Inspiration for creating the perfect play spaces. Where I begin when taking on a toy overhaul.

Toys. I remember a time when this word did not immediately invoke feelings of fear and complete overwhelm. Or work. I remember being so excited to look at and decide what toys I would buy for my first baby, Jack and then later, Isabel. It probably wasn't until I had Lucy, when Jack was 4, that I began to think "ok, that's enough now." But they kept coming. Birthdays, Christmases, more children, toys, toys, toys. I've spent so much time cleaning up and organising toys, but over the past year I came to a point when enough was enough. It was starting to take up too much of my time.

I decided to do something about it. I used Pinterest to research different ideas. The following helped me to find a way to live happily with toys. Lately I haven't put much effort into maintaining the system I put in place. Our big holiday, birthdays and sickness have ruled, so I have just closed the playroom doors each night and ignored the problem growing. Time to get back to basics.

This post is written by Joshua Becker as part of the Becoming Minimalist Blog. In this post he outlines the 'why' concerning less toys.

If you would love to be inspired by a whole lot of pictures, this link will take you to my Pinterest board Just Gorgeous Kids Spaces. There are about 200 pins of beautiful play rooms, bedrooms and storage ideas. I will definitely be looking over this board right before I give the kids' rooms a once over. Note: I'm showing Jack the picture of the stick teepee in the morning, so I'm almost certain we will have one soon enough!

If you want to read something extreme, read this. This is written by Ruth from Living Well, Spending Less. She took ALL her daughters toys away. Not completely my desire, but an interesting read.

For something less extreme read this. By Rachel at Small Notebook, how to start simplifying the easy way. If you are really time poor, or just need to change things a little, this is a great read.

I liked this approach. This post is from S.A.H.M i AM. I did our upstairs this way originally, moving everything downstairs as it was discarded. It allowed me to get three rooms done fairly quickly, then I could take my time with downstairs because no one cared they couldn't use the room. The kids were soooo happy with upstairs they didn't ask to play downstairs. Isabel especially had the exact same reaction as this writer's little girl. I have started reading Simplicity Parenting (Kindle edition) but then came across Nurture Shock, so I'm reading that first.

This post is from Early Bird Mom. She gives a great outline of the 'how to' process for paring back a toy collection.

So after reading all this I will sit and have a cuppa and a chat with my children. I will ask them what they think about the whole toy situation and what needs to happen. I'm usually surprised by their responses, so I'm looking forward to this. We will probably look through the Pinterest board together while Miss D is asleep and discuss which toys are not being played with and which toys in the garage storage they miss and would like to have included upstairs. Then while I sit at the dining table and make a brief plan, they will probably draw and write their own. It won't matter if I use a single thing from their plans, all they will want is what they usually want, what we all want. To be included. And to be heard. I can't wait for the "I can't believe you made us this beautiful room!" moment. All worth the journey.