PlaySpace Updated

I don't know that I ever shared the playspace that we made for EG.  It was a really basic space in our living room, just a square of gate around all of her toys.  I tried to rotate her toys every week or so, but that wasn't a really easy task, as nothing in the space was organized or arranged in any type of pattern or theory of order.

I would just put toys in different corners, clean-up the space (yeah spilled cheerios) and move on with life.  Here's the only 'decent' photo I have of the old space.  You would walk inside the door and it would be right there, which also meant that there wasn't a place to put on your shoes, and the walls often served as a temporary coat rack (see jacket on left!)

But as EG has gotten older, and the toys have gotten messier I realized I needed a better spot for her to be entertained, safe and happy- especially when B2 arrives on the scene.

Enter the living room flipflop and a buying string at IKEA and we have the new playspace:

And goodness is it working well!  EG asks to go in almost daily, and spends at least 20-30 minutes in there happily content looking through her toys, moving things around, and most of all enjoying her new table space.  We had a play date with one of EG's friends when school was closed for Shavuot and it couldn't have been better timing- they spent quite a while playing in there and there were more than enough chairs for everyone.

We went to IKEA  and spent some time in the kids section.  When we went there I thought that we were going to go with the Trofast system, or the ubiquitous Expedit (now Kallax).  When we got there, Working Dad found this gigantic toy box- the STUVA system.  I honestly wasn't that thrilled with it.  His argument was that when he was a kid he had a huge toybox, and everything went in there and it was totally fine.  My argument is that I like things organized, and that I personally find that when EG can find her toys, she's much happier playing with them.

However, he won because of cost and because of the nice seating bench that the STUVA ended up creating.  For now I've got it semi-divided with Lego storage boxes in between items, but I think I'll end up making a few wooden dividers for it.

 The blue monster is Working Dad's when he was a kid, and we both REALLY like how this is a cute little window seat for reading, and for both of us to sit on when we want to be in her playspace with her.  Books, books and more books.  EG has taken to reading her babies to sleep "they go night night" which is quite adorable.

The corner unit of the living room is now a great display space for a few of EG's toys, and the bottom section keeps things organized, yet out of sight.

It's quite the feat, and I'm hoping that once she gets the toys for her birthday (OH MY GOODNESS!  SHE TURNS TWO THIS MONTH!) that I'll be able to take some of the more babyish items and move them into B2's room.

One step at a time.

Do your kids have a designated playspace?  How do you keep toys organized?