The toys are taking over.

Pre-kids, when I knew everything about being a good mom, I said I wouldn't let toys take over our living room. I said I wouldn't buy my kids a lot of things because they don't need a ton of toys. I said a lot of things.

Now I have kids and I see how excited my two year old gets when we get a new train (Thomas & Friends). And I just can't stop myself sometimes! There are Legos and pirate ships and train tracks and crayons and PlayDoh. It's too much.

So we are at a point where we're reaching full capacity in our small townhouse. I am desperately trying to store the toys so that they're accessible, but also look semi-organized when they're put away.

Before I sound like I have any of my crap together, here is a picture of our living room in its usual disarray.

Don't judge me.

With the help of Target, I've come up with some feasible storage solutions.

A basket for books next to the chair where we read. (Yes it's a to' up basket.)

Big baskets for the bigger toys

1 bin for MegaBlocks/Legos and 1 for train tracks

I love this so much. Again, Target. I kind of have a system for what goes where that may or may not be followed regularly. We do what we can. 

That's how we (sort of) keep the chaos under control. I'm open to other suggestions! Happy toy organizing!

Liveable Decor

You could say I've struggled to find my decorating voice. I've never really considered myself a super creative person and because of that never put much effort into figuring out how to make the atmosphere of our home warm and inviting. Then I started staying home with my son in 2012 and all of a sudden I realllly cared what our house looked like because I was spending a lot of time there.

Since then I've figured out that I like a bright and airy look in our house. HGTV is now my love language and Target and World Market are my favorite places to go for fun new pillows and cute storage baskets. Oooh and TJ Max. Don't forget those guys.

In the most recent issue of HGTV Magazine, they did a spread on using trays as functional decorative pieces. I was really excited reading this, because I had all of the pieces already in my home to make the cookbook/knife/utensils tray. 

I put my most used and prettiest cookbooks between my butcher block and utensils holder. I love how it looks! It's a great way to have some cookbooks easily accessible for use while cooking and it makes the whole space more colorful. 

What do you think?