Ay-yay-yay!

~~My 5 year old is, to put it gently, a collector. She especially loves little things. Her entire room often gets taken over by these little groups of collections. And I have to watch or else I'll even find groupings of things she's brought in- like rocks, sticks or leaves. To make matters worse, she has a very small room with not a lot of storage space. I love that she is such a treasure hunter, but it's starting to get out of control.
~~Her small room is getting very cluttered. I have tried sorting and organizing it before many times, but it's not long before it's back to the way it was. But I really feel like it's more of my fault than hers. How can I require her to clean her room when she's not sure where things should go?
~~I've been working all morning on trying to organize it again. I feel that if I could just come up with a better way of storing her things, maybe it would be easier for her to keep it clean. I have heard of the idea of organizing your child's room like a preschool classroom: with different areas for different activities and I think it sounds great in theory. But what do you do with all those little things that just don't seem to go anywhere? Those types of toys are always my daughter's favorites-her collection of small horses or all her Littlest pet shop figurines, things like that.
~~I have a love/hate relationship with the Pottery Barn Kid's catalog. Every time a new one comes in the mail, I flip through, drooling over all the beautifully organized kid's rooms and playrooms. But I think, "That isn't real life! Noone really lives that way!" I mean, what kid has only beautiful vintage toys perfectly color coordinated to match their room? Come on! Where are the odd happymeal toys that your child just happens to be in love with? Where is the raggedy looking but very loved stuffed animal? I don't see those things in the picture?
~~It would also help if we had a playroom. We have a small, older home and people must not have thought much about storage 50 years ago when they built these. The closets are tiny and not well organized. And our extra room is serving as an office right now so we just don't have a place for a playroom.
~~I guess maybe I'm putting out a plea for ideas and thoughts. Anyone? How do you organize your children's rooms? Any thoughts for organizing small spaces?