Buying A Home
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Playroom first or second floor?
Hi Ladies,
I'm going to cross post on D&R also. We are starting the process of building & selecting floor plans. We have an option on the second floor of having a bonus room as the playroom. We are also planning to have the formal living room/study open into the family room, the other opening to the living room study is off the foyer with french doors. Where would the playroom best be used? convert the living room/study on first floor or the bonus on the second floor (if it makes any difference laundry will be upstairs)
Thanks for your help!
Re: Playroom first or second floor?
We are putting ours on the second floor for a few reasons.
1. I don't want the clutter of the playroom spilling into our family room. There will be some toys coming down from the upstairs playroom, but I feel it will be more manageable. If i find out that I was completely loony in my thought process, at least I'll get a little excercise going up/down stairs to put everything back
2. We do work in our study after LO goes to bed. We don't want that near the bedrooms.
3. LO seems to play with his toys more after not seeing them regularly. So if we're on the first floor for a while and head upstairs to the playroom it will be more fun for him to explore.
Sorry for any spelling/grammer mistakes. I'm on my phone.
We convered our downstairs study into a play room and made the master bedroom sitting room our office. I like having the kids downstairs with me. If I am in the kitchen making dinner, it's fine for them to be in the playroom alone. I wouldn't let them go upstairs alone.
Edited: My kids are 2.5 and 11 months, so that's why I need them to be close by...
You both make great points, I think I may end up doing both, having some toys in the study for times when I'm cooking but having a dedicated room upstairs for the big toys so it looks less cluttered. Thanks for your help!
I think it depends on how old your kids are.
Toddlers to 2 years old and I would want them on the same floor that I spend the most time.
3-4 years old is really up in the air and would depend on the personality of the kids. When my kids were 3-4 both my kids would often play in their rooms while I was downstairs, but I had friends who had the kinds of kids that just got into too much mischief if they were unsupervised.
My kids are now 3 and 7 and we're putting the "GAME ROOM" (since my son thinks that "playroom" sounds too babyish. LOL) on the 2nd floor
Some toys in the study for now and the dedicated room upstairs sounds like a good solution for you.
This is what I was going to say.
When my kids were younger, I kept their toys in the family room on the main level. They had to be where I could supervise. I dealt with the clutter issue by using storage bins and not having all of their stuff out at any given time...a lot was kept in the guest room closet and we periodically rotated things in and out to change up what was available.
They're older now (5 and 8) and we've moved to a house where the basement is finished as a playroom. I LOVE that their stuff is contained in one space where nobody goes except for that purpose and that I can block off from visitors (and myself when I don't want to deal with it!) by just closing the door.
IMO, the best of both words is starting with a "temporary" play area on the main level but having a dedicated, out of the way space for the long term. When the kids are little you can use it for storage or to play in with them, when they're older it becomes their space and they play and keep their stuff out of your way.
I have a toy box in the family room with some toys, but I keep the bulk of it in their bedroom upstairs.
In the house we want, I would have the playroom upstairs and still keep a toy box in the family room adjacent to the kitchen.
My son is 14 months and will be two when we move in. I would never let him play unattended on another floor at this point, he stays close by. So I think when we move in, we would use the study as the temp playroom and when I'm upstairs the laundry is next door, he'll have a place up there until he is older. Right now we are in a condo and our living room is overflowing with toys, it drives me nuts. I just want to make sure our new living room doesn't turn into the same & if we are going to add the cost of bonus room that we use but sounds like we will. Thanks for all your help!
The other thing to think about is when they are older w/friends. If it's on the 2nd floor are you ok w/guests being in your private space? Growing up we weren't allowed to have guests upstairs in our rooms (because they were so messy).
If it's on the main floor it won't be as intrusive if there are other people there.
Craft Blog