Play...A Toy Dilemma

So every year beginning in November we start the crazy birthday/Christmas season (My oldest is born in December, my middle is born in November, and my youngest in January). We end of up with heaps of new toys that get played with for all of 5 minutes. Now that May is here and the heaps of toys have been pushed aside, it's now time for the yearly purge just in time for our garage sale next month. Last week I made a huge pile for the garage sale. The kids were a little sad about some of the things in the pile but seeing now that the toys that do remain are getting played with, I know the right toys ended up in the pile.

I've been dealing with various ideas for toy storage for a while now. I want our family room to be kid friendly but I also want it to look like a fun inviting space for any guest, not just a toy dumping ground. I scored an Ikea dresser on CL last week for $20. We have the larger one in our bedroom and love it so I knew this would be perfect for the family room/play room. I'm trying to get all the toys to fit in this dresser. So far, I've almost done it. I'm hoping to purge again in a couple weeks so I think by then, all the toys will have a neat little home in this dresser.

Now for the crafty part...Here's an easy way I added a pop of color to our family room/playroom. Paper mache letters from JoAnn's spray painted red then distressed for a rustic look. I love how they turned out. This is definitely an easy project that even a beginner crafter can do!





How do you decide what toys to keep and what toys to purge? That is always my dilemma.

Shara