Since I’ve spent the last week posting DIY projects I did in my daughters room, today, I’m going to show you how I put all these projects together using IKEA’s Expedit Bookcase for toy storage!
Originally, I had started out using itso cubes from Target (which I had already owned) for toy storage. It worked great, but as a parent in a wheelchair, I had a hard time reaching bins that low on the floor to clean up & get toys.

I tried re-stacking them differently but felt it was too risky to stack the cubes too high in case my 1 year old decided they would be great to climb. Instead, I started from scratch with toy organization.

First, I went through all the toys & resold the ones my daughter had ‘outgrown’ or had no interest in. Then I had some $$$ to work with to buy something to organize with, and I could see what I had left for toys to work with!

Next, I plotted on IKEA.com trying to figure out what I could do with the limited space I had in Sophie’s room. The wall I had most of the itso cubes on was  67″ and I realized IKEAs 2×4 Expedit storage was 58 5/8″ – perfect! So I started playing around with IKEAs shopping list to see what combo(s) I could afford to do for under $250, and I came up with this:
So I headed to IKEA to pick up the parts! I’ve done EXPEDIT units several before so assembly took under an hour for all of it!  Also, I decided to add the 6″ legs for 2 reasons: 
  1. They brought the height of the bottom row up to be better in my reach from a wheelchair so I can easily access the storage!
  2. To keep the top out of my daughters reach (for lamps, jewelry box, piggybank etc)
Now I have drawers for toys such as puzzles, doll clothes, little sets of toys, and board books plus I have cupboard doors to put larger toys behind

Then I added a few of my other DIY projects for additional storage-

$13 PRANT Boxes I painted and added decals to, for storage for additional toys & books:

The canvas bins I (re)covered  are great for storing stuffed animals & blocks!

My drawstring toy sacks fit great in one of the canvas bins to separate block sets:

On top of the EXPEDIT storage I have the $20 GRÖNÖ lamp set I made shades for:

Then I put them all together, and we have very organized toy storage for under $300!!!

Of course there are always a few favorite ‘oversized’ toys – like Woofer & H2 Woah!, and since the sections in EXPEDIT are approx 13x13x15, I needed an additional spot to store a few bigger items, so that is what I use the $15 IKEA APA toybox for. I made the lid into a magnetic chalkboard so the lid itself doubles as an extra toy!

And for a table to play at, I hacked IKEAs $20 LATT Table & Chairs:

And above the table is our DIY wall shelves for books!

So, between our EXPEDIT storage, APA Toybox & wall shelves for books, all the toys have a place which makes them easy to clean & neat to keep stored! And, if we get to the point that there’s not enough room for all the toys, then that’s when it’s time to sort through some, and get rid of what we’re not using!

So that’s the tour as for how we used my DIY Tutorials at our house! :)

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