Stuffed animals seem to reproduce like rabbits in my house. I swear I always tell my kids “no more lovies!” yet somehow, more keep appearing. Overflowing their beds, spilling out of closets, hidden in the back of the car. Why do they have so many stuffed animals — and why won’t they let me get rid of any?! If you’re suffering from stuffed animal takeover in your home too, leave it to Jonathan Scott, construction contractor, interior designer, and co-host of Property Brothers, to come up with a genius solution. While he might be used to remodeling on a bigger scale, his brilliant hack is something super easy and affordable that all parents can (and should) do at home to save space in their kids’ rooms (and help their mental health at the same time).
Stuffed Animal Hack
Scott, who is stepdad to fiancé Zooey Deschanel’s kids Elsie, 8, and Charlie, 6, shared a helpful new video to Instagram about his innovative idea. “Does your house suffer from the same overload of stuffies that we do?” he asks in the video, before moving and showing piles on piles of stuffed animals.
But unlike at my house, these stuffed animals are off the floor (!!) and secured by mini hammocks strung up on the walls in a corner of the room. “I was trying to think of the best way to store all the extra stuffed animals. The ones that aren’t living on the kids’ beds,” he explains in the clip. “And I loved this stuffy hammock idea.”
He bought three hammocks in different sizes and mounted them on studs in the walls. “The kids know they aren’t able to climb on them,” he says, adding, “We put the stuffies up high that they don’t normally need and the ones down below that they want to access more frequently.”
“I like the aesthetic of it, and it gets everything off the floor,” he adds.
The HGTV star shared more perks about this idea in his caption. “These hammocks make clean up time super fun for your kids! And the best part is you can see where everything is!” he wrote.
Happy Parents
Many parents loved this idea! “By the way, stuffies never leave!” one person wrote. “My daughter just turned 15 and still loves her stuffies and can remember all of their names! We have 2 large hammocks for the small ones and the large Squishmallows are on the bed. 😂”
“💕🥰 Jonathan, this is such a wonderful idea! This way you aren’t stepping on or tripping over them! 😂 LOL 🥰💕,” another person wrote.
“Pet nets! We had these in the 80s! Still a good idea and I like that they have more decorative ones now,” someone else said.
‘My Jonathan’
Scott opened up about how Deschanel’s kids view him in a Father’s Day interview on his website. “
“The little one, Charlie, doesn’t actually remember a time before me,” he said. “The big thing for me was them wondering, ‘Who is this giant guy who’s all of a sudden showing up around us?’”
“Something that was really a struggle was what they were going to call me,” Scott explained. “They have their dad [Jacob Pechenik] and they have a great relationship with him, so he’s Daddy. I couldn’t say papa because that’s what they call their grandpa (though at one point we tried to change the narrative and get them to call me papa instead, but they weren’t having it).”
Finally, the kids decided on “My Jonathan.” “Eventually they came up with ‘my Jonathan,’” he said. “So, whenever they tell a story they say, ‘There’s Daddy, there’s Mommy, and he’s my Jonathan.’” Isn’t that the cutest thing ever?
Before you go, check out these celebs who are close with their stepkids.
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