Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

If you have a playroom in your house, do you use it?

43 replies

Moonshine160 · 28/07/2023 13:34

Our downstairs has a kitchen, dining room and largeish lounge. I have two young boys. There are toys everywhere. We have two 3 seater sofas in the lounge. The dining table in the dining room is quite large but if we got rid of a sofa and bought a comfy chair instead then we could potentially fit the dining table in the lounge and could make the current dining room a playroom for the boys. Even if they don’t do a lot of actual playing in there, I was thinking of getting some ikea storage and it would be a place to store toys. We also have a small soft play slide and ball pit so all of that would go in there (which is currently in the lounge). We keep as many toys as possible in their bedrooms but the rooms are small with not a lot of space to play. DH thinks that it’s a bit pointless - the lounge will look way too cramped with the dining table in there and the toys will just end up back in there again because they won’t play in the playroom.

If you have a playroom in your house, does it actually get used?

OP posts:

headcheffer · 28/07/2023 14:39

Probably the most used room in my house, after the kitchen. Kids are 3 and 8 months. Keeps toys all in one place and it's the only place I allow them to watch TV. It's not unknown for DH and I to sit in there once they've got to bed actually as it's so cosy.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 28/07/2023 14:41

Yep. Kids are currently 5 and 8 and it looks like a playmobil show room. We have a sofa bed in there and a table for playing board games/building lego/doing jigsaws. Just being able to store craft materials, shared toys and our board game collection helps.

They have toys in their respective rooms. Dinosaurs and his castle for dc1 and Barbie/Sylvanian families primarily for dc2 but they spend more time playing in the playroom than in their rooms. Toys occasionally "escape" but being able to return them to a designated place really helps. When they were younger they had a small climbing frame/slide, playhouse and ball bit in there. Now they have a TV too and as they get older I envisage a chillout space for gaming/hanging out with friends. Plus it's on a different side/floor of the house to where dh is working from home.

Natsku · 28/07/2023 14:45

Our lounge is very big as its two rooms joined together, so one end is the playroom (which I went a bit overboard with when DD was little and put in two sets of wall bars with a rope ladder hanging in between, balance beam, and trapeze hanging in the bit that separates the two ends of the room. Added a swing when DS was little). Gets used every day and means the toys mostly stay away from the rest of the lounge. DS is in there right now standing on the armchair waving a sword around and talking to himself. When the toys are tidied up its a nice clear space for playing with remote control cars.

But I am looking forward to filling in some of the gap and putting a door in once DS outgrows the playroom, and turn it into a spare room/study.

Marsyas · 28/07/2023 14:46

Mine are 13 and 15 and we still call it the playroom, although it isn't anymore!
Yes, it got used all the time when they were little. It had lots of books, all the art and crafts stuff, a Lego table and lots of Lego, all the Octonauts toys (there were a lot). It was open plan to the dining room and very accessible from the kitchen so it was easier to keep an eye on the kids while cooking than the front room. It was also good because the front room had the TV, so that was kept as a separate thing from playing, you had to specifically go into another room to watch TV which limited it more. We had no toys in the front room, and no eating.

Now it is going through a transition stage - it still has art materials, as the younger one likes doing art, books, more Lego than I would like, and some toys which still seem to linger, but also the piano and a second TV.

YourMommaWasASnowblower · 28/07/2023 14:48

It’s great in the school holidays. We spend whole days in there and then if visitors come over we can shut the door on it without them seeing the mess! Also if the kids get bored of adult visitors they can disappear back in there. It gives them some space of their own too. They love it and it’s great when people come over with their children.

Mouldyfoodhelp · 28/07/2023 14:51

Hugasauras · 28/07/2023 13:36

Yes, all the time. It's where all the toys are kept, both DDs play in it frequently, when DD1 has a friend over they just shut themselves in there. I dread to think about the state of our house without it!

Our playroom is off the kitchen so with door open there is basically an open flow between, which helps I think.

Hopefully this doesn't come across badly as i don't mean it to but children love playing with toys constantly, and if all the toys are kept in there and they play with them in there do you not see your children much? Or do you spend a lot of time in there?

mommybear1 · 28/07/2023 15:03

Yes it's great - one of the selling points of the house to us tbh 😂😂. Great for toy storage and playing I can close the door and not see the mess if I don't feel like tidying up. We've already discussed turning it into a den/games room when DS is older.

shakeitoffsis · 28/07/2023 15:10

Yes 90% of the toys are kept in there and my daughter has a little table and chairs in there too that she likes to eat at as we don't have a dining table. Works for us.

Canidoitreally · 28/07/2023 15:23

Yes. DC does play in there fairly often and I'm glad we have it.

But I would not like the dining table in the lounge. I'd rather reconfigure and get storage to hide the toys instead. And ensure the kids put the toys in the storage every night before bed.

CoffeeWithCheese · 28/07/2023 15:38

Nope - never used it so in the end I reclaimed it myself.

BearKey · 28/07/2023 15:40

We use ours constantly. But there's a sofa and a big TV in there as well as all their toys so we use it as a family room and then we use the lounge in the evening.

123sunshine · 28/07/2023 15:41

When my children were younger, yes they used the playroom a lot. To not only play with toys but as storage and especially for larger toys as you describe having. However they would still play in the living room too, but put away at the end of the day. . It then evolved as they got older in to gaming an tv room with sofa and eventually a home office. However, I just don’t think I could give up on the dining space in your shoes. I’m not a fan of living room dining spaces or TVs near dining spaces etc. I think better storage may be your answer.

Hugasauras · 28/07/2023 15:45

Mouldyfoodhelp · 28/07/2023 14:51

Show quote history

During the day if we are actually in the house I'm often in there too (it's big) and when I'm not I am in the kitchen doing cooking or whatever so I have direct line of sight in there anyway.

Hugasauras · 28/07/2023 15:46

(But if they are playing nicely and happily together then I don't try and insert myself into their games!)

JaninaDuszejko · 28/07/2023 15:51

Presumably you don't have room in your kitchen for a dining table if you're planning on moving it to the sitting room? I'd not give up a dining room for a playroom, just invest in some attractive toy storage in the sitting room and bedrooms.

We have a 'playroom' in this house but it's the second sitting room, we also have a large kitchen diner and utility room. In our last house (which we left when the DC were 9, 8 and 4) we had a sitting room, dining room and small kitchen downstairs and 3 bedrooms. We kept the toys in the DCs bedrooms and were pretty strict about putting things away each night. Kids played in all the rooms.

Caspianberg · 28/04/2024 06:33

Yes. Our dining table is squeezed into kitchen as small kitchen diner, so the original dining room is a playroom.

It has sofa bed in so it’s a guest room when needed also, and the sofa is comfy day to day for sitting on also.

Ds still plays a lot in living room. I keep his favourite toys in a small ottoman in there. But the playroom stored most other toys, is where climbing stuff, tent, dress up, stays. And I just sit in there with him sometimes when he’s playing. He can set up train tracks or all playmobil and it’s not in the way. Other times he just goes and gets a basket of toys or puzzle and brings it into living room and then it goes back later.
When friends over it’s super handy as it’s where the kids gravitate to

rebbles1 · 28/04/2024 06:43

We turned our dining room into a playroom and the kids are always in it. We also have aTV and sofa in there and a desk and computer so they play and do their homework in there. It's brilliant to keep the mess contained and our lounge can stay tidy.

Doingmybest12 · 28/04/2024 06:54

Aren't you describing just allowing and storing toys in your living room? A play room to me is an additional room to an adult zone living/sitting room. Children love toys in the main living spaces, I think you just need some good storage. Sounds like a nice idea to have a relaxing chair in your now dining room for a little bit of quiet though.

Flip

1 2