A toy story (cheesy title, I know..)

Last week I had an epiphany.

I'll tell you what it was, but first a background story leading to said epiphany.

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When I was pregnant with Micha, B. and I swore up and down that our living room would not be taken over by baby paraphernalia and toys. 

We live in a small apartment and we like our living room to be as clear of clutter as it can be.

I had reserved two baskets in the living room for him, one for his books and one for his toys. 

And the toys that we would have would be wooden, aesthetically pleasing, quality toys. 

No plastic, battery needing, noise making junk. 

Yep, that was the plan. (can you tell where this story is heading?)

We had received some plastic toys as gifts, 

but we thought we'd teach Micha to love the wooden ones more. 

I know, we're crazy, hippie, cruel parents, us. Ha!

Then Micha came around, and guess which toys he preferred: the noisy, plastic, battery powered ones. 

Of course...

And as he grew older the more toys (wooden and plastic) we received and bought for him. 

The two baskets just weren't cutting it anymore.  

His toys and books were flowing over and our living room was looking cluttered and messy. 

Not that I mind it that much during the day. It's not like I clean up after Micha constantly. 

That would just be crazy.

But after the little guy goes to bed it's nice to be able to clean up the baby stuff 

and not see it until the next day. 

It just helps me relax a bit more.

So, the baskets weren't cutting it, and I needed something bigger and better to put his toys in. 

I didn't feel like spending a ton of money on a big toy chest and additionally sacrificing precious floor space.

And then I remembered something I had seen on one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love, 

they had used their ottoman to store all the toys. 

And it hit me; we have an ottoman that can be used as storage too! 

^ ^ ^ ^

And so their epiphany had become mine. 

It's been such a perfect solution for the clutter problem, 

it stores all of Micha's toys, it doesn't take up any extra space and Micha seems to love it too:

Now, how to keep the ottoman organized?

Haha...

Happy Weekend!

Love, Maria