Tiny Space, BIG Personality

So I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and its a pretty nice size for NYC. But as Aryeh is getting bigger and busier I am starting to wonder how anyone manages to contain a toddler in an apartment AND all their "stuff". The funny thing is my neighbor who lives directly under has 4 kids...but maybe she doesn't let them own anything? I know she doesn't allow shoes in the house so who knows what else...
I am always looking for ideas but currently this is how we make it work.
Aryeh doesn't have the largest room and in it I had to fit crib, dresser, High-Riser (hello, grandparents), hamper and a toy chest. Everything is along the walls so the space in the middle I use for his fun stuff. I took the attachments off the play gym from when he was a baby and use it as a mat for the toys to go on top of. I keep mostly smaller size toys there and things that go missing easily (balls, blocks, puzzle pieces) since it is a small space and I have better chances of finding them. I find that as long as I get all the toys on the mat at the end of the day and the books in the bin the room looks tidy and its done pretty quickly.
In my room I have a mini-trampoline (our big ticket Hanukkah gift to him this year, the kid loves jumping.) This is  actually fold-able, but I knew that would never happen. I use the space underneath to store a couple other toys, like floor mat puzzle pieces and his toy guitar & piano. The nice thing about having this little "play station" in my room is that since he comes into our room when he wakes up it gives us a little time to stall in bed before starting the day - neither Eli nor I am a morning person :(
I have a large Ikea book shelf/ storage system/thingamajig in my foyer (funny story how I got this, when we moved into our first apartment a friend of Eli's happened to be moving out. He didn't feel like schlepping the bookcase so he decided that it would be our wedding gift.) I keep random books of Aryeh's in there to distract him from pulling out things we might not want ripped up. Bonus its right between desk and kitchen so he can read while I'm working in either place.
Then I've got the large toys in the living room/dining room. I've stuck them into open spaces along the parameter of the room. I have a smallish wicker basket that I use for all the toys that can fit in there. I also have his highchair in there. It folds flat to take up almost no space which I am obsessed with, so when having dinner guests we get that out of the way. Now I am thinking about buying a small table and chairs for Aryeh because I love those. It will give him a place to color and be useful for play dates. I'd also love to get a mini basketball hoop set. Winter is long and I have a feeling these additions will keep him busy and stimulated. The question is of course...where will these pieces go? I am always at a loss what to do with older toys to make room for new ones. I don't want to have to repurchase all these awesome toys when another little one come along but I honestly don't have the room for EVERYTHING!
Here are some photos that inspired me today while I scoured the web for solutions to my conundrums.

Love the baskets and the shelf idea seems awesome for a living room because everything fits either under or over. Oh and hooks. Need more hooks!

This "library" was made out of a vinyl rain gutter from a hardware store. Genius!

Should I stay or should I go now?

Sometime in December I began a long interviewing process for a prospective job in my field - marketing and PR. I went through several rounds of interviews, sample projects and DNA tests (kidding) before getting the offer. Finally the call came in and I thought to do what should have been done way before... ask about logistics. Salary? Oh we'll be giving you ____ as per your salary requirements (actually did not give them requirements, rather when pushed against the wall to state the absolute lowest salary I could work for spat out a number. Guess what I was offered?) Hours? 9-6 (With my one hour commute each way I'd call that 8-7). Still I was thrilled. For a day. And then I was overcome with a sense of dread. I literally could not sleep (and if you met my active toddler you would be surprised to hear sleep could allude anyone whose spent a day chasing him) and when I did I had strange dreams that left an awful feeling in my stomach (my son climbing out of his crib, walking  to me and tugging on my shirt "mommy! mommy!"). The main advice I received from everyone was that I needed excellent childcare. The problem was I consider Mommy excellent childcare and everything else in comparison just fell short. I explored the idea of a nanny share, and quickly saw it was not for me. Daycare seemed a better option, but it just felt cruel to pluck my child into a 10+ hour day after months of comfort with me. Everyone insisted that Aryeh would be just fine, would not know the difference. Honestly, I don't know about that because I seem to have a conversation with my son daily in which he goes "whee (where's) daddy?!"  and I have to explain to him all over again that he is at work and will come home later. Then he cries. Then I distract him. But I digress... At the end of the day what it came down to was what I felt comfortable with and what I feel rings true with my personal parenting. With Hub's support I declined the offer. Honestly, I felt relieved -  if the idea of being gone that much left such a resounding feeling of doom with me than clearly this was not right (or not right timing, as often is the case in life). And after the decision I tried not to question myself, because life happens as its meant to and my own happiness lies in remembering that. What is not fun is trying to explain decisions like this to people who go another route...lucky for me I minored in avoidance ;)