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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:
kitsuneghost · 19/05/2023 23:42

I am 48 and had one

Rotormotor · 19/05/2023 23:43

Probably not if you’re not well off. We were a family of 5 in a 3 bed council house so not much capacity for a playroom

JediIsMyMaster · 19/05/2023 23:49

I wonder if this is area dependent? I’m in my mid 40s and didn’t know anyone who had a playroom, and I had friends across the social / economic spectrum.

A few people had family rooms and formal living rooms, but nothing specifically designated as a playroom.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 20/05/2023 00:04

Dh and I are both mid 40s. I didn't have one across any of the many places I lived in as a child. Dh and his siblings had a massive one for his train set/their doll houses etc. Our kids have one now.

Sunshineafter · 20/05/2023 00:13

We had a playroom growing up but we lived in an enormous house with six bedrooms. It was rather like the house in Upstairs Downstairs a very grand town house. It has been converted in to four two bedroom apartments now. I’m in my fifties.

@Youknownorhing similar playroom to ours with a piano and dressing up box, it had a couple of my Mothers old ball gowns from the 1950’s/60’s, a real fur evening cape an old trilby hat and old nightgowns, bits of curtain fabric, lace scraps and all manner of bits and bobs.

Thighdentitycrisis · 20/05/2023 00:27

We lived in an extended 3 bedroom semi and had a playroom in the 60’s. It was the biggest room in the house! I think people want bigger spaces now to be together We had a small kitchen, small dining room and medium sized front room where the tv was.

SnuggleBuggleBoo · 20/05/2023 00:33

They've been around forever for wealthy families, only they were called 'The Day Nursery' and were presided over by a nanny. In more recent times, I had an amazing one in the 90s. It was a huge room with green carpet (prefect for grass) and a kneeling-height marble surface that was ideal for setting up small world scenes on.

Hugasauras · 20/05/2023 00:55

None of my friends had one when I was a kid, but we have one for our DC and it's AMAZING. Our living room stays an adult space and we can just shut the door on the chaos of the playroom.

Kona84 · 20/05/2023 01:09

We have a play house - toys in every room

BlueBlue72 · 20/05/2023 01:27

I've only heard about playrooms being a thing in the past few years. I'm 50 and we had toys all over the house when I was a child. I've got two children and when they were younger their toys were in their bedroom and in the lounge... Mostly in the lounge as that was the main area we were all together.

2chocolateoranges · 20/05/2023 02:10

I’m 46 and don’t remember anyone having a playroom growing up. It just wasn’t a thing, most families didn’t have guest bedrooms wither, which seems a necessity for some families now. There were just enough bedrooms for the amount of children you had. We played outside most days hail, rain or shine. There was no need for a playroom.

now it’s all change.

Tinybrother · 20/05/2023 06:11

2chocolateoranges · 20/05/2023 02:10

I’m 46 and don’t remember anyone having a playroom growing up. It just wasn’t a thing, most families didn’t have guest bedrooms wither, which seems a necessity for some families now. There were just enough bedrooms for the amount of children you had. We played outside most days hail, rain or shine. There was no need for a playroom.

now it’s all change.

if you read the thread then your experience isn’t universal for everyone your age and older. You’re talking about the particular area/demographic where you grew up. Loads of people your age and older had playrooms and spare rooms

BirdChirp · 20/05/2023 06:23

I'm 54, grew up in London suburbs, lower middle class I guess. Zero playrooms for me or any friends.

MaidOfSteel · 20/05/2023 06:29

I grew up in the 70s and I never heard of 'playrooms' until recently. I just take it as a pretentious name for a spare room.

WaitingfortheTardis · 20/05/2023 06:32

I had a spare room set up as one when I was a child. Now, although we have the space, I just let dd have her toys in the lounge (and her room), I dislike the separation feeling that playrooms give and although I tidy the lounge each evening, I don't want all evidence of her tucked away and hidden. For me it feels that she's more part of things this way, but obviously different things work for different families and we only have one child so only one lot of toys etc.

Tinybrother · 20/05/2023 06:36

It’s hardly a pretentious name, it’s descriptive, it’s a room with toys in. A spare room is a room with a bed in that guests sleep in, where I’m from.

BarleySugars · 20/05/2023 06:38

We had one at my gran's in the 80s/90s - the living room itself was kinda for show, kept clean for guests, we didnt go in. We were let loose in a bedroom fully adapted for kids, it was a great idea!

DurhamDurham · 20/05/2023 06:53

Our girls are 30 and 26, they had a play room growing up. They did play in their bedrooms too but the playroom had most of their toys and games in, a sofa bed and tv when they were teens.

cariadlet · 20/05/2023 06:54

I'm in my 50s.

Nobody I knew had one when I was growing up because nobody had a spare room.

The children in my Enid Blyton books nearly always had a nursery which was just a playroom by another name.

To me as a kid, they seemed the sort of thing that people in books had (like a cook and a maid, which were also pretty common in Enid Blyton).

Surely it's just a reflection of the size of the house that you live in.

ThreeRingCircus · 20/05/2023 07:01

We had a playroom growing up. It was in what would have been the dining room but we had enough space for a table in the kitchen so it was changed into a playroom for our toys. When we became teenagers my parents put in a sofa bed and TV in there so we could hang out with friends etc. I had other friends with playrooms too.

Now I only know of one person that has a playroom. Anecdotally a lot of my friends and I live in houses that are far smaller than the ones we grew up in, mostly flats or new builds.

Wishthiswasntthecase · 20/05/2023 07:02

I’m 53 we had one. Our house had an attic we used a room up there.

Youknownorhing · 20/05/2023 08:13

This has made me think about 'normal' from my childhood.. so yes we had the playroom , dressing up box, tv, piano etc - but consequently we did not use the drawing room.. it was somewhere that we snuck into for a look when parents went out . (Another weirdness- we were left on our own /up to our own devices from an incredibly young age 6/7 )

The drawing room was large, had a tv , lovely furniture, drinks cabinet and fireplace. It smelled of cigars (which we hated the smell off)

Can't ever remember using this room as a child. Or ever watching TV with my parents as a child. (1970s) . Looking back it's weird but never felt so at the time. It was all a bit famous five with our parents entirely invisible..

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 20/05/2023 08:16

I had one growing up in the nineties - as a teenager it became my study/den for when I had friends over.

TeenDivided · 20/05/2023 08:19

I had a playroom in the 70s.
My DC didn't have a playroom as the suitable room is my DH's 'hobby' room.

Tinybrother · 20/05/2023 08:19

I think the “playroom” terminology is possibly less used now than it used to be. In estate agent speak it’s now “family room” or possibly den

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