Toy Storage

I invested in Expedit shelves from Ikea. They come in a variety of sizes and they are PERFECT for toy storage. You can buy cloth or plastic bins that fit in the squares. We have the clear plastic bins, because you can see inside them. We put the larger collections in the bins. For smaller things, like Polly pocket or army men, I have small plastic boxes we store them in and they get stacked inside a cube of the shelves. In my sons cloest we hung a peg board. A lot of odd shaped items...light sabers, back packs, binoculars get hung up on the peg board. Art supplies stay in my room. My six year old would probably be ok, but my three year old would have everything in our house glittered in a matter of seconds! And toys that need supervision or simply drive me crazy are stored at the top of the closet where they have to ask for help to get them out.

We got rubbermaid storage closets with shelves that you can padlock. My kids are young enough that I just have child-safety latches on the closets. I have toys sorted into bins in there and we clean up cars before we get out trains, for instance.

I set up an art center in a closet. I used plastic drawers on wheels. I found that if toys were stored out of sight, they NEVER got used - might as well not even have them. So I tried to keep things within reach and sight.
Also, it helps to rotate toys. When your kids get bored with their toys, pull out some you've had in storage and put the others away.

ikea has a great storage unit for kids....if you want the exact name PM me