I had another post entirely prepared when you voted for this topic and surprised me! Hopefully these examples are enough to facilitate your hunt.]
The bassinet’s evolution over the last 13 months with Tamsin.
Both of my babies slept in a crib from day one, but I also had this bassinet in our room for naps and generally setting the baby down in those early days. I listed this last because, personally, I do not think a bassinet is necessary, but it’s extremely cute and handy in those delicate transition-to-parenting days. I especially like this one because it’s seriously chic and matches my bedroom, but also because the bassinet comes off the stand and can be set around the house. What’s more, once the baby grew out of it (which was as soon as she could sit up), I stored the stand and transitioned the cradle to a decorative basket for holding books and stuffed animals in my daughter’s room. She enjoys hunting through it and climbing in and out.
We have toys hidden everywhere — above, in our living room cabinets.
Another little trick for toy storage (and general child entertainment) is splitting up the loot. There is one drawer in our kitchen dedicated to table-top toys, some lower shelves in our library/dining room with seasonal children’s books, and hidden cabinets (pictured above) in our otherwise formal living room that create a mini play space. Food for thought!
A final note before I move on from storage: as mentioned in a previous post, I use a mushroom-shaped basket as my son’s laundry hamper (which you can spot in the video of his dresser). I didn’t include this piece for fear of being repetitive, but I still think it’s worth noting. This pear basket is a similarly sweet alternative.
WHAT’S EVERY PARENT’S FAVORITE CHRISTMAS CAROL?
Silent Night — 🥁🛎!
I’ve gotten a few requests for children’s toy recommendations and I will make room for that in a newsletter one day. Tonight, I’ll share my 2024 kid Christmas shopping list. I try to keep it simple, sticking with just a few items for each child — one from the big man in red, one or two from us parents, and one from their sibling. Here’s where I landed so far (many are included in Black Friday sales this week):
The balance bike, pirate ship, magnetic blocks, and teddy bear, linked below, as pictured by sellers.
For our nearly-three-year-old son, a balance bike will be delivered from Santa. Francis has been requesting a “blue bike without peddles” for ~4 months, so this one is a no-brainer. From us, a pirate ship: the anchor, plank, helm, cannon that fires (yikes), and glow in the dark flags feel like an easy bet for hours of indoor entertainment. Finally, our daughter is giving him a cleaning set they are sure to fight over. [Last year's MVPs for him were a Loog electric guitar and a Dyson toy vacuum — both still in regular use!]
For our one-year-old daughter Tamsin, lest she be left out of the Christmas Day playground biking expedition undoubtedly in our future, Santa is bring her this easy-to-tote-in-a-stroller baby bike (I don’t need to get her a helmet yet, right?!). [If we didn’t live in an apartment, I probably would have opted to get her this wagon instead.] As a gift from us, I’m leaning towards these sustainably-made magnetic blocks (created by a family friend of mine) given the mileage our son gets out of similar toys. And Francis is giving her this wooden cutting board and fruit with velcro that can be “chopped.” [FWIW, our kids love pretend play — items such as this ambulance kit see a lot of action.]
For both children we also purchased this and that bear that I’ve dressed in their respective baby clothes and plan to place under the tree unwrapped, along with the bikes.
A note on St. Nicholas’ Day: For those who practice, we will be setting out our slippers on the evening of December 5th. In my family, St. Nick traditionally brings us matching Christmas pajamas, but with hand-me-downs this year, that feels unnecessary. So, he will be bringing my son this lantern/headlight in conjunction with his highly-anticipated move from a crib to a bunk bed — free man, watch out! And Tamsin will be getting this baby carrier for her babydoll (after the smash-hit doll stroller her brother gave her for her birthday and then stole for himself).
Let the purging, donating, and gifting commence. Goodnight and good luck!
