Ok so this is a constant battle and much of the battle is also with myself.
We have a 4th bedroom downstairs as the girls share a room upstairs. Ours don't tend to spend much time upstairs in their rooms at all. They play together downstairs so most of our toys are in the 4th bedroom/ playroom.
We have ikea square unit with storage baskets in the holes. It works quite well , well it would if anyone other than me would put things where they should go!
I m a bit of a hoarder and don't like throwing things away if they still get played with or might come in handy.
I feel like I spend my live picking up toys and things and putting them away, I get annoyed...I try to get the kids to do it and I ve been trying to get them to do it as a regular daily thing before tea or bed. But as you say it can be more trouble than it's worth. Dd2 has an allergy to the work 'tidy' and she really does struggle to know what to do or where to start, the job just seems too big for her( I know how she feels !) .
Tonight they were tidying when suddenly they had created their own build a bear shop.
So here's my battle with myself, I like the kids to be able to have the freedom to be creative and imaginative in their play and to mix up the carefully constructed categorised boxes of toys and use them as they see fit in their little world. The other half of me shouts ' why is this on the floor? Have you finished playing with it? Well put it away then'
I then go into the lounge to find DH has emptied a whole box ( think very big box) of Lego onto the floor and everyone is rumaging through it.
I just tell myself it won't be forever.... And I have a fair few toys of my own in the form of random craft stuff and gardening stuff about the house
So my tips:
Embrace the toys
A storage unit with places for most things
Craft and painting stuff separate.
Try to establish a 'tidy up time' with lots of warning. I find a timer helps. - when the timer goes off we ll need to start putting all of the blue cars away or the Barbies with the blonde hair ( my way of making it more directed for dd2).
You have to tidy with them. Kids will not do it alone.
Set a good example, make yourself put your own things away before moving onto anything else.