Containment Issues
By Lisa Casinger -- Kids Today, 6/1/2008
Whether your child is 6 months, 6 years or 16 years old, keeping up with the clutter is a constant battle. Fortunately, there are many storage solutions that can grow with your child as their needs, and yours, change.
Today’s furniture-based storage solutions for infants, toddlers, tweens and teens, are part art, part science, part common sense and sometimes even part fun.
Dollhouse bookcases have rooms that allow little hands to play make believe, while the square and rectangular cubbies makes them ideal compartments for decorative storage baskets and bins.
Under crib/bed storage keeps clutter at bay without taking up more floor space. Options include drawers on the sides and now some manufacturers are adding storage doors at the foot of the beds as well.
Wall storage units are multi-purpose pieces. When it comes to a room full of books, games, puzzles and toys, you can never have enough shelving. And many manufacturers add a decorator’s touch with coordinating baskets and bins sized perfectly for the shelves. Manufacturers also are offering more choices now aside from a standard bookcase. There are stacking cubes that allow you to create the configuration that meets your needs as well as bunching units that can surround a bookcase headboard.
Media centers/armoires can also be a plus in a kids’ room, though maybe not the first or even second piece of furniture parents consider. These pieces that were once used mainly in dens or family rooms have migrated to the bedrooms and manufacturers have down sized them considerably. This category keeps evolving though as the TVs, computers and gaming systems keep getting thinner and more streamlined.
Baskets, tubs, bins and drawers are a parent favorite. There are lined and unlined baskets, lids/no lids, ones to match your nursery, toddler’s or tween’s room décor and many other options. These catch-alls are a great way to corral everything from diapers and toys to books, clothes, lotions and CDs/DVD/games. For younger children, bins and baskets can be used to start teaching them to clean their rooms. Putting pictures of toy categories on bins can help children learn organization early.
Over-the-door pocket hangers are another storage solution that saves space. Group preschool memories or sort shoes and everyday apparel accessories inside these cloth door organizers designed with pockets of various sizes and shapes.
