If like us, your kids have a ton of video game cartridges and discs because you haven’t entirely made the move to digital downloads, storing them can be tough. I don’t have a game room, and I don’t necessarily want to look at 4 media shelves or giant video towers filled with Wii games in my living room. So here are a few creative ideas to help you get those games organized. Provided the kids put them back every time, of course. –Liz
An old apothecary cabinet can be very cool game storage, on a media console or mounted to the wall. This one happens to be gorgeously handmade to order in your choice of colors, and fits up to 126 DVDs or 252 CDs. ($299.99, Red Rooster Bab)
This affordable magnetic disc mount system is pretty nifty, mounting your top-used games safely to the wall. And none of it is permanent, so as you rotate in new favorites it’s easy to change ($7.95, Laboratory 424)
If your games are in your living room, and you’d rather it not look like the floor of Best Buy, consider something creative like a stack of vintage suitcases. Etsy is filled with them, and you can even divide gaming systems by color. (Shown, $30, Vintage that’s Mintage)
When you want to keep games accessible on a shelf but don’t love the look of them, I think these custom video game covers are so ridiculously clever. You’ll get 3 custom PDFs made to look like classic Penguin book covers, each made to fit your choice of gaming system or DVD case. Grand Theft Auto IV never looked so classy.($6/3 or $1.49/ea for larger orders, James Bit)
Bins are an obvious solution. But On Love Grows Wild, a pair of $1 bins plus a drill makes for really simple DIY NIntendo DS charger and game storage
One solution to kids who never put their Wii discs back in the cases: Get rid of the cases with this DIY Wii game storage solution at Infarrantly Creative. It’s definitely not for a novice DIY-er but you could recreate it with a clear hanging shoe rack too.
Obvioulsy a standard media console with built in cabinetry is conventional, but there are some nice ones that look less like “media consoles” and more like furniture. Deep pull-out drawers can be a huge help, especially for lots of cables and controllers which is what I love about my IKEA Besta-Burs console.
