To not want a playroom as such?

[Kyrptonite]

We have a 3 bed townhouse. Bottom floor has an office that can be used as a bedroom if needed but its freezing downstairs and we can't afford to replace the garage door and front door to stop the draft at present.

Living here is me, DP, DS (3.11) and DD (2.8). DsD (5.9) is with us every other weekend and DC3 (or 4 incl DSD) is due September.

DP wants to convert the office into a playroom and move the toys From the bedroom downstairs. We have a lounge/diner and I want to put the bigger toys in the dining section.

DP is adamant he doesn't want toys permanently in the living room. I don't like the idea of the DCs having to go downstairs to play especially in winter when it's freezing. I don't like the idea of not being able to hear properly what they are doing or if they are hurt etc. they also don't play in their room now for longer than 5 mins unless an adult is up there too.

I like the idea of having half the lounge for them to play in. It'll be easier for the baby to join in as they get older and for me and DP to play with them. I can also have slightly more control over how much they have out at one time!

DP thinks IABU and it should be an adult area and the kids will be ok on a different floor. The office will become a bedroom when they get older and need their own space and I would like it to be their room, not the old playroom they're being shoved in IYSWIM.

id put a sofa in it with a tv so you can still hang out in there with them while they play. :D

That might work

The other issue is the office has the patio doors to the garden so effectively wasting a wall for their toys/books/assorted crap.

I wouldn't want the kids so far away in the house, it would be different if it was a room adjoining your kitchen or living room but not if its separate from the general area you will be. Also where's the toilet you don't want to be traipsing kids up and downstairs to bathroom all day. When they are older (and can be trusted) sounds like it will make a great tv/homework/ computer room.

We have a modest 3 bed semi but only one DC (2.5). We have an open plan lounge with dining room on the end and patio doors onto the garden. We've sacrificed the dining room for a play room and it works great for us as it means our living room is generally toy free and grown up. I. The summer we can open the doors into the garden and DS and come and go as he pleases (very secure).

I think in the long term you'll need to sort out for stairs being so cold as 4 DC sharing two bedrooms isn't going to be ideal.

You need to work out what's going to be best functionally for your family but I know if our playroom was far away or separate from our main living space we probably wouldn't use it much.

Would they even want to play downstairs on their own? My two wouldn't at those ages. I know 2 people who have town houses with the kitchen, garage and play room downstairs. The children will only play down there when someone is in the kitchen, even then they drag the toys in there.

Would making a toy store area in the office work? So they could have take toys upstairs to play with but they would be easier to contain and hide. Then swap them around as needed.

Personally, I would get fed up of having to run up and downstairs to sort out sibling disputes. Or is that just my lot.

You've captured my thoughts perfectly! There is a downstairs toilet but kitchen is on middle floor next to dining room so unless I was doing laundry or in the garden I wouldn't be on the ground floor.

We will be sorting out the temperature issues. We just can't afford to do it prior to September when we will be needing the space.

I agree with you that I would not like that, but perhaps if that's the way it's going to be, then you could sort out the door with draught excluder? It's really good nowadays. Thing is, what kind of work can you be doing with them playing downstairs, because they'll want to be where you are and you'll want them with you. Can you store their toys downstairs and they can bring them up when they want to play with them and take them downstairs again when they've finished?

I wouldn't like to have the DC's playing on a different floor at that age.

We have a large oak chest with 9 drawers in the dining end of out lounge/diner. It houses the dvd's, smaller toys, baby books, wooden bricks etc in the bottom four drawers. My DD's have one of THESE in the corner filled with cushions, tea set etc. It is easy to put it all away and the play wigwam folds up in seconds and goes in the cupboard (about the same size as a folded pushchair) if we are having a child free night!

I'd leave things as they are and then when DC are older see if you want the downstairs room as a games/play/hangout room or extra bedroom. By then you may have more money to make changes to keep the room warm. You'll find as they get older they will probably play in their rooms more. I found the toys in the lounge thing didn't last for long and also as they get older toys get smaller. My DC are teens and in their 20's now.

As others have said, DC of their age simply won't use the room as a playroom - children want to play close by their parents, so you may put all their toys there, but they'll just be dragging a few upstairs to wherever you are.

Is your kitchen big enough for a table? In which case, do you need the 'diner' part of the lounge? I would suggest you install a large cupboard in the diner area, or a couple of toy boxes. DC can play with toys, then put them all away, and the lounge is neat and tidy for the adults of an evening.

I wouldn't have them on a different floor at that age either. We have just reclaimed our living room as DS, who is nearly 5, is now as likely to play upstairs as downstairs. If I had a living room/dining room situation I would use the dining room as a play area and have some kind of screen to block it with in the evening. It's not permanent - only for another 5 years or so

cross posts with Ohtheconfusion

IME kids never use a playroom. I have a room next to our kitchen where all DD's toys are kept and she normally either ignores the room and her toys or just brings a toy into the kitchen and clutters up the floor if she wants to play with it.

We are hoping to move house and I will be keeping the toys in the living room where they will actually get used.

I would turn the downstairs room into a drawing room - a grown up space (sofa and tv - ideally a sofa bed so it can double as a guest room). The lounge diner is a 'family room' so that has toys in. I suggest you get better storage, perhaps something like this that will look smart/grown up once the toys are away - try to have bigger boxes than you need to keep the toys in/wardrobes you can put them away out of sight in the evenings. The advantage of having the downstairs space as a childfree space that you can go to in the evenings without having to clear up toys first would be great for when people pop round and you don't have to clear up first.

However, you might want to keep some toys in the bedrooms, your DS is getting to an age where he'll have toys with a lot of little bits in it (your DSD might be already but doesn't have a lot of those at your house) - he'll be old enough to be given things like lego that you don't want out in the same room as your youngest DC once they are crawling. Also with a nearly 4 year gap with oldest and youngest it is nice that the older one can go play elsewhere in their own space without a toddler coming along and spoiling it...

Long term, are you going to have to face dealing with the coldness of the spare room with 4 DCs, it might be nice to give one of them that room as a bedroom. (I would probably aim to put DS in there in 2-3 years, then your DD and DSD in the next biggest room to share and the baby having their own room - the smallest one)

maybe try getting them to go downstairs for the summer when they can have access to the garden (don't block the patio doors, why would you do that?)... but be prepared for them not to want to go down there and to be needing you up and down the stairs like a yoyo and if that happens i'd change to what you're suggesting when the weather gets colder again in autumn.

At that age the dc would be want to be near an adult most of the time, so probably wouldn't stay down there. Equally, I'd have been wanting them to be a lot closer than a separate floor for a lot of the day.

Hi, don't do it. Your house sounds very similar to mine. All they do is drag the toys all over the house (as kids do anyway). They only use it when friends are round. I would make it into an extra sitting room with TV and then it's a nice family room for everyone, especially in the summer opening out onto the garden so you can sit in there and watch them. We have two rooms downstairs so one is what I have just suggested and the other is still a toy room but really just a storage room now. I am planning to have a huge tidy out and turn it into a spare bedroom but stalling madly cos I'm scared dm or mil will see it as an invitation to come stay

ps gosh it sounds very similar to my house actually. I found it a bit of a mare when they were younger, but as the kids have got a bit older the style and layout of house is fab.

If he is so keen on an adults only area , convert the office into a sitting room for him

He had the office as a man cave. His Xbox appears to have moved into the lounge again now though!

We have a playroom dining room. Just give in. It's a lot easier

We do have a seperate living room though thankfully although the toys are gradually creeping in. I don't care if I cant see them once tidied away though.

We have 2 of <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=images.canadianlisted.com/nlarge/ikea-leksvik-toy-box_5242207.jpg&imgrefurl=edmonton.canadianlisted.com/furniture/ikea-leksvik-toy-box_727602.html&h=500&w=500&sz=15&tbnid=VInJQtqqNYBz4M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=90&zoom=1&usg=__IKE_mNXdEAi2NsPxkPqoPhME5UI=&docid=_K7Y3y_fBZYPOM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ch5CUeniPITDPPWygJAO&ved=0CHQQ9QEwBg&dur=124" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">these which cost £60 each from Ikea and you can sit on them

Four children under (or barely over) five years old, and your dh thinks they'll be 'fine' on a different floor? I take it hew doesn't spend much tume alone with them?

I think it's nicer to have a larger area for the whole family, and use a smaller room as an 'adults only' space to retreat to.

I've never really understood the appeal of townhouses for families, young ones anyway.