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After working at a parenting magazine for more than seven years, I’ve seen just about every toy storage solution imaginable. In my own home, I’m a fan of some of the most basic bins available: Pehr’s bins. These canvas bins store almost all of my seven-year-old son’s playthings from dress-up clothes to Transformers, and they’ve been with us since Day One.
One of the key reasons I love Pehr bins is that they are just the right size. I find that bigger bins are problematic because kids can’t find the toy they are looking for and when a big bin gets dumped, it’s a huge clean-up project. If one of our Pehr bins gets tipped over in playtime, it’s not a huge mess (all six bins is another story). There are certain toys, including craft supplies, that need a smaller, hard container, but for vehicles, Magna-Tiles, blocks, stuffed animals, and dress-up clothes, I find the Pehr bin to be the perfect size. The moderate size also encourages moderation: When our bins get too full, it’s a sign that I need to weed through the contents and donate a few outgrown toys.
I also chose Pehr because they are made from a natural fiber that can be cleaned, and at the end of their life, biodegrade. With 100-percent cotton canvas, I don’t have to worry about VOCs off gassing in my kid’s room or microplastics sloughing off into the air. Plus, it makes me crazy to think about all the plastic toy bins that will end up in landfills.
Design-wise, I love that Pehr’s patterns and flourishes are relatively restrained–nothing too cutesy or gendered. We have three bins in a now discontinued dashes print and another three in the simple stripe. Pehr is known for their cute pom-pom bins in colors like mist blue, blush, grey, and multi, and patterns like these popular Noah’s Ark and Life Aquatic patterns, but I personally prefer the simple canvas because there’s less to catch dust or possibly unravel. The Pehr bins are also strategically designed to fit inside a standard cube bookcase, which is a reason that they are such a great choice. The two cutout handles make it easy to move the bins from place to place.
The only con I have experienced of the Pehr bin is that they discontinued the pattern I had first chosen, so I couldn’t buy more matching bins when I wanted to add to my collection. Pehr has kept their palette the same though, so I could find another similar navy print to coordinate with my existing bins.
Would I Buy the Pehr Bins Again?
Yes, I would buy Pehr bins again; in fact, I already did buy them again. When we recently rearranged my son’s room I bought three more Pehr bins, and they’re just as good as the originals I purchased before he was born.
