To not want toys brought into the lounge?

[ohnononofenton]

So in context, our downstairs area is all open plan. There’s a smallish lounge, a dining room and then an orangery. The children’s toys and games are in the orangery and their bedrooms.

They both but especially my five year old keep bringing them into the lounge. I hate it. It’s mostly because the lounge is on the small side so quickly gets full, toys get trampled on, end up under the sofa and the TV unit. I end up skidding on toy cars and parts of tool boxes all the time.

I am trying to be quite firm about keeping toys in the orangery or bedrooms. Or is this just too uptight? It’s an ongoing battle keeping the house fairly tidy and I don’t do a bad job but it is a lot of work.

Oh sorry OP! Very annoying for you re the orangery/conservatory debate. But who knew it was such a contentious issue!!?? Can you just not read those bits and jump to the toy section.of a post.

Former council flats with small balconies have gone on sale in our town with the balcony described as a "verandah" which I rather like!
More up-market than balcony.
"Toys on the verandah, Tarquin".

Uptight I’m afraid. Ex child minder and a bit OCD myself - they will have been taught at nursery and school to have tidy up time. Make a game of it and make it the pre dinner ritual. It’s their home - you’ll have plenty of time when they’re at school to enjoy the peace and tidy. And before you know it, they’ll be off at uni and you’ll miss the mess. Honestly. You really will.

Exactly! That is what they originally were in large stately homes. They have now just become builder/estate agent speak for an extension or conservatory.

OP your children should be an important part of your life and mess comes with it. Unless you have a very large house, you can’t have one area for children and one area for adults. Of course the children will want to be in the area where the adults sit. This is a short period in your life. You will have years after to be tidy.

Is there any chance at all posters could stop going on about what the room is called? It’s getting really tedious to read post after post of feigned amazement that a room is called what it is called

I know. I’m going to feign amazement at how parochial these posters are. Conservatories were originally intended for horticulture; people aren’t falling over at that term. A conservatory and an orangery are very different.

My neighbours have an orangery, loggia AND a portico. How dare they.

My one post that was actually not about the orangery but about OPs poor parenting choice of confining her kids to play in designated areas only, got deleted. Whatever. Hope the OP finds a better way forward in her parenting.

Yes: shall we have drinks in the vine house?
Do join us in the vine house.

As someone whose children are almost out of the toy phase I’d say embrace it! They won’t be little for long and you may find you’ll miss the sight of lots of toys everywhere. Before you know it they’ll be in their bedrooms glued to PlayStations and phones.
Just try and do a tidy up at the end of each day and get them to help :)

I'm sitting on my hands for the whole terminology debate but - is it not perhaps a bit chilly in January?! Any room with a fair bit of glass is going to feel (and probably be) a whole lot colder.

I think you are being a bit unreasonable, and I am fussy about toys all over the house. I think if you're going to corral your children into one room, it needs to be a room where all of you can sit together - because they will want to be with you - and it needs to be cosy at this time of year. It sounds as if there's a whole empty room (dining room) between you and a five year old, which feels a bit unfriendly.

It screams "I'm so pretentious!".

Love it. I have no idea what a loggia is, but I want one.

You’re fighting a losing battle. Children, especially, five-year-olds will be five-year-olds, and will have their toys all over the place. It’s normal, and not something I would get stressed over, or try to control. Just tidy up at the end of the night, and enjoy the toy-free lounge when they’re in bed.

YABU to call a conservatory an orangery. Orangeries are for those who live in stately homes. The rest of us have conservatories.

You are right ignore the people making fun of you calling it an orangery - 5 seconds on google and they could find out the difference.

The orangery at Chatsworth House is mahooosive.
In fact it's the gift shop. It's fantastic.
Stone built, very elegant.

How about you let them play with toys in the lounge but not the orangery, it might make life easier.

Amazed there’s some people on here who haven’t heard of an orangery. It’s called that- OP isn’t being odd- it’s the other way round! Orangery is common - there’s companies that send leaflets out all the time! It’s not a conservatory- it’s different. We have one- it’s a much better use all year round.

It is considered an extension if it has a proper roof with some form of walls combined with the large windows, adding value to your home. We found that out when we were thinking about moving.

I don't see a problem with OP wanting one tidy room in her home so she can walk through or sit in without lots of small toys bits in it.

There isn't a problem with that as such, but it's unrealistic to expect it to be the main room of the house when you have small children.

I think, as pp said, getting him to tidy up and put everything away is a good idea. Perhaps do it together to start with, and give a reward?
In my experience they cotton on quite quickly and even enjoy the tidying process!

This. How small is the lounge. Why don't they want to use the orangery as a play room.

You should be glad that they want to spend time in the family area

I don't think it's reasonable to ban all toys in the main family living space, no. If you asked about your bedroom/study or a similar space I would have a different answer.

But it is fine to have toys that are played with in particular areas (puzzles, crafts and lego are all examples of things that have designated places in our house) and to actively reduce the constant transporting of toys and make cleanups easier.

Give each kid a bit of toy storage in the lounge. I understand this may not be your aesthetic ideal but you're a grown up and can manage those feelings and compromise. Let them have a manageable amount of things to play with in there that can be cleaned up quickly and easily because their storage spot is not off in another room. Allow them to rotate the lounge toys out but not continue to build up more and more - the limited storage space serves as a boundary. Do more frequent cleanups with your DS so that they're short, easy, and less likely to be at a time when he's already tired and getting a lot of to-dos (like bedtime).

Storing items where they're used and in a way that makes them easy to put away is actually one of the most helpful organization skills for those of us that aren't naturally tidy.

So true, unfortunately. Many of us just miss those days...