To not want toys brought into the lounge?

My Mum was like you - a place for everything and everything in it's place. Soul destroying. And counter productive. DM didn't like mess so we had to play in our bedrooms and then she complained we never spoke / hung out with her, as we were in our bedrooms.

You have small children - the only way you will have a tidy house is to barricade your children in their bedrooms. There'll be arguments and tears, and to what end ?

All toys that include small parts have an appropriately sized zipped storage bag that go with them. So each playmobil set has a zipped bag, each lego set, each puzzle, each game etc.

That helps contain the pieces in our house. I then have a zipped bag for “randoms” rescued from the cats/hoover/stood on in the early hours which they go in to until they are reunited.

that may literally be all you have in your room, but I have a desk for WFH. Just because you don’t agree with what I do/did, doesn’t mean you have to be rude.

Unless you actually grow oranges in it I'd just call it a conservatory personally.

Let the kids play where they like, it's their house too and confining them to certain areas is not fair IMO. They should be free to move around and play and be where ever you are.

I know someone though who kept all the kids toys in the shed and they were only allowed in certain things at a time.

So you just left your baby and toddler in a room upstairs all day on there own unsupervised

Have never heard of an orangery

An orangery is just a different type of room construction. A teeny tiny house can have an orangery, just like it can have a conservatory or a garden room or a sun room. They are different things.

This is my experience too. Rather than banish toys from the living room, making an area in the ‘orangery’ where you would like to sit/hang out, might be a more effective way to keep the toys in the orangery.

+1 to wtaf is an orangery.

But regardless, YABU. Clutter and stuff lying around comes with the territory with kids. They are doing it because they want to play with and near you, not just be restricted to the one designated room. Just get a couple of big plastic tubs and dump everything back into those at the end of the day if it bothers you that much.

Oh no don't do the 'play with one thing and put it away before playing with another' thing. That's so sad.

No disrespect to you OP and I bet your orangery is lovely, but this does remind me of the episode of Power Of Parker where everyone had to sit in the couples' new conservatory and admire it.

I’m with you on this OP! In our house toys live in the play room and the kids bedrooms. Living room is adult and family time space. On the rare occasions toys are brought into the living room they get put away afterwards.

Not uptight at all — wanting a small lounge to stay clear of toys is reasonable. Keep being consistent: toys stay in the orangery or bedrooms, and if they come out, they go straight back. Protecting your space and sanity is totally fair.

Those poor kids 💔

I can’t imagine having a home that my DC didn’t feel welcome/comfortable in.

Are you my DH? “No toys in the front room…”
Oh do fuck off! I love having toys about, I wanted a child for so long and the toy stage not going to last. Why can’t they play wherever as long as stuff gets tided up?

Ahhhh, well this is where the basket plan comes into its own as a lesson in itself.

If it's on the floor it goes in the basket and is potentially lost to the Big Pile of Toys. If you want it kept safe/handy/pristine it's easy - don't just leave it on the floor.

Do you have adequate storage downstairs for maybe the toys with small pieces? So that you can teach them to collect up each piece and put it away complete?

Their toys will get smaller as the dc get older, but try not to think of it as an inconvenience.

Are they too old for the Tee and Mo tidying video?

Got to agree with this, banishing kids off to a play room doesn't work ime. They want to be in the (emotional) warmth of the centre of the home, where they have the connection to their parents, where they live. If you are in the play room with them they are unlikely to bring the toys outside it - where are you when you expect them to be in the playroom?

It is your job to teach them to care for their toys and to tidy up after themselves.

If pieces of puzzles get lost put the puzzles out of reach and only allow them to have then when other toys are tidied up and they are going to do them, and they put them away after they are done before getting other toys.

Oh silly me!
I thought a bedroom with a bed is for sleeping in!!

I remember this phase well. It drove me a bit mad too. I was like a stuck record, squawking “You’ll lose the bits!” at them all the time, and trying to keep on top of small parts.

All you can do is do the best you can. Sweep the tidal wave of toys and bits and pieces back into the room of your choice at the end of each day. Keep on at them about tidying; don’t give up. But accept that some bits will get lost, and resign yourself to that, and the inevitable tears.

Before you know it, they’ll have moved on from toys, and you’re looking at Mr Mole who’s been chucked in the charity bag pile in favour of video games / nail varnish / GCSE folders, with a sad wave of nostalgia, and wishing they’d come out of their bedrooms to join you in the sitting room.

Keep on keeping on, this too shall pass blah blah blah!

Is it the DCs home or do they just visit?

If it’s their home (your kids, step kids etc) then they should be allowed their toys in whatever room they want.

You may need to spend 10mins extra tidying up at the end of the day but so what.
I’d much rather my kids feel comfortable in their own home.

Op, I know what an orangery is; it has a proper roof and also comes under extension territory. I also know what you mean about the toys. My dcs keep them in their room and being down what they're playing with, but they then have to go away afterwards. We have an ikea cube that stores some in downstairs, so I find this handy too! I hate them all over floor, so cannot live that way and it makes difficult to vacuum and keep the floors clean!

You have an orangery in a small house? So you mean sunroom ? Conservatory?

@Laiste I got a bit hung-up on "orangery" too! Had to look up the term. 😵‍💫 I thought, greenhouse? 🤔
I've settled on sun room, ie a glass enclosed porch. 💁‍♀️