Converting family room into playroom? Crazy idea?

nettie

I am half seriously and half not considering turning our family room into a playroom. I just get so sick of their toys everywhere, they have super large rooms but we never play up there. We have a basement but it is not finished so I was thinking this would be easier??? Then we would have to move our Tv into our front/living room which currently does not have a tv in it, It is just a sitting/reading/relaxing room-it is very large. I liked it the sitting room way but am wondering if it would be nice if they had a play room. Our family room currently has a closet I shove everything into but toys are still over flowing. I go thru them frequently and get rid of the ones we don't use. Has anyone else done anything like this? I kind of think it would be dumb to give up our family room and wonder if the toys will still just end up everyhwere...what do you think?

Mrs.JDD

Personally, I'm not a fan of rooms that don't get used much...so if you don't use the current living/sitting room very much, I'd definitely put a tv in there so that you will use it more often and convert the family room into a playroom.  We have what we call our sunroom off the living room/dining room.  When we first moved in here it had chairs, a cedar chest, the desk/computer...it was like a sitting room.  We have slowly turned it into a playroom and the last thing that needs to happen is ditching the desk to make more room for toys...that is happening sometime this week!  I don't think it's crazy at all to change the rooms in your house.  Your house should grow with your family and be as functional as possible for the stage you are at.  Sounds like a formal sitting room and casual family room aren't working for this stage

shouldbeworkin

I don't think it's crazy.  I know plenty of people that do it the other way around and put the play room in the living or dining room b/c they're not using it.  It makes more sense to put it in the family room where you can see your kids when you're in the kitchen and keep the living room looking nice for guests.

Expecting0207

I'd make the house the most functional for you.  How often do you use that sitting room now?  Would it get more use as a place for you to unwind at night if you converted the other room?

 We did this to our dining room.  I sold off the formal dining room furniture, bought a cheap table and chairs at Ikea and the room now is an eating/play room.  We use that room all the time now and never did before.

Susie2005

We made our dining room into a play room.  Best decision ever.   We didn't have dining room furniture any way and would never use a formal dining room even if we did.  We have an eating area in the kitchen that is big enough and an open enough floor plan to add a table or two stretching into the living room for big family holiday dinners.  The DR is right off the kitchen so I can see the kids while I'm making dinner.  I love that even if we don't get a chance to clean up, all the toys are in one place (for the most part.)

I would totally do it!

veloelle

some friends turned their never-used formal dining/living into a playroom. Looks great.

CubbyMama

I really don't get why modern houses all have these formal sitting rooms in addition to family rooms!  Ours has a formal living/dining room that's not adjacent to the kitchen, so we have no use for it whatsoever (except possibly when we host Thanksgiving, but why set aside an entire room for once a year?).  We made it into a playroom, and I love it!  It's huge, so there's plenty of room for bookcases w/ canvas storage bins that allow it to still look nice if we have company over.  If it's a mess in there, I just don't look that way when I walk down the hall!  

I don't have any pics since I finished painting and organizing in there, but here is a messy pic that gives the general idea. We have an older couch in there, and a toy box on wheels that we cover with a table cloth and use as a "coffee table" to make an extra sitting area if we have a ton of guests and need more space.

 

nettie

Oh my house is not modern, it was built in 1979 I really love it, it has lots of separate rooms...I hate open floor plans...thanks for all the replies, glad to see other people did it too!, now I need to get DH on board with this. We also have a huge wall in attic attached to my ds's room and I always thought about converting that too....

Ciarrai

That's what we did. We actually made our formal dining room into a sitting room/TV room for the adults and moved all our stuff out there.  Our den/family room is just the playroom now.  It works great.  I would have moved our TV into the formal living room (that we really don't use) but it doesn't have a good place for our TV.  The sitting room is a little cozy when we have people over but perfect for just us or us and a few friends.  Well worth it to me.  Our den/playroom also has french doors and there are days when I don't pick it up...I just close the doors. 

snickerdoodle27

I wish I had another room I could convert to a playroom. I'd do it in a second! Friends of ours use their dining room as a playroom. the toys will probably still get scattered but not as bad.

robynlynn83

We have a multilevel house and our front room has been converted into the girls' toy room---we LOVE it...It has solved the problem of having toys take over our living room...I dont know if I could ever go back to not having it!

Bride2b2004

Mrs.JDD:

Personally, I'm not a fan of rooms that don't get used much...so if you don't use the current living/sitting room very much, I'd definitely put a tv in there so that you will use it more often and convert the family room into a playroom.  

I agree with Mrs.JDD.  We have converted our formal living room into a playroom. It works out great and the room is used a ton (which it would not otherwise be at all).  We got nice storage cubbies/cabinets from PBK (Cameron) and as well as the PBK train table.  So the furniture is nice (not cheesy plastic) and there is good storage (easy to clean up when we are having guests).  When we outgrow the playroom, we will turn it into an office/den where we will have the family computer, books & dictionaries and where kids can do homework.