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.

This!

My ex also hated DD’s toys anywhere except her bedroom.
May I suggest that if you wanted your DC not to bring their toys anywhere else than the orangery, that you make the orangery comfortable for yourself. So that you could stay there for long periods with your DC. He just wants your company nearby while he is playing. Other than that, have the toy box on wheels that he can chose toys, you put the box in the room you are in so he can play near you. When you move rooms he loads up the box to transfer the toys to the next room.

An orangery is a room with a solid roof with skylight, brick walls with some windows.

In contrast with a conservatory which is mainly glass - glass roof, glass walls/windows with low brick walls.

The performative “cringing” from posters who should know the difference is really odd.

No toys at all? I voted yabu. They are children and they should be able to have toys in whatever room they want. Just tidy them up throughout the day.

We have a playroom that our kids generally refuse to properly play in. It basically acts as a toy storage room from which toys are then gradually strewn throughout the house.

Is one of the reasons your DS wanders about with stuff that he takes stuff into the lounge to watch tv? That’s why mine gravitate to the lounge, because it’s where the screen is 😐 so I often find an actual trail of objects from the playroom, past the front door and into the lounge. Sometimes they go vie the other direction as well and it goes playroom, kitchen, diner, lounge 🙄

My solution is similar to pps that we have a couple of toy baskets in the lounge and then everything else is kept in the playroom. I ask them to tidy up and usually my eldest (who is autistic) has a mini meltdown at the mere prospect of it. Eventually some stuff gets half arsed tidied. Everything else that’s not easily tidied away from the lounge gets chucked in the random basket and I sort it out every couple of weeks. I’m not spending hours every night organising stuff back into their homes, I just don’t have time for that and if I did I’d refuse to do it. There are no solutions here, only options most of which have already been suggested. But it’s really not the end of the world if they can’t find parts of toys for a while. The only way to really prevent that doesn’t involve hours of tidying each day is toy rotation and literally only having a few toys available at any one time.

In your shoes I’d be tempted to get a small toy storage unit for the lounge - seems to be where they want to play - and try a toy rotation system so they only have a few toys at a time. Then turn the playroom into a different kind of play space eg. Gym mats, stepping stones, bean bags etc? Or an office or something. See if it works better for your family.

Why have kids if you hate stuff they come with? Its their house, teach them to tidy up and be responsible, buy them less toys, look where you're going.

Orangery - I always thought it was where you grow orange trees. Never heard it being used to describe a room in a house. Is this a regional thing?

In our house toys that were not kept in the playroom or their bedrooms were confiscated. They soon learned to keep them in the right place.

Get some boxes and make them put toys in the boxes when they done playing.

And, as I said earlier, reduce the number of toys they have.

I got slaughtered on here years ago. Ours were each allowed to have two toys in the living room at any one time. When finished they had to be put away. The train track was allowed to stay up in the family room off the kitchen. Lego was there too but had to be put away before bedtime.

It sounds tough and two very young children is difficult, don't forget that. If you're trying to live how you used to or keep some semblance of your old organised and tidy life, I'm afraid you've had at least one kid too many 🤣

I think what you need to take from this thread is that your expectations are too high.

It would be possible (although hard work) to tackle this with one 4/5 year old. But you've got another tiny one to consider the needs of.

Unless you have the time and energy to put some robust organisation/boundaries/expectations/
authoritative practice in with your eldest, you are going to have to make peace with the fact your life is like this for a bit.

It's up to you to figure out how you're going to do this without making your children the culprit.

Good luck 💐

For a long time I had a toy box that didn’t look like a toy box in the lounge where I could hide it all. Now they are a bit older their stuff is kept in their rooms. I don’t mind at all if they bring stuff down to play with - but it’s not everything all at once and it doesn’t get left in there

Not according to Wiki. An orangery is just a conservatory.

An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other non-hardy fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory.[1] In the modern day an orangery could refer to either a conservatory or greenhouse built to house fruit trees, or a conservatory or greenhouse meant for another purpose.

That is what it was originally for - growing oranges.
It's usually an independent building on a big estate like Versailles.
I guess it's a faddish name for an extension with a lantern roof and I doubt there are any orange trees in it.🍊

extension?

An orangerie is usually a separate building on a large estate with a stately home which was used to grow oranges in winter for the aristocrats, hence the french name.

Some builders use it as a selling-ploy for a middle-budget extension - one up from a conservatory and one down from a traditional extension but not nearly as warm, which is probably why the kids are heading for the lounge in winter.

And wiki isn’t always right - it’s talking historically and generally.

Orangery vs conservatory:

An orangery is a more solid, brick-built structure with large windows and a flat roof featuring a central glass lantern, feeling like a natural room extension, while a conservatory is primarily glass, including the roof, designed to maximize light and garden views, often with a pitched roof and more temperature fluctuation. Key differences lie in materials (more brick in orangery, more glass in conservatory), roof style (lantern in orangery, pitched in conservatory), and insulation/feel (orangery is warmer/more insulated, conservatory is brighter/more garden-focused).

Orangery
Design: Combines brick pillars/walls with large windows, creating a substantial, room-like feel.
Roof: Typically flat with a central glazed lantern (a box-like structure).
Feel: More integrated with the home, warmer, better insulated, suitable for year-round living.
Origin: Historically built to house citrus trees, a symbol of wealth.

Conservatory
Design: Almost entirely glazed (glass walls and roof) on a low brick base.
Roof: Pitched or sloped, fully glazed.
Feel: Lighter, brighter, immersive garden experience, but can have greater temperature swings.
Origin: Evolved to grow exotic plants in cooler climates.

Orangeries are where stately homes or botanic gardens overwinter citrus trees!

I met someone a couple of years ago, who had an "adults only" lounge for her and her DH, kids not allowed in there. Her children were all over 18, I wondered how old they would be before they were allowed in! 🤣🤣
....Or what was going on in the grown ups lounge!

It’s not about budget - an orangery could easily cost more than a brick extension, (dedicated orangery and conservatory makers such as David Salisbury, Westbury and Vale can be much more expensive than brick) - it’s about how much light people want and different types of garden room.

very uptight

An orangery and conservatory are 2 different things!

doesn't look like it's working out for you to make it "less stressful". The whole thread is how stressed out you are by the need to constantly police that the toys stay in the orangery/conservatory and how it is not working.

Don't let the MN bullies win, shout it loud and proud 'I HAVE AN ORANGERY '!!!! There is a difference even if they don't know or if they just want to put ORANGERY owners in their place 😉 I nearly bought a house with a beautiful ORANGERY but it had been built without planning permission and was near a very loud, busy road.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangery

They can be attached to houses and often are.
I'm astounded so many don't know what one is.