To ask how you’d use this space?

[Goosethemoose]

We’re moving into a house with this double room. It is adjacent to the kitchen-diner (so we don’t want to use the non-bay room as a dining room). We have two young DC, but they will have a separate playroom elsewhere for their toys.

I’m at a loss as to how to organise the space and arrange furniture?! Especially as we are planning to mostly use the door in the non-bay room, which means the route to the kitchen cuts right across that space…

Any thoughts please? Am lost.

Also I wouldn’t do anything drastic/ spend a lot of money until you’ve lived with it, as near where I live one of the most popular changes people make to this sort of house at the moment is to have a separate utility/ loo- which actually works really well for families in particular. Like this
www.rightmove.co.uk/sold-prices/floorplans/property-93030200.html

Oh I like that idea @Heronwatcher

Interesting… really keen to avoid building works, and definitely thinking more about what furniture to purchase and where it should go. But this house doesn’t have a downstairs loo, which is a definite drawback. There is a utility room at the back of the kitchen, however.

With respect to kids wanting to be with us, currently we have the kitchen and living room (where all their toys are currently) on different floors, so they are used to playing up there alone whilst we prep food or tidy after meals.

What do you do in the evenings if you don't watch TV much? Are you sitting with your DH chatting, do you have lots of guests, are you doing your own thing in different rooms?

At different times in my life, I've not had a TV or had one that sat unused but I was doing different things instead of watching TV depending on my lifestyle at the time. At one time, I was out socialising, working, doing activities outside of the house so my main living areas were mostly used for socialising. At another time, I was at home more but was doing different activities at home, like learning a language, painting, making music, so my needs from a living space were different. And during the early DC years, I was catching up on everything that needed to be done around the house so was never in the sitting room anyway What does each memeber of the family need space for?

Your DC need a play space. The biggest advantages of a dedicated playroom are being able to leave toys out mid game to come back to the next day and being able to shut away the clutter and mess.

Your DH wants an adult space. I agree with him. If you have the luxury of having the room in your home, having a space where you can switch off from being a parent is great. Ditto, a space that isn't used for work.

The question is, what are you going to use the adult space for most of the time?

It might be better to have the playroom downstairs with sliding doors to separate the space from the more adult sitting area hide the mess, if you have another use for the upstairs room. It really depends on what you do to relax. A quiet reading room, craft room or gym upstairs would work. It doesn't work having a gaming, TV or music room next to the DC's bedrooms.

Really thoughtful post, Cheshire, thank you. Good question, and I’ve been wondering the same. Usually we’re working, to be honest!

Both in quite intense jobs, so we have dinner with the children, bath and bed for them, and then we go to the study/bedroom where we have the desks located in our current place. If we watch a film, it’s sometimes in bed and sometimes on a laptop in the living room - our current TV is a crappy old smart one which barely works, so I want to upgrade it and then I think we’ll use it a lot. We sit at the kitchen table and chat, sometimes. We’d like to host more than we do (current place is cramped and obviously Covid has had an impact too!).

On weekends we’re out to give the children fresh air, then they play and we hang out with them in the living room… they barely use screens, but again, a decent TV would be good as they’re older, and one is starting to game a little bit.

I’m always drawn to the kitchen as the heart of the house, so I wonder if we have a very comfy sofa and books and a good TV in that bit, which is adjacent to the kitchen, maybe the area with the bay will hardly be used?!

Shame your radiator is opposite the fireplace as that's pretty much the best sofa wall. I know you won't want too, but moving it into the bay helps would really help.
Our house is the same standard victorian layout. So it's sofa where your rad' is, telly on a low unit opposite but not in front of fireplace, backroom a central dining (and everything else table) and piano to the left of the window.
As you're asking, I really think telly's above mantle shelves should be avoided as they just present a large shiny black square when turned off and are a bit shouty, not to mention much too high when on.
But that's just me.

How old are the DC, if one has started gaming a bit?

I think age will determine how well an upstairs playroom will work and how soon their needs are going to change.

I would suggest adding to your ideal "needs" along with a playroom and adult space:

A second quiet workspace that isn't your bedroom, as well as the office, so you both have somewhere to work separately.

A second loud TV/gaming area that can't be heard from bedrooms/quiet workspaces so both DC (or an adult) can game or watch TV at the same time and not disturb anyone sleeping/working/studying/reading/playing a quiet game/trying to listen to something else on TV etc

A formal dining area, even if it has a folding table that is used only occasionally. It's nice to have a place to entertain that isn't in the kitchen so your guests aren't looking at a pile of dirty dishes.

I would then try to work out multi-use plans for each space based on what you need and the time of day you need it for that purpose, eg a dining/reading room/second office or a gaming/TV/playroom or a dining/reading room/adult socialising space etc, that work now and have the potential to be repurposed in a few years when your needs change.

I'd get a carpenter in and get custom made shelves along the big wall for old LPs, CDs, books and memorabilia, get folding doors in between the room, a short L shaped sofa infront so you can open it up/shut it off if you pull it forward, a big TV on the wall opposite at eye level and an old fashioned record player underneath with good quality speakers
Make it a multiple room

Oh bravo 🙄