Toddler Couch/Hidden Storage

Living in an apartment has taught me how important it is to maximize storage space. And what better place to hide storage than in plain sight? So I set out to not only disguise some storage, but to make it doubly functional as well!

How did I come up with the idea of a toddler couch? Well, our current living room felt too cramped with two couches, so we stuck one in Bekka's room. She liked having "Bekka's couch" where she could cuddle with her stuffed animals and read books. When we finally got around to selling the other couch, we put "her" couch back in the living room. She was a little distressed by all the changes, so I had this brilliant idea and promised her that I would make her a Bekka-sized couch.

I started with a bin full of baby clothes that I want accessible, but don't need right now (3-12 month clothes). I knew this was the perfect height for her, because she kept sitting on it when it was just laying around on the floor. Then I added a box of all my really cute pre-Riley clothes that I've been carting around for 3+ years hoping to fit in them again. I have until we move out of this apartment to lose enough weight to fit in them, otherwise we're getting rid of them. Anyway, for the time being, they're not very useful, so I figure it's okay if they stay boxed up for a while. I originally put it on top of the bin, but didn't like how wobbly it was, so I decided to place it behind the bin.

We have A LOT of blankets. I'm always really grateful during the winter months, but it's hard to store all of them when summer rolls around. So I used one of them to give some padding to the "seat" of the couch. Then I rolled up another one to add some height to the back, and give it a more traditional sofa look. That one was purely aesthetic, but also freed up some space for other things.

Next I threw another blanket (we seriously have A LOT) over the top to make it soft, comfy, and more couch-like (the fabric is perfect for this, right?)

I decided to add on some "arm rests," so I rolled up a couple of Bekka's blankets (she also has way more than she can even use during winter, and they've just been sitting in a pile since the weather has been nicer).

I adjusted the top blanket so that the rolled-up arm rests were covered too.

And the final touch was a couple throw pillows, which look rather cartoonishly big , but Bekka loved the idea and even asked me to go find more for her. And voila! Not only did I find a place for these storage items, but I managed to make it all cute and serve another purpose. Oh, and I made my kid super happy because she now has her own special couch that she doesn't have to share with anyone (well, for now)!