I’ve always liked the look of Tidy Books book cases and book storage. Their products are so practical but also appealing to look at, so I was really happy to review one of the Tidy Books book storage boxes with the boys.
My boys have lots of books in our house, stored across bookshelves in the playroom and in each of their bedrooms. We always end up with a few scattered around the living room too, so I really like having the book box to allow us to keep some of their favourite books available in the living room in a much tidier way. It’s also really good for rotating books, and keeping a good selection handy for them to choose from in a ways that’s more accessible.
The Tidy Books book box comes in a small box, and needs to be assembled which only takes about 10-20 minutes and is not too tricky. The pieces are all made of Lime wood, not MDF, so the quality and feel of the finished product is very good.
The boxes are available in white, teal or natural wood. I decided to go for white, which goes with everything!
Once assembled, the box will hold around 40 books of all sizes, across two large shelves on each side of the box. It also has a carrying handle, to move the box around the house if needed.
The box also has a play clock on the side of the box, which my younger boys enjoyed playing with and is a fun way to practice telling the time, and getting familiar with how a clock works.
The way the books are displayed, in a forward facing design, makes it easier for the boys to see their favourite books at a glance, and also allows new titles to grab their attention. I filled the box with a selection of books from fiction to non fiction, picture books, annuals and easy reading books, so that there’s something to suit all moods and something to suit all three of my kids.
If you’re focusing on a particular topic with the kids, whether it’s to tie in with their school learning, or other themes that you’re following at home, the Tidy Books box would be really handy for that too as you can easily fill it with a selection of books that tie in with your chosen theme, and the visual display of the book fronts will pull the kids in much more effectively than just a stack of books! I also like that the box is clearly organised in two halves, so you could also put different kinds of books on either side – there are loads of possibilities!
I always find that rotating a selection books keeps the children more interested, whereas they can get overwhelmed by choice with just the normal bookshelves, especially when they are packed very full as ours are! The capacity of 40 books in this box is a good amount that works well even with more than 1 child using the box.
The size of the book box is H34cm x W54cm x D28cm, which is fairly large (as you can see it compared to one of our sofas in a picture above), and is big enough for two or three children to sit around and choose books at the same time, but still small enough to tuck tidily out of the way when needed.
(don’t mind the costume, my kids are really into dressing up and sometimes come downstairs with very random combos on!)
I’m really pleased with the Tidy Books book box. It’s a great tactile and visual book storage solution that would grow really well with a child, from their baby days right up to an older reader.
Each book box is available for £79.00, which I think is good value for this good quality product. See the book boxes on the Tidy Books website for more details.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
That looks really great….It reminds me of the storage they have in schools. I love the clock on the end. What a great addition x
I love these boxes, they’re just such a great way of storing books whilst keeping them accessible – and letting the children make their own reading choices. We’re huge Tidy Books fans x
This looks awesome. Always need more book storage! Thanks for the recommendation.
Great idea for storage! And I see you read “The good dinosaur”, great book, my Jackie loves it. We bought this book along with personalized book from http://www.mycustombook.com/ , She loves both. Especially, personalized book, it has her name on the cover, and the whole story in a book is built around her name. Pretty awesome.