Goodbye Sunroom Furniture, Hello Toys

 

It's official. The toys have taken over. :)

 

After Cooper had his first birthday last month, I was in dire need of a better organization system for his toys. Previously I had them just randomly thrown into two large baskets in the living room. He had a little ride-on car and a few larger toys that I would just line up on the floor along the wall.

 

It was a bit of a pain to pick everything up off of the floor whenever I vacuumed and there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to where anything was. After his birthday, I decided it was high time to figure out a more permanent solution. 

 

We had two possible spots on our main floor that we could have turned into a little play area: the sun room or the breakfast room.

 

Since we already had the sun room / living room / dining room area sectioned off and baby proofed, it just made sense to use the sun room. While the breakfast room would have been cute, the door out onto the deck is in there and the space gets a lot of traffic (and dirt!) from the pups. Plus, the kitchen and breakfast room is where the dogs hang out when they are too hyper, wet from outside, or when we go out. Translation: dog fur central.

 

So, the sun room it would be. I moved one of the wicker chairs into our bedroom, another chair into the dining room, and the loveseat into spare bedroom. Just for now, until I can figure out a better place for them. Maybe in the basement eventually?

 

The sunroom already had a little shelf and built-in cupboard that Cooper loves to play in. I used the shallow shelf to store all of his medium-sized trucks and toys.

 

 

I used one of the larger baskets to store his musical instruments: two drums, a piano, and a homemade rain stick that I made in teacher's college. I gotta say, he LOVES those drums.

 

On the other side of the room I brought down the bookshelf with baskets that was up in his nursery and not being used.

 

 

I organized the baskets like so:

 

Basket #1: Stuffed Animals

Basket #2: Books

Basket #3: Puzzles

Basket #4: Train Set

Basket #5: Train Set

Basket #6: Wooden Blocks

 

I have another large basket in the corner that is filled with miscellaneous toys: balls, ribbons, wooden spoons, etc.

 

His little ride on toys, a bike and a car, get parked under the window. His two other large toys have a spot along the side wall.

 

I haven't decorated the room at all, so far I've just plunked everything in there. But, I suppose I could add a few things here and there to add a bit more "fun" to the little room.

We are so lucky that we have a built-in little space like this. We are also very grateful that Cooper has so many friends and family that spoil him rotten with all of these toys!

And here's the little stinker in action:

Now that's a mischievous grin if I've ever seen one.

P.S. It's all rainy and dreary here today. That's why we're loungin' in our joggers. Oh yeah.

P.S.S. My desktop has about 5000 pictures on it. Man, I'm so disorganized.

P.S.S.S. I have eight draft posts on the go right now. I hit publish on this one though. Booyah!

P.S.S.S.S. It's kind of annoying when people say "booyah".

P.S.S.S.S.S. Cooper slept for an hour for both of his naps today, instead of the usual 30-40 minutes each. Sa-weeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Knock on wood because my project list could really use a few extra daylight hours ifyaknowwhatImean.

P.S.S.S.S.S.S. I was a total domestic goddess yesterday and put away 3+ baskets of clean laundry that was sitting there for two weeks. I'm pretty sure that deserves some sort of medal.

P.S.S.S.S.S.S.S. I have so much to say today. Maybe it's time to whip up one of those weird, random posts that you guys seem to like so much. Heh heh heh...... :)