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.

It’s what they do and they don’t want to be doing it alone. Accept your home will be messy for a while. Playing helps them develop and grow. They need your input from time to time.

No. Orangeries are quite different to conservatories in that they’re more ‘room like’. They generally have flat solid roofs with a couple of large lanterns, and have more solid walls whilst still having lots of glazing. Much, much nicer than those dreadful conservatories of old.

Is the orangery warm enough to play in all year round?

Play is their work OP, it’s how they learn and develop. Toys are the tools of their trade! It’s their home as much as it’s yours, and they need to be able to spread themselves out a bit. Can’t you just insist on a tidy-up routine before they get ready for bed? You can have your neat and calm adult space in the evening once they are asleep. And if you’re constantly skidding on toy cars, you need to look where you are going!

An orangery is not a conservatory though?
Orangeries are proper rooms built with brick with lots of windows and a proper roof (which maybe glass)

In this case relevant as its not a freezing uninsulated conservatory, so is comfortable to play in

It's a type of room.

TIL I have an orangery! Does that mean I can get a butler now? Or do you have to wait for a wild one to visit the gardens and entice it in with a cucumber sandwich?

OP this is such a trite observation but they are only young once. In 10 years they won't even want to leave their bedrooms unless they are seeing friends, make the most of it. Chuck everything in a big box or bag at the end of the day and tip it out into the orangery ready for the next day.

Just had to Google orangery 🙈

Sorry OP I agree with others you are being too upright. Its good for them to learn to tidy up after.

Can I see the orangery? Im nosy and never see one before but I’d definitely call mine that if I had one. Lovely word!

yabvu. Kids just want to be around their parents so that’s also where toys will migrate. Just make them tidy up.

Yes - I will not refer to it as such again! I couldn’t give a stuff what it’s called but when we bought the house it was called the orangery so … <sigh> anyway, like I say, I really don’t care! Just trying to explain the layout.

Another problem is that it isn’t just the lounge: there’s often a circular route going from the orangery conservatory with walls through the dining room, then to the kitchen and the hall and to the lounge. Not only is it lethal but it takes an age to sort. Since ds and tidying is just a fucking nightmare to be honest I’m trying to go down the ‘keep the toys in one place’ route.

Honestly you're probably fighting a losing battle. They want to play in the main living area and not shut away in their bedroom. That's a good thing. I get the eye twitching about the mess but thats life with a kids. You're better finding a system for tidying it up than trying to stop but honestly that's probably also a losing battle.

We used to get around the toys everywhere in the areas we were trying to keep half tidy by having a big basket in the corner of the room. When the toy was finished with it went in the basket. At the end of the day the basket went upstairs, got emptied and then came back down ready for the next onslaught play time.

It's not technically a conservatory because it is not a conservatory. At all.

It's a bit like comparing a shed with a garage just because they're both outbuildings.

I can understand why you want a segregation of spaces with an entirely open-plan area.

Is the orangey set up as if adults would spend time in there too? Armchairs/sofas, a small tv etc? Making it more living room like might encourage them? Does it feel separate to the rest of the spaces?

Didn’t you find toys with small pieces got lost, though? One of DDs favourite toys is a dolls house and she’d be upset if parts to it got lost.

I hope there's still enough room for the orange saplings what with all those toys in there...

Seriously though, I understand the want to dispel toys but I guess it's an impossible task and it won't be forever...

Children love to play everywhere in the home. The only place we had that was not for toys was in the kitchen near the cooking area. Toys are not "mess" they are educational. Just have a smallish box in the sitting room and a larger one in the other area. Before they are going to bed get them to put all the toys in the boxes by making it a game/part of play.

Your house is a Home not show rooms.

Like this??

I really understand your frustration but personally I think it’s unfair to not allow the DC to play in the lounge - usually a fentral
point in any home - with their toys.

It is open plan but it’s still clear that there are / were three separate rooms, if that makes sense. I’m not 100% sure but I think the lounge and dining area used to be two rooms and the … room that shall not be named 👻 was obviously added at a later date.

As many many people have said on this thread an orangery is a proper brick room with a proper roof and lots of windows, the roof sometimes has a glass section but is proper roofing material. Compared to a conservatory which is usually much more plastic walls, and corrugated plastic roof and therfore colder and less insulated.

It's a normal word for a type of room tbh. It's not a conservatory. A conservatory has to be seperate from the house but an orangery does not as its better insulated.

Then maybe she'll learn to look after them - natural consequences and all that.

We just used to call that an extension ...

OP have a nice big wicker basket that the kids can bung the toys into when they've finished, or that you can chuck a few bits into when it gets too much during the day. Take it back out into the extension (😉) at the end of the afternoon and bobs your uncle.

Why would they get lost?
each evening before kid s bedtime just have everyone children and adults spend 15mins rounding everything up and back where it belongs

if it takes longer than 10-15mins you have way to many toys

I'm with you OP. My DC have their toys in the family open plan kitchen / dining room thing, (neatly) and a playroom upstairs. They know they are not allowed to bring toys into the "grown up" lounge, and actually, they're not allowed in there without an adult anyway. It is a calm, quiet, clean, peanut butter finger print free zone, and although my friends think I'm batshit, they appreciate when they visit and say things like "Oh isn't it nice in here?"

Yes, because my DC have the entire rest of the house to play in. They are welcome to join adults in the lounge but certainly not to just play in, or run around in. I don't care if that makes me sounds draconian, it means at the end of the evening, DH and I have a peaceful space for us that is ours