Family/Living Room Storage & Organization

When we decided to paint our wall unit rather than retire it for a console with a tv hung above it, our main consideration was storage.  We store a bunch of stuff in there, both decoratively and behind closed doors.  In fact, storage was taken into consideration throughout our family room and today I am sharing where we keep things.  Let's start with decorative baskets that are also so very functional.

Baskets add warmth and storage and they are probably my favorite decorative element in a room to make it feel homey and lived in.  I usually shop for baskets at HomeGoods and Target.

My boys are getting older so toys don't fill this space like they once did.  Now, we have one basket (from Target) hidden behind a chair that holds a few toys that still occasionally get played with.  We used to have several large baskets like these for toys.

They may not play with actual toys, but we have an abundance of video gaming equipment. 

They keep their video game discs in a binder.  The piles of video game boxes that were gathering all over the family room began to drive me crazy.  Now, they take the games out of the boxes they came in and store them in a binder which takes up much less valuable storage space.  They hold onto the actual cases in their bedroom closets in case they want to sell or trade in a game at Gamestop.  

Under the tv and in the side cabinets, we store movies, games, and video game equipment.

Those small Ikea baskets are the perfect size for movies.

Finally, here is a look at the other view of the room.  Our Crate and Barrel trunk style coffee table is also useful for storage.  And I can't say enough about how great our leather furniture has been for kids and dogs.

I hope I was able to spark an idea for ways to store things in your house.  And I am always on the hunt for ways to make things a bit more organized at our house so please share if you have any ideas that are working great for you!