Conservatory playroom ideas?

[treaclepumpkin]

Hiya, we have a conservatory, that we would like to turn into a playroom for our two boys (aged 4 and 6).

Grateful for tips on flooring - we want it to be padded, but not the interlocking kids tiles you can buy. Something more durable - someone mentioned LVT, is that good and safe for kids to play on? Would. Make sense to also carpet over the top, for added warmth?

Also, how best can we store their toys in there (or indeed anything in there) without it all being damaged/faded by the sunlight?

Never had a home with a conservatory before, but I understand temperatures can be a nightmare to deal with, so ideas how to combat that in the winter (and summer) would be great.

Thanks!

Get the roof insulated - either pay a firm who turns conservatory roofs into proper insulated roofs or Google for DIY versions. This is the most important thing. Otherwise it will be freezing in winter and boiling in summer and will become a glorified dumping ground as your children won't want to play in there.

We have a conservatory playroom.

We have a tiled floor - didn't want to change it, came with the house. We've put a playmat on it, something like Totter and Tumble.

We have a solid roof which has really helped. It's much cooler in summer, we have an electric radiator on in winter.

We have IKEA Kallax units in there to store toys.

Thanks @snoodles - we have wood flooring in ours. Just checked out totter and tumble. Lovely mats - just wish they were bigger, to sort of carpet the whole floor.

I wish we had a solid roof on ours - I don't suppose that could be retrofitted. Would probably cost an arm and a leg anyway.

I like the Kallax - will probably get some of those. Thanks

You could find a large rug? There's other brands of the play mats too, they are much kinder on the kids knees and ours rather than just carpet and a rug.

The tiled roof can be fitted on existing conservatories but it's not necessary and does cost a bit. I would say get some sort of ceiling blind in there though for the summer so it's not scorching. Or even air conditioning so the children want to play.

We also had an IKEA table and chair in there as well as a craft drawer unit with all craft bits in.

A playroom is a fun room to design!

We found these useful ones

www.argos.co.uk/product/6007320

Thank you @snoodles - definitely going to look into getting some blinds.

I'm wondering if we can get some sort of playmat type bouncy flooring to go under carpet. Going to look into that.

@kateandme - ooh, i like those too. Are the baskets that come with it strong though?

Is there a particular reason you want it padded? I assume they don’t have a padded, or maybe even carpeted, play area at school (or nursery). It seems like a big investment for older children.
Window insulation film will help the heat loss.
Low table and Trofast from IKEA. For craft and storage.

Is there a reason you need it padded for school age children?

We have wooden flooring everywhere, and a few rugs around the house. My son, age 2, always plays on the wooden floor and has done since crawling baby. His toys generally stand, stack, roll better than on the rugs so he prefers it I think. The rug he only uses for laying on to watch tv

Before you go to all the effort of designing it up, are you sure they will want to play in there? Most playrooms I have ever seen are full to the brim of toys and unoccupied by children.

This is us 😄 keep meaning to get the roof done as ours is a sound room, even though it’s from the 90s 😄 We have v cold tiles and a massive fluffy rug. Kids don’t play in there but that’s fine by me, the toys have to be stored somewhere! They just want to play where we are, which is living room usually.

in there we have 2 2x4 kallax cube storage, keyboard, desk with storage, exercise bike, heated airer and dehumidifier.

@demotedreally - I had actually read somewhere that is often the case, because the kids will just want to be where you are. But ours will have bifolding (?) doors through to the second reception. So we are making that space the family room, with sofas and a TV, so we will be there and the kids will be with us but with their toys in their own space - and they can move freely between both spaces. Then the other reception will be more grown up space, for after they are in bed/when we have people round perhaps. Haven't thought it through exactly - but something along those lines.

Window insulation film I'd never even heard of. Will get right on that. And I am starting to think you are all right about the padded floor being unnecessary (and I'll be glad of having one less thing to buy- costs of other essential works are really racking up)

Storage wise. I would go with something that looks nice and can be used when toys aren’t everywhere

www.cotswoldco.com/dining-room-furniture/sideboards/large-sideboards/ - sideboard like these. Add baskets inside and great for board games. Drawers for art supplies

kidsconcept.com/en/kids-room/pouffes-ottomans/10171?variant=1000536 - These kind of storage ottoman stools. Can use as seat at lower play table. Handy for sets of things like brio/ schleich animals.

Large storage ottoman. Extra temporary seating when people over. Use for bulky stuff or sports stuff/ school stuff

We have a playroom in our conservatory. It's off the dining room and the boys use it all the time. We have a solid roof, carpeted floor and I bought multi-coloured blackout blinds (a different colour for each window) from www.orderblinds.co.uk that are amazing. Made to measure, affordable and arrive so quickly. I love them. We have a Billy bookcase and smastad storage tables/boxes. I covered the top of one with Lego baseplates so they can build on it.

We didn't used to have a tv in there but it's now becoming populated by consoles and computer games. We're about to upgrade the (very old) sofa to a sofa bed for sleepovers. My eldest had a sleepover in there last weekend. It works really well and so much better than when it was 'just' a conservatory.

Only preschoolers want to be where you are, mine are older and are always in a different room. Be aware that in a few years they won't want a 'playroom' so think about future proofing for when the eldest gets to secondary in 5 years. I think a wooden floor is fine (get a cheapish rug to cover it if you want) but if you want something warmer but still practical then cork is better than LVT. Mum has LVT in her kitchen, it feels very hard underfoot and if you don't have underfloor heating (Mum does) then I'd assume would be very cold. Cork is insulating, comes presealed these days, and is much better for the environment.

Our 'playroom' (more of a teenage hangout den these days) has a wall of books with a sofabed below it for chilling, a desk (TBH a bit of a dumping ground, thinking of getting rid of it), a wall of IKEA Besta for storage (chose Besta rather than Kallax because it holds bigger things, like board games), a piano, a table football. We are now succumbing to the inevitable and putting a big TV in there so I can sit in my pretty sitting room to read when they are watching TV. I know it's pretty standard to have a conservatory as a playroom but I think you need wall space for all the storage although you have fewer children than me and so don't need to hold onto toys for as long.

Storage wise. I would go with something that looks nice and can be used when toys aren’t everywhere.

Completely agree with this, it's another reason I don't like Kallax, it screams 'I'm storing kids toy'. There are lots of gorgeous vintage sideboards around which are more robust than flatpack (because better built) and and provide a lovely surface for displaying all the DCs creations.

That's just given me an idea! We actually have a nice sideboard, but have nowhere to put it. So we're thinking we would try and sell it. The things in it now will fit in our new kitchen, which is bigger. Not for one second did it occur to me to put it in the conservatory and use it for storage of the kids things.

I guess I'm a bit torn between making it kid friendly but not so kid like that they won't like it as they grow older. But I suspect they don't care why their toys are stored it, so long as they ultimately have the toys.

@JaninaDuszejko - Just been looking at cork flooring. I think we have found a winner - thank you for the suggestion.

Also like the look of the Besta units too, as I see they have doors to hide all the mess in

--
Thank you to everyone for all the helpful insights and suggestions. Lots of thinks I hadn't even thought of (or even heard of). Starting to formulate a bit of a plan now 😊

You can get a solid roof retro fitted, not slate or tile, but especially made for conservatories that are made to look like a traditional roof.