Article takeaways
- Before organizing, involve your kids in a decluttering session, sorting toys into donate, sell, trash, and keep piles to reduce the number of toys that need hiding.
- Multi-purpose furniture like ottomans, storage trunks, and closed-door consoles conceal toys while maintaining a polished, grown-up living room aesthetic.
- Place decorative baskets and bins on low shelves or under tables to camouflage toys in plain sight while keeping toys accessible to kids.
- Create living room zones by designating a corner as a play nook with kids’ tables and toy chests, keeping your main relaxation area toy-free.
- Use a self-storage unit as an overflow closet by keeping seasonal toys and bulky toys that can’t be hidden at home in a nearby climate-controlled unit until they’re needed again.
There’s no shortage of data that shows how critical playtime is to a child’s development. And we’re not just talking about mental development. Playing with toys stimulates imagination, emotional intelligence, and physical coordination.
But that knowledge doesn’t make it any less frustrating for the parents, who spend time and money creating a living room they love, only to have it overtaken by stacks of plastic bins, piles of stuffed animals, and scattered plastic figures in just a few days.
In some families, the kids have their own bedrooms or playrooms but prefer to play in the living room, where their parents hang out. Other households make their homes in apartments or smaller houses with limited square footage, and the living room serves as the primary play zone.
Either way, parents or anyone living or moving with kids end up feeling like they have to sacrifice the comfortable and stylish living room vibes to accommodate the important childhood need of a play space. That’s where hidden toy storage solutions come into the picture.
From toy organizers to hidden storage shelving for toys, stuffed animal-filled ottomans, there are lots of hidden toy storage ideas out there that can help tuck, hide, and disguise toys within and around the living room furniture and decor.
This helpful guide explores 9 hidden toy storage ideas for living rooms. We’ll go through ideas for toy storage for small spaces, and reveal how SelfStorage.com can help you make some extra toy storage space.
9 Hidden Toy Storage Ideas for Your Living Room
By having designated hidden toy storage for living room organization right there in the living room, you set yourself up for easily executing the “Five-Minute Sweep.” The Five-Minute Sweep lets you put all the toys in the hidden storage spaces where they belong in 5 minutes or less, allowing you to transition from playtime to me time with ease.
We chose these 9 hidden toy storage solutions because they work in any space of any size. The following 9 hidden toy storage ideas can help you organize a small living room or a large one.
1. Declutter Toys You Don’t Use
The first step in any home organization venture is to downsize your belongings and declutter what you don’t need. And toy storage organization is no different. Before you start implementing toy storage and organization strategies, let’s clean house of any toys your kids no longer use.
After all, there’s no point in finding hiding places for toys to live in permanently, while they never see the light of day again.
Professionals suggest not being sneaky about decluttering your children’s stuff and actually involving them in the process. It won’t be easy, of course. There will be some emotional attachment to toys even if they don’t use them. But learning to let go of things you don’t use is a lesson that will continue to serve them for the rest of their life.
How do you break the ice? First, ask them to help you declutter some of your own stuff, maybe an old box of clothes you don’t wear or a drawer of knick-knacks. Explain your own emotional attachments and how you’re making space for the sad feelings while decluttering anyway.
Sort everything in the box or drawer into four piles: “donate,” “sell,” “trash”, and keep.” Once you’ve sold, donated, and thrown away the respective items, you can declutter even further by splitting the “keep” pile into two smaller piles: “self-storage” and “find a place at home.”
The distinction between “find a home” and “store” prevents cramming too much into the closet or drawer, and teaches your kid how to prioritize. You find a home for your daily essentials: things you need regular access to for comfort, function, or genuine enjoyment.
The storage category is for any belongings with genuine value, either monetary or emotional, that you don’t need daily, but aren’t ready for permanent elimination.
Seasonal gear like camping equipment, holiday decorations, and winter sports equipment all fit the self storage category. Family heirlooms, important documents, and collections that bring joy but don’t require constant display are prime storage candidates. Think of self-storage as a “transition room” that prevents rushed decisions during an already stressful move.
Once you’re done with your stuff, walk your kids through the process of getting rid of toys they’ve outgrown or don’t use, using the same four-pile method.
And if they hit you with the classic “what if I want to play with it again someday,” let them know that you’ll replace it if that day ever comes. Of course, if it’s a toy they’ve truly outgrown, it won’t ever come to that.
Remind them that they get to keep all their good memories long after the toy is gone, and that self storage is an option for toys they may want to use again but aren’t using regularly right now.
But once you convince them to get rid of the toys they don’t use, what do you do with them? You can always try to resell them, say on Facebook Marketplace. But that takes time and energy.
Our suggestion? Find a place to donate your kid’s old toys:
- Invite some other parents to get together for a toy swap.
- Find a local toy library that lets your children borrow toys and return them when they’re done.
- Donate their old toys to local pre-schools, kindergartens, and daycares, where a rotation of kids can play with them.
2. Closed-Door Furniture As Hidden Toy Storage for Living Room Preservation
You can preserve your living room’s mature vibe by keeping your kid’s toy collection hidden behind closed doors. Pieces with closed-off doors, like wardrobes, media stands, console tables, armoires, bookcases, and wardrobes, let you tuck your toy clutter away when it’s time to chill.
And if your media stands and console tables didn’t come with doors already installed, you can always thrift some vintage or decorative doors.
Keep your kids’ toy collection on any type of furniture with shelves. Then install or lean your stylish new doors in front of it to keep the furniture-piece toy organizer out of sight.
3. Hide Toys in Decorative Baskets on Your Open Shelves
Closed door might be the most obvious trick. But if your living room is full of doorless furniture, there are some other tricks to try on open shelving for toy storage.
How do you make toys invisible while storing them on highly visible shelves? Stuff them in fabric storage bins, wicker nesting baskets, or wooden milk crates and set the crates on the bottom shelves. The trick is to keep these decorative bins and baskets just full enough so that you can’t see the toys unless you’re up close and looking down into them.
From a distance, it looks like a decorative shelf piece you chose intentionally for its good looks. Larger bins and baskets can slide under end tables and coffee tables.
The best part about keeping these ornamental containers full of hidden toys under tables and on the lower shelves is that the kiddos can reach them on their own when it’s time to play.
4. Utilize Furniture Already Equipped with Hidden Storage Space
Plenty of furniture pieces on the market these days are already equipped for built-in storage. You can transform your living space from a child’s hangout space to an adult hangout space by emptying these pieces of clutter and hiding toys inside the furniture.
Modern coffee tables, storage trunks, ottomans, couches, TV stands, and benches all have hidden compartments and removable drawers begging to be repurposed as toy organizers.
Swapping out your old furniture for these nifty modernized versions lets you easily stash toys, board games, art supplies, crayons, stuffed animals, and more, keeping everything neat and tidy.
5. Create a Play Zone and a Hang Out Zone
Another great method of toy storage for small spaces is to create a kids’ or play zone and an adult relaxation zone. You can split the room into zones by rearranging the furniture to create a nook or corner where all the kids’ toys live.
- You can have a drawer system on swivel wheels full of plastic figures, stuffed animals, and building blocks, you can pull out when it’s play time.
- When playtime is over, you and your kids do a quick toy declutter session, and then put the wheeled drawers into position where they block the play corner from the rest of the family room.
- Making the kids’ nook in the corner of the room lets you hang a magnetic drawing board on the wall or a small desk your child can use as an art station and reading nook.
- Or, if dressing up is more your child’s speed, you can hang peg hooks and wall anchors so they can keep their costumes and children’s aprons on.
You organize the rest of the living room furniture to face away from the play corner, so their art station, dress-up room, and stuffed animals aren’t in view, or in the middle of your living room space.
6. Repurpose that Ottoman Coffee Table
We all love the idea of an Ottoman coffee table where we can keep our magazines, blankets, extra batteries, or other knick-knacks inside. But when it comes to hidden toy storage for living room functionality, your ottoman coffee table is prime real estate.
And we’re not just talking about the inside. Sure, you can keep your kid’s building blocks, LEGOS, puzzles, train tracks, art supplies, card/board games, and other kids’ room essentials discreetly tucked away in there. But it also serves as a table your child can use to play with these toys.
Face it, using an ottoman as an adult coffee table leaves a lot to be desired. You’re either crouching forward and down as you hover over your plate, or sitting on the floor.
But it’s the perfect height for a child’s play table. Toddlers can stand up while they scribble with crayons or feed their doll babies. And older kids can sit comfortably in their children’s chairs and kid-sized stools while they build their LEGO sets and Hot Wheels tracks.
7. Toy Storage Furniture
Apparently, we’re not the only ones having this conversation, because more than a few toy manufacturers sell explicit toy storage furniture. These kid-oriented storage furniture pieces are specifically designed so children can open and close them with ease to access their own goodies.
Some of these can have an obviously childish aesthetic that takes away from the hidden factor. But other toy storage furniture pieces are modular and easy to blend into your family room aesthetic. Some of these pieces can even be reorganized and repurposed as your child gets older.
We’re talking about a toy chest that converts into a desk, or a table with a hidden toy inventory manager compartment underneath where your children can keep their LEGOs. Check out IKEA’s Trofast and Kallax units to see what we mean.
Placing a toy storage furniture piece in the play corner is a favorite living room toy storage idea of ours, since it doesn’t require the gaudy storage shelving for toys that throws off your relaxing vibe.
8. Store Small Toys Together in a Labeled Bin and Toy Storage Bags
Once you’ve decided on a primary hidden toy storage solution for the big toys and collections of things like building blocks, dolls, and train tracks, you’ve got to find a home for all the little miscellaneous toys.
You can use storage baskets, labeled bins, or stackable trays and tuck them away in a cupboard. Or you can use a toy storage bag for things like stuffed animals and dolls. Bins, baskets, and trays require storage space, so use your best discretion here.
For things like doll house furniture, play make-up, beads, art supplies, and Hot Wheels cars, labeled bins are probably the better move. But if it’s Beanie Babies and plush toys, a toy storage bag on the top shelf of the closet keeps them out of sight until play time rolls around.
9. Lean Into the Family Room Vibe
Our 9th and final hidden toy storage solution is to forget the whole endeavor. We’re not saying you should just leave your children’s toy clutter scattered around the living room, mind you. We’re merely suggesting that you lean into the family room vibe.
Rather than working overtime to remove all the colorful plastic toys from your otherwise new age, art-deco, or post-modern living room aesthetic, stylize your family room so that a toy chest in the corner doesn’t seem out of place.
Of course, there’s a fine line between having some children’s toys exposed and watching yor living room turn into a playroom. The trick is to mix and match for an integrated vibe.
Consider this step the opposite approach to creating zones. Every shelf, table, and media center has a few things reminiscent of each family member, and that can include a few toys on the bottom, where the kiddos can reach them.
Wooden and handcrafted toys can blend right in with your own nostalgic items. You can lean into the family room vibe even further by hanging some of your child’s artwork or favorite movie posters on the walls, scattered between you and your partner’s.
The trick to this method is to keep the number of items on display even, so yor living room isn’t overpowered by toys. Maybe you can put an outdoor storage box on the porch and rotate the toys that are kept on display in the living room based on what the kids are into that month.
Small Space, Big Solutions: Toy Storage for Small Spaces That Work
Now that we’ve covered a few of our favorite hidden toy storage ideas, let’s take a look at some out-in-the-open toy storage solutions for small spaces. Rather than keeping toys out of sight when they’re not in use, the goal with these solutions is to keep them neat and organized.
- Storage shelving for toys: Take advantage of vertical space by having a dedicated section of storage shelving for toys. That can mean wall-mounted shelves full of wooden milk crates and small bins, wheeled drawer systems, floating shelves lined with fabric storage bins, wall-mounted cubbies, tall, narrow bookcases, or cube organizer shelves dedicated to toy storage.
- Take advantage of underused storage spaces: Take advantage of underused storage spaces: Store toys in under-bed storage boxes and rolling storage bins, movable drawers, and plastic boxes you can stash in the closet and then wheel into the living room during playtime. Swap out your bedside tables with tables that have drawers underneath, and repurpose your end-of-bed bench into a toy chest.
- Baskets: Baskets can do more than just line shelving systems. You can scatter nesting baskets in the corner of every room in the house and behind and between furniture pieces. Fill the basket with toys, throw a blanket on top of it, and presto–your kid’s toys are out of sight.
- Play Kitchen: Play kitchens are among the hardest toys to hide. But if you’ve already got the play kitchen in the corner of a room, why not make it work double duty? Rather than just lining it full of pretend foods, toy kitchen supplies, and children’s aprons, fit anything and everything else you can i there. Just be prepared to take it all out when it’s time for your kids to play chef!
When Hidden Toy Storage Ideas Aren’t Enough
There are some toys that are too big to hide. We already mentioned play kitchens, but plastic slides, doll strollers, mini trampolines, doll houses, wagons, and pedal-driven plastic cars are pretty hard to hide.
But most of our kids go through phases, where they’re really into some of these toys one week, and couldn’t care less about them the next.
Whether you’re clearing space for the new toy of the month or babyproofing your house and making room for a younger sibling, a small self-storage unit can be the trick you need to meet your toy decluttering goals.
- An organized and inventoried self-storage unit can serve as your own toy overflow closet. It’s especially useful for seasonal or outdoor toys your kids can’t use year-round. And while you’re at it, you can free up some closet and dresser drawer space by moving seasonal and outdoor clothes into your storage unit as well.
- A well-inventoried self-storage unit provides a practical option for families who lack adequate secure storage at home for dangerous or hazardous items. Off-site self-storage is also a popular choice for extra bedspreads, art and craft supplies, birthday party decorations, and kids’ furniture that isn’t in use.
- You can store additional seasonal items like sporting equipment in a self storage unit until tee-ball or gymnastic season rolls back around.
Professional storage facilities offer climate-controlled environments equipped with humidity and temperature control technology to keep your children’s toys and clothes in tip-top shape until playtime rolls back around. And there are other pros parents will find self storage can help with.
For example, lots of facilities offer 24/7 access and additional security features for units. That means you can hide Christmas and birthday presents in there, wait until the kids are asleep, and sneak them from self-storage into the house.
- A small storage unit is more affordable than replacing your furniture with pieces that offer more storage.
- And self storage units come in different unit sizes that scale up and down based on your needs.
- That means that if a year goes by when your kid doesn’t request a specific toy to be brought home, you can donate or sell the toys and downsize to a smaller unit.
- So, while the price should always be factored in, the expense can be well worth the peace of mind these solutions provide for growing families.
When evaluating storage options, consider each facility’s location and how close it is to your home. Consider the cost of storage against the potential expense of installing shelves or replacing your furniture.
But not all self-storage units are created equally. You’ll need to find a unit with the amenities you need, including late-night access hours, security features, climate control options, and more.
So how do you find a self storage unit near you with exactly the features you need? That’s where we come in.
How SelfStorage.com Can Help You Execute These Hidden Toy Storage Ideas
By now, you should have a pretty good grasp of some hidden toy storage ideas that can help you get started with toy decluttering in your living room. The best hidden toy storage ideas are about designing a space where toys have a place and chaos doesn’t win.
We covered the benefits of multi-use furniture, capitalizing on vertical space, creating different living room zones, and using off-site self-storage to downsize and declutter the at-home toy collection.
But how do you find a storage facility that has all the features you need but isn’t so far from your home that it adds even more stress and steals your already precious time?
Don’t fret–SelfStorage.com is here to help.
Simply use our storage unit guide to figure out the sizes and amenities you need.
Then, enter your zip code into our signature SelfStorage.com unit locator tool to find the storage unit size and amenities you decided you need in the previous step.
Our tool uses amenity filters you set to isolate the storage units in your zip code that have precisely what you need. You can contact the storage facility through our site and book your storage unit today.
When you find the ideal storage unit near you, we’ll reserve it for you for free in minutes. No commitment and no credit card required.
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About the Author
Michael Ta’Nous
43 Articles
Michael Ta’Nous is a full-time writer who works and lives with his wife in Taos, New Mexico. “Mikey” spent his early twenties living either out of a van as a touring musician or out of a backpack on motorcycle trips writing from cafes–these rigorous adventure years polished him into a master packer. In addition to managing storage units full of catering supplies and outdoor gear professionally, Michael has used storage units as a band rehearsal space and a motorcycle garage.
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