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It's pretty dumb but this is giving me anxiety. Right now I am watching LO play in the playroom and realizing I really need to set up a "play house" area with all her doll stuff and food stuff because she loves to cook for and feed her babies... and then change their diapers and put them down for naps and so forth. Right now she just has a little plastic kitchen but I want to get her a "real" play kitchen for Christmas. But there just isn't room with everything else! I just bought her a little IKEA table to do arts & crafts on, but now I'm wondering if that is going to take up valuable space. My MIL also wants to get her a train table (she does love trains) and I am like where is it going to go??? It's crazy how a room can seem plenty big until you put everything in it.

@MrsSRS: We used to have blocks in our living room but it was a pain to clean up! Trying to think of what toys to keep down there that will occupy her but will be easy to pick up.

@Freckles: That's a good point about anything messy in her room. LO's room is not very big so I think we will keep it to soft toys, books and maybe some puzzles.

As far as being near me when she plays, I have a very small IKEA desk in the playroom so I can get things done (freelancing/bills/etc.) while she is playing independently. So toys downstairs would mostly be to occupy her if I am cooking dinner.

@looch: We have a baby monitor in the playroom but LO is not even 2 yet and a tornado so I don't know that extended independent play in there while I'm in another room is in the cards for us just yet.

I got a little table for her and envisioned her doing arts & crafts there. I guess I can keep the stuff in a bin under the table?

@Mamaof2: Her play kitchen is in the basement? Wondering we need to find another spot altogether for her "playing house" stuff.

@T.H.O.U.: I think just from a storage standpoint we are going to need to use the entry way. I'm starting to think that maybe the playroom proper should be kind of "stations" and maybe bins of toys that we can pull out and put back up in the entry way?

@youboots: Once upon a time we could contain all LO's toys like that Nice bin!

@looch: I am really trying to talk my MIL into getting her tracks. I think they are more interactive/creative anyway and will grow with her. And they can be put up! But after a back and forth text conversation, when I mentioned that, she didn't reply. I think she is really Team Table.

@avivoca: Our house is 1700 sq ft I think? Our last house was about the same size but we just had toys everywhere.

I'm thinking I am going to have to give some more of the living room to her. Maybe even the train table could go there, honestly. I was hoping to keep it a mostly adult space but the playroom is overflowing. I would like to keep her babies, kitchen, and all the "play house" stuff in the playroom, I think, because there is a lot of it and she can really get absorbed in imaginative play.

@Mamaof2: Nope! Really the only places toys can go the 4 spots I outlined. But I am considering giving her more of the living room to break things up.

@looch: How big is the room? I feel like if the train table is in the center of the room, with all the other furniture there wouldn't be much open play space. It is a loft about the size of an average master bedroom. Our house is in total about 1700 sq ft.

@rosegold: I'm definitely glad we have one - I don't know what we'd do if we didn't! And we carved out a little area for me to have a "command center" so I'm glad about that.

@MrsSRS: Yeah, I'm thinking about doing that if we do end up with one!

@ShootingStar: The TV is going to be mounted on the wall so we are not losing any space from that. Even now it is just resting on top of a long low entertainment center type piece.

@chopsuey: Your house is gorgeous! And a little bigger than mine

The train table saga continues. My MIL who usually texts back quickly has not said anything to me since I texted her about alternatives to a train table My mom suggested I ask for a multipurpose table and return the little IKEA arts & crafts table I just bought. It's a good idea because I can put it in the spot I had for the other table... but the only one I can find like that is HUGE.

http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Wooden-Multi-Activity/dp/B000IMQ40U
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Wooden-Railway/dp/B000FIN2E8/ref=pd_bxgy_21_text_y

Oh and my mom reminded me she wanted to turn a big vintage trunk I used to have into a dress up trunk for Sadie. I am like We are going to have to sleep outside.

I'm not sure what to do...

@My Only Sunshine: I think that is going to have to be part of the solution! I'm not sure how to easily rotate big stuff like a train table or huge heavy dress up trunk... but I definitely think we are going to need to do that with the smaller things.

@avivoca: That's how I feel too. It's one thing to buy a toy as a gift - it's another to buy essentially a piece of furniture that will take up space in another person's house. At least my mom was nice enough to offer for the dress up trunk to stay at her house. I just hate that because we don't get to visit often - and this is something sentimental she's had in mind for a long time.

@chopsuey: I don't want to post pictures publicly but I can send you an IG DM later! Don't judge the work in progress I do think we are going to need to do some storage / rotation.

@Mamaof2: My dream is to find an under the bed train table! So far the only one I have found is in the UK and doesn't ship here.

@T.H.O.U.: They always do!!! My mantra is: "There are much worse things than generous grandparents."