Living and Dining Room Organization

We haven't made any changes to these rooms in a while {we did some dining room updates in June} but I thought I'd share how we organize things, namely toys, in our main living space. The only toys kept in the nursery are puzzles {laying flat in a basket under the crib} and Claire's beloved doll, which pretty much never leaves her side. 

So, let's start with the dining room: 

The top three shelves of each bookcase hold all of our books, including cookbooks and photo books, and a file box with lots of boring grown-up paperwork. All the canvas bins on the fourth shelf down hold children's books. We were very lucky to inherit quite a collection from my parents when they moved to Shanghai and we've also found lots at Goodwill. 

The canvas bins on the bottom shelf hold most of Claire's toys. 

One is devoted to board books and another to a random assortment of blocks, stacking rings, bead maze, cars, and a pull-along alligator.



There's one for play food/dishes and another for her Little People Noah's Ark and nativity set.



The cabinet in between the bookshelves, which we've dubbed our family altar, is home to seasonal/special occasion dishes and table linens.



Okay, onto the living room. We turned this little wall between the kitchen and the hallway into our mudroom of sorts, with coat hooks and a boot tray.







Claire's toy stroller and rocking chair, both occupied by stuffed animals, hang out in the front of the fireplace {which is covered up with chalkboard to keep out little fingers}. We also have metal basket over there to hold blankets and more stuffed animals. My mom brought Claire the Hello Kitty purse from China. She keeps her cell phone, keys and camera inside, just like mommy.  Oh, and the red house with the "three" on it is a fun three little pigs set. 



The rest of Claire's toys are in these baskets stored in the coffee table. 



One holds musical instruments, one holds little baby toys {rattles and cloth books} and the last one holds some balls and her shape sorter.





In the yellow end table closest to the front door, we keep some more board books, coasters, and weights for when I'm occasionally motivated enough to do a work-out video. Which is never nowadays!





The other end table is all stocked up for Maggie's arrival with diapers, wipes, and a ridiculous supply of nursing pads. We don't really have a good spot for library books, so Claire's usually just sit right here.



On top of our tv stand, we have a jack-in-the-box and a box full of magnetic alphabet letters.



In the top drawer, we keep art supplies, remotes, playing cards, and a tablet {a generous gift from Adam's work}.



And in the main cabinet, we keep the Wii, my sewing box, board games, and some leather binders of CDs and DVDs.



Oh, and I almost forgot. We also have a piano keyboard that we store underneath our couch!