Before and After: Toy Storage

This post is going to be kind of pitiful. It's really not newsworthy at all but I just wanted to share that we finally did something about our little foyer. Not it's fault, but it has become the play area for lack of anyplace else to put toys (besides the sideboard table, and besides the built-in cabinet, and besides the other built-in cabinet, all of which are, um, full already).

Way back when, Jason made a toy box for Ashton. And I had nothing better to do so I painted all the letters. Time has gone on, Alex was born, and we have accumulated more and more colorful small plastic playthings  ("toys"). The toybox was overflowing and looked like this.

While it was good for easy clean up in that you could just toss everything in, there were toys on the bottom that never saw the light of day. Plus it looked messy and there was no lid. Especially now that Alex is in the thick of things, I knew it was time to come up with a better and more attractive toy storage solution that was also not personalized to favor our older child.

I took to Pinterest, where someone has always thought of something good. It saves a lot of time not to have to come up with original ideas of your own. Most of the search results were of the cubby-with-basket variety, either DIY or IKEA, but some of the especially handsome wall storage units were...Pottery Barn Kids. I drooled. I got on their website. I spent way too much time going through the different arrangements for their Cameron storage system until I had it:

Nicely covers up most toys, still room for a couple cute baskets, and tons of space. The best part was that this beauty is 87 inches wide and the space I was working with? 87.5 inches wide. Llllllllike a glove. Excuse the terrible rendering, but it was to go something like this.

But with all the surrounding toys nicely inside and not visible. And if a toy could not fit? It was headed to the basement. I was not messing around; I wanted my foyer back.

So it would have fit perfectly. Totally a sign that this PBKids unit was the solution. Price tag? Expensive, but it was on "special sale" and I had a 15% off coupon.

So I said, I'm just going to go up to Pottery Barn Kids in the mall to see the pieces in person before I order it. Make sure the white is a good white and all that. But in my mind, the store visit was a formality. This puppy was as good as bought.

And then I got there. They didn't have the exact set up but they didn't need to. I prepared myself to be in love and get out my wallet.

Hmmm. We'll say it was a quiet introduction. My heart did not somersault. I opened and closed the cabinet doors and slid the drawers in and out. I stepped back and stared at it and all of a sudden, it was like someone brought out the smelling salts. I blinked. This unit was well over one thousand dollars. Plus shipping, plus tax, and plus the totally BS "delivery surcharge", which was yet another $120 (courteously knocked down to $75 due to the sale). I was really looking at more like fifteen hundred dollars after all was said and done. For this! It wasn't even that great! Oh how I wanted to love it, to tell Jason "Oh my gosh, it's so well made, 100% solid wood and worth the money, I promise!" but it wasn't! I could not believe how fast reality came into focus.

I stood there staring at it for another minute and then picked myself up and walked out, irrationally angry at Pottery Barn Kids for such an outrageous, downright offensive price tag.  I was so mad. Mad because I was ready to invest in something high-quality and PBKids is supposed to deliver that, but it was so unbelievably overpriced I just wanted to yell at someone about the injustice. I guess that someone is you haha. To this day I remain loathe to order from them. You would have had to see it and touch it in person, but that storage unit was not worth it, and there was no denying it, no matter how much I thought I wanted it.

So what did I end up doing? Naturally, the answer was Ikea. Basic cube storage, a few baskets, and the added fun of using tools with Daddy while wearing his special watch. (Sorry, this video is too funny not to link. "What time is it?" "Forty-five minutes.")

After way too long a post about this...

BEFORE

AFTER

You know what's funny? There is virtually no difference between the two. And the toybox is somehow still full!

We call this a fail, people. Big time. I am the official loser of the fight against toys in my house. The kitchen usually looks like this by dinnertime anyway.

In the end, I have two boys that play and leave toys and snack crumbs in their wake. Our walls are dented, our finishes are chipped, and there is pee all over the place every time Ashton goes to the bathroom. I could have shelled out $1,500 for that storage system, but these truths would have remained.

So this is my little public service announcement: Just say no to Pottery Barn Kids. Because even if you have the money, nothing can help you ;)