Organizing Toys...in the Living Room

We live in a 1300 square foot townhome. We have 6 rooms and not a lot of storage space. The only places toys are located are in the living room and each of the kids' bedrooms. I do keep a bin of toys in the car too. I got tired of random toys floating around the car, so I decided to add a bin out there as well. This first post is how we organize our toys in the living room...

We recently got the train table seen here. It was something that I did not invest in for a long time because of a) space and b) space. But with three kids here during the day (3.5, 22 months and 20 months), all who love trains...I'm glad we made the $25 craigslist investment. What you can see is another bin of trains under the table. Our couch used to be centered under the two pieces of art. I moved it so that I could slide the table under the window when we weren't using it. We bought some of those "magic movers" and put them on the bottom of the legs so it slides easily. (I can't find a link now, but you can buy them at Home Depot/Lowes...just ask for furniture sliders.)

This bookshelf used to hold the "baby" toys, but as Adeline gets older - all toys are equal for the most part. It still holds some younger toys along with train track and the Little People farm set. We also use the train table to set up our Little People sets as well. It keeps it interesting to take the trains down every few days or so.

The other toy corner. I just added the upper shelves (cheapest you can buy at Home Depot - particle board with some L-brackets....) a few months ago. The items up there are ones that need Mommy's help. Games, playdoh, craft supplies, puzzles, etc. These items used to share a bookshelf with my craft items (in the dining room) but it was over-flowing and I had to do something else!

The red/green bins below the shelves are generally sorted. My kids have just learned (with no labeling) what goes where and Will can now clean up the entire living room by himself - assuming he's in the right mood. The bins are divided like this:

Baby doll items
Adeline's little people sets and girly toys
Adeline's misc. (used to be the baby teethers and such)
Will's misc.
Balls
Bob the Builder Duplos

In addition, there is one cubby for books as most of our books, one for additional Duplos and one for Little Tikes Waffle Blocks. (Did anyone else play with waffle blocks as a child? I did and was so excited to find some at consignment for my kids! They love them!)

Also included in this corner is the library book bag and baby doll accessories. All baby dolls are dumped into the "pack n' play" along with a large stuffed dolphin (won at the State Fair - soon to move to Goodwill).