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If you have a basement playroom?

LeoChicLeoChic
in Parenting

We are moving next month and our new house has a finished lower level with 3 separate rooms.  I'm planning on making one of the rooms a playroom/media room for the kids.  Right now, the toys are just intermingled into our living and dining room.  I'm worried that the kids won't want to go down there to play because they are so used to being in the common areas of the house. 

Do you find that your kids are willing to play in their basement playrooms?  Also, do the toys end up staying in the play room or do they inevitably still end up all over the house?  I'm really excited to be able to have a playroom for my girls but I'm wondering if I'm hyping it up in my head.  How has having a playroom space changed things for you?

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Re: If you have a basement playroom?

  • mamarazzimamarazzi

    We have a basement playroom and one on our second level.  Toys do make it onto our main level quite frequently, but I LOVE having a place to put them away and to keep bigger toys like the train table and kitchen.  Sports stuff and riding toys are downstairs.

    We keep baskets in our family room with an assortment of smaller toys and rotate them out to the playrooms every month or so.  My boys play in the playrooms pretty much daily, but they do like to be in the main living space, too.

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  • LinzDavidLinzDavid
    Ds has never liked playing down there by himself.  But, like mamarazzi said it's nice to have a place to store everything and a spot for big toys.  I'm hoping as dd gets older they'll play down there together more.
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  • shouldbworkinshouldbworkin
    Ours is upstairs.  They will go up there and play if I turn off the TV. This is a recent event, though.  Generally, they preferred to be with us until the last 6 mos or so when they could engage in pretend play together.  But, if the TV is on in the living room, they will just stay there, watch TV and play with toys there for as long as it's on.
    DS1 age 7, DD age 5 and DS2 born 4/3/12
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  • joy143dhjoy143dh

    DS loves his basement playroom  - He has a huge chalkboard and lego table. All of his toys are down there.  Randomly, he will bring toys upstairs, but overall he keeps him down there.  We keep a stairbasket at the top of the stairs, so if he does bring toys up, he knows to put them in the basket to bring back down later or the next day.   We have a radio that he knows how to operate and his bouncy house is down there. 

    We'll do art stuff/painting etc in the kitchen/counter, so it's not like he only gets to play downstairs - it's just where all his toys are.

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    David "BD" 2/8/07 Spencer 9/12/11
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  • passar3588passar3588

    I LOVE having a basement playroom because we hardly have any toys on our main level. We just have a basket of books and a few bigger things in our family room.

    However, my kids don't always want to play down there. I have 3 kids so luckily they have each other to play with, but if they're downstairs by themselves, someone always comes up after 15 minutes or so for something. Generally, all 3 of them won't stay down there for very long, although my oldest DD (she's 4.5) will usually stay down there the longest so I have hope!

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  • jettagurljettagurl member

    We finished our basement about a year ago into a playroom, with a couch/TV down there as well.  I love it!  The twins are just to the point now that they are able to go up/down alone, so it is getting much more use.  Up until about a month ago, there was still a lot of toys on the main level because of the twins.  I keep a couple toys on our main level, and some migrate up from the basement, but we just take the basket down every couple weeks and return them all to their home.  I  try to go down there at least for a couple hours a day, to help them realize how nice it is. and we're getting built-ins, chalk-board/magnetic board, and vinyl stickers to decorate soon.  I think as they get older it gets better. 

     

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  • J&A2008J&A2008 member
    It's great!  They love having their own space.  Toys still invade the rest of the house, though, but you at least have the option of asking them to keep their stuff in their playroom.
    Stay at home mom to a house of boys: two amazing stepsons, 12 and 9, and our 4 year old.
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  • EastCoastBrideEastCoastBride member

    Yes, toys still end up in other areas of the house, but the majority are in the playroom and it's easy to take the toys back to the room when he's done. 

    It's been a MILLION times better than when his toys were in our living room too!

    "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
    ~Benjamin Franklin

    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
    DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10

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  • libra31libra31 member

    I love having a playroom.  It would get used more if it were on the main floor though.  My kids don't like staying down there by themselves (and it's a really nice finished basement).  It is a great place to keep the bigger toys...car garage, kitchen, train table, keyboard, all DD's doll stuff (although some is in her room) ect. 

    We have built in cabinets in our main floor hearth room that we keep toys.  Along with a big wicker basket of toys that sits out for the baby.  I rotate the toys in that cabinet and that really helps.  We also keep all of our craft stuff upstairs because we use that at the kitchen table.

    DD(7), DS(4.5), DS(2.5), DS(baby)
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  • CiarraiCiarrai
    We have a playroom upstairs along with all the bedrooms (but nothing else).  The girls play up there pretty regularly by themselves and DS will stay up there for short periods of time before he comes looking for me.  If I can convince the girls to stay upstairs, the toys don't wander too much.  I do make them pick up all the toys and put them back in the playroom before dinner most nights.  We have some of DS's toys and a few of the girls' in the entertainment center bottom drawers, but as DS is getting older and playing more upstairs by himself, I'm reducing those.  It's going to be awesome when they get a tiny bit older because it's away from the main area and there's a door I can close on the chaos and mess. 
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  • jlw2505jlw2505 member
    I live in a split level and the main part of the lower level is the girls play room.  They go down there on their own to play but do come up or call for me often most days.  My 3 year old has started going down by herself recently.  Most of the toys do stay down stairs but if they bring things up, part of clean up is taking them back down.
    Jenni Mom to DD#1 - 6-16-06 DD#2 - 3-13-08 
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  • Carol*Brady2Carol*Brady2 member
    At my old house we did...once my 2nd daughter was old enough to play down there alone w/ my 1st--they played down there tons & stayed down there.  Minimal toys were brought upstairs.  
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