Small Area, Please Help!!

[MommyMuffin]

I dont have much space. I only have my living room and dinning room for daycare. I also have a small bedroom for napping and it is crammed with totes of toys that I never take out. (I'm 33 weeks pregnant and I cant lift half of it.)

Would anyone with very limited space share some photos of their set up? PLEASE!

[Meeko]

I don't have pics, but hopefully some of these ideas will help...

Put your couch on sliders or casters so it moves easily. Pull it away from the wall a few inches and store totes of toys (also on casters) behind it. Even pregnant, you'd be able to move things and yet keep things hidden when you need to.

My friend had a couch that was on feet and had a skirt around it, so there was space under the couch. She bought some of those under-the-bed plastic storage bins. She kept cars and blocks in them and also paper and crayons in another. They rolled away under the couch when not needed.

Put a floor length tablecloth on any table. End table, side table or even dining table and store bins etc under there to.

The idea is to use as much hidden space as possible. That way you still have a "home" as well as a "day care".

In your nap room, put up shelves all around the room. Things can be up off the floor leaving more room for sleeping and playing. Low shelves can be accessed by the kids. Higher ones can only be accessed by you, so you can control the mess/rotate toys etc.

I love to google for ideas. Try looking up "storage for small places" or something like that for ideas.

[dEHmom]

i had a great site before, where they showed using old dresser drawers and putting sliders on them and using them under the bed.

i have a very small house as well, and i use a lot of bins. I have bookshelves that i tuck the bins into. i rotate toys from the basement or kids closets.

mainly it comes down to sorting your toys. all farm toys in one bin, all food toys in another bin.

i also have a big entertainment unit with 3 cubbies on the bottom. we have all our movies in behind them, and the bins fit perfectly so i have 3 bins across the bottom of the unit. and also in my bookshelf behind the door.

[cheerfuldom]

rethink everything in your space. Does it have to be there? Can it be replaced with something more dual purpose? For example, when we were in this situation, our TV was set up on top of huge cubes/cubbies so we didn't have to have an entertainment center (we later mounted the TV on the wall)

[SandeeAR]

Sorry tried to upload pics, but for some reason, the system will not upload them.

[AfterSchoolMom]

I second the idea of a table with a cloth over it if you are certain that the kids won't pull on it. When my own were babies I had an under the bed bin filled with all of their diapering items - diapers, wipes, rash cream, extra bibs, etc. in there and just slid it under the table. I changed them on a pad on the floor (also in the bin) and therefore didn't need a changing table.

How many kids do you have? Could you limit the toys to one or two laundry baskets full, and rotate them every few days or once a week?

Does the bedroom that you use for napping have a bed in it? If so, get a bed skirt and some of those bed lifting blocks that kids use for college dorms....then you can fit all kinds of things under there.

[MommyMuffin]

Great ideas! Thank you. I moved some things around and rotated a few toys.