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Original poster

When did playrooms become a thing?

141 replies

00100001 · 19/05/2023 21:03

I'm early 40s and not a single person I knew growing up had a playroom. Now it seems it's quite common? Or definitely not unusual?

Why did they become a thing? What happened to kids just playing with their toys in the living room and their bedrooms?

OP posts:
knobheeeeed · 19/05/2023 22:23

I'm mid-40s. Quite a few kids I went to school with had playrooms. I didn't. I thought these playrooms were amazing!
It was the rich kids who had playrooms - the ones who lived in large mansions in the upmarket area of the city.
My cousin who is a bit older than me had a playroom for her kids - she wasn't rich, just used a downstairs space for it in a fairly open plan house.

unsync · 19/05/2023 22:26

Seventies child, we had a playroom.

ChrisPPancake · 19/05/2023 22:27

We did in our first house (70s) but when we moved the bedrooms were bigger so we were more able to play in them plus the dining room was regularly used for dinner parties etc. When we moved again there was an extra bedroom but me and dsis were older then so we went for a sofa, TV and video over toys!

derekthe1adyhamster · 19/05/2023 22:31

I had one (I'm 49) but it was the box room. I don't really remember playing in there, but we spent a lot of time outside.
My children didn't have a playroom as we never had a spare room!

ErmentrudeTheCow · 19/05/2023 22:31

About 1870

ladycarlotta · 19/05/2023 22:32

I'm mid 30s and we had one - quite a few friends did. This was the rural north where housing was pretty cheap at the time. Mind you, ours was very cold and damp and we didn't really like to spend any time in it. It was just a random room in an old house that would have been used for storage or something otherwise. But in London these days I'd think anyone who had one was a gigantic posho.

Emanresu9 · 19/05/2023 22:33

Not new at all I was born in the 80s and we had a playroom. It was the 4th bedroom for the house but we only used 3 bedrooms to sleep in.

RampantIvy · 19/05/2023 22:34

My cousins had a playroom in the 1970s.

Bearpawk · 19/05/2023 22:41

Most families in traditional shape Victorian houses where I live eat in the kitchen extension - so the redundant dining room is usually a kids room

adulthumanfemalemum · 19/05/2023 22:47

We had a playroom in the 80s/90s. It doubled as a spare room and meant both kids had a tiny bedroom and shared the bigger room. Later on when we were older my brother had the big room due to having large musical instruments and I had two small rooms, the second one as a study with a desk (and the spare bed). I don't think it was massively unusual but obviously only if you lived in a house big enough to have a spare bedroom or reception room.

PinkButtercups · 19/05/2023 22:53

I'd love a playroom for my kids. Don't have a 'spare' room though!

Original poster
00100001 · 19/05/2023 22:53

Well, knock me down with a feather, I never knew they were so common! Must have been the area i grew up in!

OP posts:
sunshineandshowers40 · 19/05/2023 22:55

Our neighbours had a playroom in the 80/90s.

Bargellobitch · 19/05/2023 23:01

I knew people who had them growing up. Often if they shared a bedroom with siblings and often a conservatory too! So not exactly fancy but I don't think they're new. I'm 37

DinosApple · 19/05/2023 23:04

I don't remember them being a thing when I was a child at all.
We certainly didn't have one and I don't remember my friends having one either. Most of my friends were wealthier too.

When my own DC were little we extended the kitchen so we could eat in there. That freed up the dining room to be the playroom.

Now we've moved we don't have a separate dining room downstairs, but the DC have the spare bedroom for all things teen.

DinosApple · 19/05/2023 23:06

Been a long day, forgot to say I'm 40.

Newyeardietstartstomorrow · 19/05/2023 23:09

We didn't have a playroom growing up as there were 3 kids and 4 bedrooms. My friend was an only child in a 3 bed home, so had a playroom. Kind of obvious really, have less children or children later in life and you can afford a spare bedroom. To use as a playroom / study / music room / junk room even.

ALongFewWeeks · 19/05/2023 23:16

We didn’t have one growing up but a couple of my friends did and I’m in my 40s.

My children had one when they were younger.

Youknownorhing · 19/05/2023 23:20

It's a v middle class / upper class thing (although in upper class it would form part of the nursery ..

I am not UC but most of my friends and I growing up had a 'playroom' .. it had a piano, dressing up box, board games and a tv.. (2 channels - BBC1 and ITV NEVER allowed to watch ITV as 'too common 🤣)

Calmdown14 · 19/05/2023 23:21

I'd never heard of them until the last few years either and I think them a bit of a wasted space. Kids want to play where you are so the toys get dragged out anyway, or if old enough they have bedrooms.

That said Mumsnet is another world where SAHM's are told they need nursery and a cleaner to cope with a single almost one year old.

tailinthejam · 19/05/2023 23:23

I'm in my 60's and when I was a kid we used to visit the house of one of my dad's friends. It was a big house, and they had a playroom. So they have always been around, but only really when people lived somewhere big enough to have a separate space for one.

PiriPiriChicken · 19/05/2023 23:23

Everyone in Enid Blyton has a playroom.

Youknownorhing · 19/05/2023 23:30

Sorry forgot to say that was the late 1960s /1970s !

caringcarer · 19/05/2023 23:32

I had a play room when my children were small 20-30 years ago. It's just an extra reception room where you keep children's toys in and I had 2 small tables and chairs for my children to sit up to draw and craft. I know a lady who uses her conservatory as a play room.

Paperbagsaremine · 19/05/2023 23:39

My family extended over the garage and that sizeable new room became the playroom for us kids.
Thinking about it now, it was the other side of the house from the living room and the main bedroom... and also, I suspect, helped ameliorate the fact my sibling's bedroom was a lot smaller than mine.
This was 1970s fwiw.