Playroom vs dining room

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Forum -> Household Management

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amother

Babyblue

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 10:02 am

BH we just bought our first house!

We aren't moving in just yet, but I can't stop thinking of how I'm going to be setting it up.

I have a bunch of young kids who, of course, love playing, and making a mess. I love letting my kids be kids and make that mess, as long as it doesn't get out of hand. I love being able to close the door to my play room and let the mess stay behind closed doors (we do clean it up compeltly at least 1-2 times a week).

In the new house there are 2 options for a play room. 1 is huge and one is decent size. Both of these rooms are somewhat off the kitchen, so one of them would have to be the dining room. I keep going back and forth as to which room should be where. Do I give my kids a huge room to run around in... and therefore the mess will be that much harder to clean up, or give them the smaller (but not small!) room, which is a bit more contained.

I think it would look funny having such a big dinning room

any ideas, advice, suggestions?

or is there a way to break up the huge room to make it into two different "rooms"? Its more of a rectangle than a square (if that matters)

pause

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 10:05 am

Do you have a separate living room?

Is the access from the kitchen equally easy to both rooms?

I would use the large room for dining room. If you don't have a living room, add a couch at one end of the room to create a living area. Also, the playroom should be less accessible to kitchen than dining room.

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 10:38 am

smaller room is towards the front of the house and directly off the kitchen, large room in the back of the house, slightly off the kitchen.

my little kids like playing near me so I think the small room off the kitchen would be better for them. the bigger ones would be fine in the bigger room

yes there is a sepearte living room

tryinghard

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 10:45 am

sometimes smaller playrooms are harder to keep neat

essie14

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 11:03 am

I would like the largest dining room possible. I like having company. And I would prefer my playroom be as contained as possible.

amother

Brunette

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 11:04 am

Whichever room has the most closet space should be used for the playroom. The more storage closets for the tous-the easier it will be to keep it neat.

mommyhood

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 11:06 am

I'd make the bigger room the dining room. It's great for hosting simchos, family get togethers etc.

amother

Copper

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 12:51 pm

I would think that the larger room is for the dining room.

Fast forward about 10-15 yrs from now ...
You will probably start marrying off your kids- for sure you won’t need the largest playroom at that point. When your married kids come with their spouses/children it sounds like your large dining room will have room for everyone- and even a nice size playroom too!

For now if your kids have a nice playroom to play/relax it sounds good enough to me!
In general Frum families need a nice size dining room - we use it all the time! Always nice to have room for everyone if you have guests- even sometimes.

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 10:39 pm

but what else can I put in the dining room to fill it up? don't really want couches there, bc I'll have couches in the den (connecting room).

amother

Copper

Mon, Feb 26 2018, 10:45 pm

amother wrote:

but what else can I put in the dining room to fill it up? don't really want couches there, bc I'll have couches in the den (connecting room).

You can get a whole dining room set, with buffet, China closet / hang a nice chandelier - nice window treatments, pictures on walls ... large dining rooms furnished nicely are so elegant. - dining rooms are meant to have space for people to get in and out of seats, serving... what is the dimension of your dining room?

L K

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 12:57 am

Congratulations! You should have lots of bracha in the new home!!!

What are room dimensions, and how many chairs do you use at your table on shabbos or when you have company? Any windows?

Do you have to assign use permanently, or can you switch off later if you need a smaller playroom and larger dining room?

Huge playroom can be divided into separate play areas even without walls:
-bookcases with shelves instead of or in addition to closets;
-An area rug to sit on when playing with lego and other building stuff; bare floor area to the side off the rug so you sit on warm but puzzle is on flat floor;
-mat for gymnastics;
-dolls, play kitchen, carriages etc;
-small table for crafts
-music, drums, keyboard corner
tons of possibilities and layouts. You may even have some space to jump rope.

amother

Periwinkle

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 5:33 am

Do you have a basement too or will the playroom be the only space for your kids to run around?

We have a center hall colonial with 4 rooms on the main floor. The smallest room is supposed to be the dining room but we turned it into a library/study. The biggest room that is supposed to be the family room is our dining room. We have a 12 foot table that can extend to 14 feet. It's great for entertaining, whether for Shabbos meals or shalom zachors or birthday parties or Chanukah parties or other occasions. The living room doubles as the playroom for the little kids who like to hang out closer to me and the bigger kids play in the basement.

You have to think about how you will really use the space now and in the future. You can also make the big room the playroom for now and reconfigure in a few years when your needs change.

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