Decorative Toy Storage Ideas for Living Rooms and Small Spaces

Use these decorative toy storage ideas for living rooms and small spaces to keep toys organized and out of sight, so you can play and then put it all away! Buy or DIY toy storage ideas for Legos, stuffed animals, and more.

You’ll also like 10 Shoe Storage Ideas for Small Spaces and 5 Easy Ways to Store Blankets.

Decorative Toy Storage Ideas

It seems like no matter how much room they have in their bedroom or a playroom, kids always want to play with their toys in the middle of the living room.

Especially if you have a small space where the living room *is* the play room, having decorative toy storage solutions can keep the room looking tidy while preventing the clutter from kids’ toys.

So let’s look at some smart ideas for decorative toy storage! These DIY toy storage options are great for living rooms and small spaces to keep toys hidden away when not in use — turning your living room into a hidden playroom!

Decorative Toy Storage Ideas for the Living Room

Store Toys in an Ottoman or Trunk

Our go-to for hiding toys in plain sight in the living room is by using double-duty storage furniture! A storage ottoman (or two, like seen above) can double as a coffee table while also hiding toys, shoes, or blankets inside.

A storage ottoman is a must have for any home and worth the investment for storing toys now, and shoes and blankets later.

This is not your grandmother’s toy chest! Build your own Simple Wooden Storage Chest using our free plans that will be right at home in the living room or family room or kids room.

For a small space that needs a more modular storage concept, buy or DIY an ottoman or bench with wheels, like this Plywood Inlay Storage Box with Wheels. Then your decorative toy box can easily roll to the center of the room to play and back along the wall when playtime is over.

Use Decorative Toy Boxes on Bookshelves

There’s no need to add a garish plastic toy box to the corner of your living room. Work with the shelving you have and use sturdy decorative boxes as toy boxes instead. Bonus if they have lids to really keep things hidden, or a handle to make for easy moving out to play and put away.

Use labels. The most effective toy storage is labeled so kids and parents know what goes where and a chalkboard toy box checks both the decorative and functional (labeled) boxes. See how guest The Hunted Interior made these easy DIY chalkboard decorative toy boxes.

You can easily add a decorative box or basket to hide toys — this entertainment center turned bench is perfect for a couple baskets of toys!

And you can see how The Handmade Home used decorative baskets to corral small toys and books and make their bookshelves look great while also being toy-friendly.

Baskets can hide so many toys! This Wood Wrapped Storage Cube Shelf takes a basic piece of furniture and gives it a little extra style — perfect for living room toy storage.

A cube shelf turned on its side makes a great bench with storage in this playroom by I Heart Organizing.

This DIY wood tilt-out storage box was designed for spice jars, but would work great for toy cars and art supplies, too! Put it on a shelf and no one’s the wiser to what’s inside the pretty box.

Another project born in the kitchen but GREAT for toy storage: this easy DIY stacking storage bin. Use it to organize toys on a shelf or in a cupboard.

Make Decorative Toy Jars

A decorative jar isn’t just for your decor items or kitchen necessities! Grab a large glass or plastic jar to storage small toys like hot wheels, lego blocks figures, people and animal toys. A bit of glue and spray paint makes them extra stylish like these toy jars by Simplicity in the South.

Add Built-in Shelves and Drawers

When you’re looking for new shelving for your living room that will hold your stuff *and* the toys, built-ins are classic for a reason!

We added a full wall of built-ins for storage in our Park House, including this built-in bench with toy baskets.

And later in our Canyon House, we used an IKEA dresser and wardrobe to built in so much storage for our girls’ room!

A set of premade cabinets made Jennifer’s playroom built-in cabinets a great project for a DIYer of any skill level.

A built-in window seat like this one is a great addition, and gives lots of room for storing toys plus a kid-friendly place to play with them on top of the bench.

A combination of open bookshelves with cubbies and closed storage makes for a great TV area with toy storage! See how Tamara built this IKEA hack media center with toy storage.

Build Your Own Toy Storage Furniture

Just because it holds toys doesn’t mean it has to look like it’s for a child!

We designed this entry table with cubby storage and hidden storage to look great in any room, from the living room to the nursery (with the changing table topper!)

In any built-in or freestanding furniture, you can add deep toy storage drawers! Learn how to build this whole media center or just the toy storage drawers from Hertoolbelt on Remodelaholic.

IKEA Trofast buckets are a great cheap way to organize toys — build a toy organizer that matches your other furniture with this tutorial from Shanty 2 Chic. Don’t want to see the baskets? Just add doors to the front of the cabinet.

Roll The Toy Box Under a Bench

In our entryway, we added so much storage with an easy 2×6 bench with rolling baskets underneath. We made the baskets just by adding casters to galvanized storage buckets, so don’t be afraid to DIY your own rolling storage from your favorite box or basket.

Any basket you like can be put on wheels with this easy DIY rolling basket tutorial by The Heathered Nest. Then just slide it under a bench or shelf, or into a closet for easy hidden toy storage.

This whitewashed wooden toy crate by Our Home Notebook looks great and is a great scrap project, too!

Or for even larger rolling toy storage, build this one-sheet plywood box.

You can even make a Rolling Lego Table to slide around for building!

..Or Under the Couch (or Bed)

The few inches of space under the couch can provide a great home for small toys and blocks! Just like an under bed box, any container can be slid out of sight under the sofa.

Create your own under couch toy storage from a cardboard box like Creatively Home did.

Or, if you have a little more clearance space, build your own under bed rolling storage boxes that look like drawers!

DIY Toy Storage Ideas for Small Spaces

When you have a small space for playing, whether a playroom or a bedroom, make every bit count toward toy storage!

DIY Toy Storage Wall Shelves

Using wall space for books and small toys is a great way to not only organize and store them, but also keep track of what you have.

Hexagon shelves are a fun way to add color and geometric shapes to the room as seen above and in this room by Today’s Creative Life.

Get the free plans to build your own hexagon shelves here.

Pegboard Toy Storage

We spied this at a home show and thought it was a great idea! Pegboard nerf gun storage. The frame makes it like its own wall hart.

Toy Storage Wall Baskets

Wall baskets and bins are a great solution for small space toy storage. It’s easy to hang a basket at just the right height for your child to access so they can easily get out (and put away!) their own toys, too.

Our easy DIY wood wall storage bins are great for gloves or small toys and stuffed animals and take up very little space.

A horizontal wall cubby shelf is deep enough to hold toys, art supplies, and more. Build one with our free woodworking plans here.

An easy DIY pocket shelf is perfect for holding books and art supplies or other toys, too! Make your own with our tutorial here.

An inexpensive curtain rod and these homemade fabric wall baskets for toys via The Mother Huddle will hold books, stuffed animals, and toys.

A row of hooks or pegs along the wall is a great solution for so many things! These rustic pegs and buckets are labeled for easy organizing, via The Polo House.

A set of hooks and and these DIY peekaboo toy storage bags from Hey There Home make for great small space toy storage, too!

A wall planter basket like this one via Chipping with Charm makes a great stuffed animal storage spot, too — perfect for reaching from the top of a bunk bed or loft.

It doesn’t have to be a “basket” to make great toy storage — a basic wooden crate hung on the wall makes a great toy shelf in this boys room by The Lily Pad Cottage.

Stuffed Animal Storage Bean Bag

Kids collect soooo many stuffed animals, so put some away and rotate them easily by using a toy bean bag like Saving 4 Six did! It’s both toy storage and a comfy seat for reading.

She used an old beanbag cover, and you can also buy stuffed animal storage beanbag covers on Amazon. Really affordable and really smart! (And also great for storing extra blankets and poillows!0

Back of Door Toy Storage

Use the back of a bedroom door or closet door to store small toys (or to clear out space in a closet so you can put toys there!)

Our easy DIY Cabinet Door Storage Bin will add storage space to the back of any door.

Or build a whole door organizer unit with April from Wilkerdos.

Toy Storage Shelves for Small Spaces

Shelves are a gold standard for toy storage — here are some great ones for storing toys in small spaces!

A vertical Cubby Toy Organizer Shelf corrals and organizes toys while only taking up a few square feed of floor space.

Ladder shelves are smart because they allow for larger toys at the bottom shelves and smaller toys on the bottom shelves (via Just a Girl and Her Blog).

Adding storage shelves and a bench to a closet make a reading nook full of toy storage! This DIY closet transformation was shared here by Pretty Handy Girl.

More DIY Toy Storage Ideas

DIY House Shaped Toy Shelf

Build a House Shaped Shelf or two for a cute storage shelf for toys and baskets! This open shelving works great while adding a cute factor to your kids room.

Toy Lockers

Keep books, toys, and dress-puclothse organized with a toddler locker organization system via Atkinson Drive.

Dress Up Storage

Dress up clothes encourage imagination… and can create a huge mess if not organized! A dress up storage “closet” helps organize and also lets kids learn responsibility as they can hang up their own clothes.

DIY Dress-up Organizer by Craftiness is Not Optional

Easy DIY Dress-Up Storage

Kids Play Table with Storage

If you have room, a kid-sized table creates so many opportunities for creativity and imaginative play! Both of these options make the most of the space by also having storage in the stools at the play table.

Kids Play Table with Storage Block Stools

Kid’s Playroom Table via Shanty 2 Chic

DIY Stuffed Animal Storage

Stuffed Animal Storage via Cugorg

Toy Storage Closet for the Family Room

Toy Storage Closet by Remodelaholic guest Simply Organized

Kids Loft Bed with Toy Storage

A loft bed makes space underneath for lots of toy storage!

Learn how to build a princess castle loft bed.

Lego Storage

The Ultimate Lego Storage via Hometalk Blogger 2 Little Superheroes

More Fun Toy Storage and Playroom Ideas

Bookcase Turned Play Store Market by Making Lemonade

Changing Table to Toy Car Storage and Play Table via Remodelaholic guest Helping Little Hands/Pieces By Polly

DIY Lego Head Storage Can via Hometalk Blogger Organized 31

Related

• Real Life Rooms: Organizing a Playroom
• Colorful Girls Playroom Ideas
• Playful Blue Playroom Ideas

First published 08.29.2014 // Last updated 22.12.2022