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Original poster

We don’t have a playroom

161 replies

Lliitlllee · 03/01/2025 22:12

Someone please reassure me this is normal? Stupidly getting mum guilt over it as I watch tik toks of people rearranging their playrooms after Christmas !

Our house is a bit of a squeeze. Open plan downstairs but thank goodness for Ikea kallax that helps store so much! But we pay 2 sets of nursery fees so moving isn’t imminent

We’d love a bigger house and I dream of an extra room downstairs for my kids to have all their toys laid out! Ours isn’t majorly organised I try to rotate them etc

but yes - please tell me lots of you don’t have playrooms???

OP posts:
motherofdragons79 · 04/01/2025 07:58

We had one when the dc were small, but it was the converted attic, but they loved spending time up there.

MotorwayDiva · 04/01/2025 08:07

We have a playroom, I'm considering changing it into my home office as it is very rarely used, just gets whatever toys out and brings them to where we are. You aren't missing out not having one.

Willoo · 04/01/2025 08:19

Even if I had the room, I’d not use it for a playroom. That’s what bedrooms are for.

BobnLen · 04/01/2025 08:26

They are usually other rooms like dining rooms or spare bedroom that people use as playrooms. We had one when I was young but nowadays it would be used as a utility room as people want much more room now for kitchens and appliances.

Dollmeup · 04/01/2025 08:28

Nope, not normal at all to have a playroom. I'd say it's definitely more of a middle class thing. We don't have a dining room or anything either. I'm just glad my kids have their own rooms as I shared as a child.

It would be nice not to have all the toy chaos in the living room but I know it's only for a few years. They like to be wherever I am so I doubt a playroom would actually get played in even if we did have one!

BananagramBadger · 04/01/2025 08:33

In our third house and mine has a playroom. Normal people would have made it a dining room, but as a pre teen it’s nice to have some space and a door that shuts.

All the people with beautiful open plan houses that come to my house think it’s small and then after a while get jealous of doors that shut on computer game music.

nationalsausagefund · 04/01/2025 08:34

We do have a playroom but that’s just the layout of the house: classic mid-terrace Victorian with the back-to-back receptions and narrow kitchen at the back. We can just squeeze a table in the kitchen so don’t need the back reception as a dining room, and the receptions haven’t been knocked through.

Tbh the front sitting room is far nicer so they drag their toys through there, and all over the house, and do their messy crafts and jigsaw puzzles etc at the kitchen table, so the “playroom” functions largely as a giant Kallax into which we throw everything at the end of each day (when we can be bothered).

I’ve attempted every iteration of layout and organisation in everything from tiny one-bed flat to small terraced house to this house and they’ve all ended up with toys and mess everywhere, because children.

LostittoBostik · 04/01/2025 08:36

Most people don't have enough bedrooms for their children.

When I was growing up I knew literally ONE child with a playroom, and the housing situation was easier then. And her dad was a pilot.

Turn off Instagram. Comparison is the thief of joy.

bluey07 · 04/01/2025 08:57

My younger 2 share a room and have some toys in there.
We have a playroom downstairs but I'm currently sitting in the sofa whilst they bring toys through and they're playing on the living room floor.
I don't mind where they play at all, I do like having somewhere to put all the toys away at the end of the day though.

ElderLemon · 04/01/2025 09:05

I don't have one, and grew up with 5 siblings without one. Somehow I made it to adulthood.

Sortumn · 04/01/2025 09:13

I wanted the sort of house where the children were in the room with us, not in bedrooms/playrooms. We had toys that we brought into the living room in rotation.

There's was always some sort of building toy. A box of wooden bricks or stickle bricks, Duplo etc...
A little table with art stuff, paper, pens, crayons etc.
Play kitchen
A pile of games
Small basket of books
Anything else the kids brought in.

It also meant they never just sat and watched TV because they'd be doing something else at the same time.

I miss it. Mostly it's me that leaves my hobbies laying around all the time now. The children are all really tidy.

LottieMary · 04/01/2025 09:14

Our lounge is our playroom!! Play kitchen in the kitchen and most other things in the lounge (which has a dining table) and plenty of ikea storage. Everything chucks away in five minutes so it becomes a tidy grown up space again in the evening or for movie night.
I do a bit of a sort probably once a month, just a slower tidy to get toys in the 'right' boxes

Iliketulips · 04/01/2025 09:16

DD grew up in our old houses for 14 years. The lounge was 22ft long, 12ft wide, but narrowed to 10ft just over half way along. That was our lounge, dining room, play space (other than her bedroom) and DH sometimes had to work in the corner.

Thinking back I can only remember one of her friends had a playroom - sadly that friends parents were reported by three sources for child abuse - obviously just because a home has a playroom doesn't mean that's going to happen, but I know which the happier child was and will be long term (DD still friends with the girl who still has mental health support in her 20s).

30percent · 04/01/2025 09:19

In my decades on this earth I've only ever visited one home where someone had a playroom and they were incredibly wealthy their house was worth one million.
So no it's not a common thing at all

C152 · 04/01/2025 09:20

No. I have never known anyone who has a playroom.

fanaticalfairy · 04/01/2025 09:22

DD(5)s friends who live in the next village with MASSIVE 5 bed, detached ,double garage houses... houses all have play rooms, but in reality it's a toy storage room and they always drag the toys to where the adults are anyway or jump around the bed in the friends room.

We live in a small 2 bed ex-council terrace and toys are in shelves in living room and a few in her bedroom (mostly cuddly toys).

TurquoiseDress · 04/01/2025 09:27

No playroom in sight here

2 bed split level ground floor maisonette & garden in SE London, all we could afford

We have 2 primary aged children

They have never had a separate/dedicated playroom...it's just what it is

SecretLifeOfTeachers · 04/01/2025 09:28

We have a lovely play room- full of toys : do the kids play in it? Do they bugger… they much rather dragging their toys into the main living room with us

TheBunyip · 04/01/2025 09:29

We had a playroom. It was never ever used. The kids wanted to be near us.

NoNameNoOne · 04/01/2025 09:36

We just got rid of our daughter's Kallax (to a new little girl) she is 11 and a half and in high school now and wanted a desk instead. The Kallax had housed her toys since she we moved in this house just before her 1st birthday. She has had lots of playdates over the years and spent many happy days playing and certainly did not suffer from having a Kallax instead of a dedicated playroom. Don't let the tiktoktoons give you Mum guilt, you re doing great! Happy New Year x

TurquoiseDress · 04/01/2025 09:40

Yes an IKEA Kallax is great storage!

We have a number of these to keep the toys under control in the (shared) bedroom

Mielbee · 04/01/2025 09:41

I think the concept of a playroom is really odd. We don't have one even though we do have an open plan living room and a separate snug so technically have space. When children are young they want to be wherever you are so I've made each room a suitable space for adults and children. I have a few toys out on a shelf and more in kallax style boxes, and some is in a big storage box in the spare bedroom that then I rotate when she is losing interest in the ones downstairs.

Recently, we'd got a bit lax about rotating the toys and loads had built up somehow, and she just wasn't playing with them. Interestingly, as soon as I took 80% away she immediately started playing with it again! This makes me think that a playroom with all toys available might have the same effect of feeling overwhelming.

So don't feel bad, not having a playroom is an active choice for me and I think it's better!

prkchhgfp · 04/01/2025 09:58

We didn't have a playroom when they were younger, we only managed to upsize when they were 10 and 7 by which time big toys were out, the extra reception room is handy as a teen living/gaming room now though, but definitely a luxury not a necessity!

prkchhgfp · 04/01/2025 09:58

Oh and still have sooo many Kallax units. Brilliant things.

prkchhgfp · 04/01/2025 10:01

All the people with beautiful open plan houses that come to my house think it’s small and then after a while get jealous of doors that shut on computer game music.

Completely agree, we chose multiple reception rooms over open plan (still have a kitchen diner) and zero regrets, so much more flexible when you have older kids.