To think one room can have 3 uses? Pic included

[EvanDaleMum]

Stuck between the choice of 2 houses.
One has a large lounge/ diner which I am not sure how we would set up.
Other than this they are equal and tick all the boxes. If there was only one of these we would choose it but happened to see both on the same day within an hour of each other.

Please help me with ideas.
House 1
Lounge/ Diner is a lovely big rectangle shape but it would need to be the lounge, the dining room and have a play area for the kids (doesn’t need to be huge). Don’t want the kids playing in front of or near the TV.

How would you design it?
Pic is what I think but the kids area isn’t so great and now I don’t make them tidy everything every day as their area is in an end of the room so I don’t mind the car track being left up etc.

dh thinks it will work out ok and decide when / if we had the house. I’m not so sure.

Ideas welcome- thanx.

What is house two like? Links to floorplans would help too

So my picture won't add ffs sorry.

Think a rectangle, door at one end of long side and opposite side has doors in middle. So it's a diagonal line to walk through the room.

AIBU to not plan ahead and just wait and see how it all fits?

Thanx for your reply so quick.

House 2 has a separate lounge and dining room so no issue with inside.
However the outside garden is square and all grass. My dc are nd and LOVE using their trikes to go round and round outside. They also like a swing. I have no idea where to start with house 2 garden and it's needed for them to let off steam.

I think wait to see how you use the space, where the light comes in etc. We have a long, rectangular space downstairs we use one end during the day as it gets all the light. We have a table and chairs, and soft comfy seating at that end. Then at the other end we have the TV and sofa. We rarely watch the TV during the day so don’t use that end of the room. But there is just the two of us.

At last, my diagram.

Don't want to use proper links or house pictures as it feels too outing.

Thanx for your reply. I didn't even think to ask about the light.

I think I have drawn what you describe you have which would be perfect but the kids need a little space to play downstairs.

I can't see that middle bit working as a play area, it's always going to feel messy and cluttered.
What is the size of the room?

You don’t have to walk diagonally door to door, you could walk round a dining table for instance. I personally would hate to walk through toys constantly so would prefer a toy ‘corner’ - we had a teepee in the sitting room where most of it got flung at night just leaving toy kitchen and train table out.

Where is the kitchen?

The window behind the sofa might reflect off the TV and I agree with PP about the toys in the middle of the room/by the door. Imagine being on your way to relax on the sofa and you tread on Lego! This is what I would do and then fit the bookcase etc where there’s room

Is the dining table nearest to the kitchen?
agree not the toys in the middle of the room.
i think pps diagram is good.
or if you need the dining table as per your original, I’d maybe swing the sofa round 180 degrees and have a play area behind it.

What are the dimensions of the room? Not really possible to plan without those. Minimum sizes are 3x3m each for lounge and dining. How much space is left after that?

Is it possible to add a conservatory at some point for kids playroom, or a play house type structure outside? Gazebo in summer ?

Is your ‘don’t want kids playing near the tv’ cutting off a better option? We had set times for tv when they were very small for example.

Thanx everyone for replies.

The room is 21 feet x 10 feet.

The kitchen is from the room with 1 door on my diagram- the 2 doors go to the garden. I don't mind if the table is not nearest the kitchen.

Yes that is my worry with the play area in the middle it will always be messy.

The kids can watch TV that's no problem but we had a brand new tv damaged by a flying train one day so keen to keep play area a little further from TV.

In time we would love an extension of some sort but couldn't afford at all right now. Hence looking at this lounge area set up as the other house needs work on the garden.

Thanx.

Mount your TV on the wall. Free up more space and less risk of mishaps..
Never regretted putting ours up...

Pull the dining area into the middle and make the play area there, kallax storage all along the wall for easy tidy up?

Sounds like the other house is better? You could add a paved area or get the garden landscaped?

In any case, children adapt and make use of what you have. Plus they won't be using trikes in the garden forever.

This is why I hate lounge diners.

I would be throwing up a partition, having the lounge as a TV snug, then having a dining/playroom. For as long as kids "need" a playroom, I'd deemphasize the dining bit after separating the rooms.

My dream set up is a dining library playroom. Storage and shelves along one wall for hundreds of books, plus toys and boardgames (I'm with you on not having the TV in there, which is why I think you have to separate the room). Four seater dining table on the opposite wall with a tablecloth for art/messy play. Couple of armchairs. Everything away and extend the table for Christmas etc.

In a 10 foot wide room I think it's ambitious to fit a dining table and kids' play area across the width. The chair space for dining tables is actually quite wide - you might be better off turning it and butting a short edge up to the wall.

I think you'll figure something out, and you should go on big picture stuff rather than getting too hooked into the details. Toys never stayed in our playroom anyway. A few random ideas - TV in a cabinet so you can protect it if toys are getting flung about. Adults' TV upstairs - be prepared to use one of the bedrooms as an occasional second lounge. Use a round table to help flow and consider stools/benches rather than chairs. We used a Montessori mat system for toys so anything DC had put on a portable mat could stay out and no one else could mess with, and everything else was fair game got put away every night. Kept a lid on the chaos while letting them have games that ran on. I have no problem relaxing in the evening if there's a little mat with toys on in the room.

As the room’s only 10’ wide could you give the end of the room opposite the TV and sofa to a play area and put dining table across the back of the sofa with four chairs, one at each end?

When you wanted to seat more people you tidy the toys away and pull the table back.

It might just be better doing the other house’s garden to suit. So hard to say without more to go on.

Not sure why the garden of house 2 is a problem

Children can cycle in grass and will outgrow that probably by next summer anyway

Separate dining room and living room.

Grew up in a house with a combined dining room and lounge. Never again. There was no privacy. You were all on one space.