Anonymous wrote:I personally wouldn’t bother. I don’t think your house sounds ideal for a hang out house.

We bought our house with multiple spaces so that we can be the hang out house. I have a 13yo but also 2 kids in elementary including a 5yo. The younger siblings don’t leave teen and friends alone so teen does not like to have friends over. We have a 6000 sf basement with huge screen tv, billiards, ping pong, etc. our teen doesn’t like his siblings bothering him and would rather go to his friends’ homes.

Sounds like a wasted opportunity. Why not promise to keep younger siblings away when the oldest wants alone time? Sounds like you have 10,000 or more square feet to do it in!

I'd approach it as a family hang out spot. Even if you have one on the main level. Maybe it's where you sometimes watch movies on Friday nights or something. For me, being able to let my kids watch a movie while DH and I watch a game on tv is a nice feature of having another spot. I hate using iPads because it's not social (they each have headphones, craning their necks down, I don't love the posture, and less supervision on what they are watching).

But I wouldn't ONLY do this if it's a kids-only space. If you don't think you or your DH will ever use it (as an office, workout space, etc) then it might not be worth it. With 4 kids though, it seems someone will want to use it.

Anonymous wrote:We finished our third floor thinking it would be the kid hang-out spot and ours hardly ever go up there. They say it’s too far away.

Yeah. We have 4 floors in a fairly small-average size SFH. The 4th we thought of making the play space, but instead it's my Office. I WAH full-time. It's the best because nobody ever comes up here and I can't even hear the front door if someone knocks. It was worth gold during the pandemic when I could escape for privacy.

Our kids use the basement all the time. It's not huge, but the Xbox is there and when their friends come over or sleepover they have privacy. There is a full bath down there too.

The basement and finished attic have been priceless. But, again, our home has a fairly open floor plan so these two floors offer more privacy from the rest of the family.

If you have the space absolutely. We recently moved into a new house that had a large loft space that we dedicated as the pre-teen hangout. The kids LOVE it. I love it as they are tucked away and all their crap can stay in one room.

If you do make the hangout pace in the third floor, put a set bar up there and a beverage refrigerator. Maybe a microwave. They’ll need a mini kitchen type setup so they can’t complain it’s too far away from the kitchen.

This is what our basement is. It's great when their friends come over and they can be down there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally wouldn’t bother. I don’t think your house sounds ideal for a hang out house.

We bought our house with multiple spaces so that we can be the hang out house. I have a 13yo but also 2 kids in elementary including a 5yo. The younger siblings don’t leave teen and friends alone so teen does not like to have friends over. We have a 6000 sf basement with huge screen tv, billiards, ping pong, etc. our teen doesn’t like his siblings bothering him and would rather go to his friends’ homes.

Op here — this is soooo classic! I’m sure the more effort i put into it the less likely it is they will want it. Right now they want it probably because we have been backing off on doing it, having received some truly shocking estimates.

Another question for those with two or more kids — once the oldest leaves, do the others get dibs on his or her bedroom or is it frozen in time? Especially if it is a true big kid room like I remember some friends having — in a finished basement or other private spot.

100% frozen in time. You'll be surprised with how much you pay for college, how much they are actually home. There's fall break, Thanksgiving break, winter break, spring break, and summers.

You want to keep their space in your home, their space, in their home. Leave the room as is, so that they have a room to come home to in their home.

We finished our third floor thinking it would be the kid hang-out spot and ours hardly ever go up there. They say it’s too far away.

1000%. For the cost of soda (yes, the real stuff) and chips, you’ll have some idea of what your kids are doing with their friends at least some of the time if you have a hangout space. You also want a place for them to hang w their opposite sex friends that’s not their bedrooms.

We are renovating our basement so our teens and tween want to hang here and not elsewhere. Hopefully. Was a toddler arts and crafts and guest bedroom space and will be a much cooler room to hang out plus fitness center in a few months. Is our Christmas gift to them this year. Ages DD (15), DS (13), and DD (12) each has said they would invite friends more if we had space for them to be separate from our family areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally wouldn’t bother. I don’t think your house sounds ideal for a hang out house.

We bought our house with multiple spaces so that we can be the hang out house. I have a 13yo but also 2 kids in elementary including a 5yo. The younger siblings don’t leave teen and friends alone so teen does not like to have friends over. We have a 6000 sf basement with huge screen tv, billiards, ping pong, etc. our teen doesn’t like his siblings bothering him and would rather go to his friends’ homes.

Op here — this is soooo classic! I’m sure the more effort i put into it the less likely it is they will want it. Right now they want it probably because we have been backing off on doing it, having received some truly shocking estimates.

Another question for those with two or more kids — once the oldest leaves, do the others get dibs on his or her bedroom or is it frozen in time? Especially if it is a true big kid room like I remember some friends having — in a finished basement or other private spot.

My house has that bedroom and it’s my 15 yo olds. Private bath, private entrance, big (daylight basement, but was finished by us a couple years ago so new ish) and it’s understood that her 12 yo sister gets that room when she goes to college, bc the other bedroom is very small, and quite unfair honestly. We will then make the small bedroom her room when she comes home - based on her personality, I don’t see her doing that though for more than holidays, she’s quite busy and not much of a homebody.

Anonymous wrote:I personally wouldn’t bother. I don’t think your house sounds ideal for a hang out house.

We bought our house with multiple spaces so that we can be the hang out house. I have a 13yo but also 2 kids in elementary including a 5yo. The younger siblings don’t leave teen and friends alone so teen does not like to have friends over. We have a 6000 sf basement with huge screen tv, billiards, ping pong, etc. our teen doesn’t like his siblings bothering him and would rather go to his friends’ homes.

Op here — this is soooo classic! I’m sure the more effort i put into it the less likely it is they will want it. Right now they want it probably because we have been backing off on doing it, having received some truly shocking estimates.

Another question for those with two or more kids — once the oldest leaves, do the others get dibs on his or her bedroom or is it frozen in time? Especially if it is a true big kid room like I remember some friends having — in a finished basement or other private spot.

I personally wouldn’t bother. I don’t think your house sounds ideal for a hang out house.

We bought our house with multiple spaces so that we can be the hang out house. I have a 13yo but also 2 kids in elementary including a 5yo. The younger siblings don’t leave teen and friends alone so teen does not like to have friends over. We have a 6000 sf basement with huge screen tv, billiards, ping pong, etc. our teen doesn’t like his siblings bothering him and would rather go to his friends’ homes.

Op here— thank you for the replies! This room would be flanked on both sides by tween bedrooms on the third floor. There is nothing else on that floor. It’s kind of the middle bedroom that sucks because it just has one tunnel-like teeny dormer window. We would take out the middle bedroom door and widen the opening as much as possible without making a structural change. We would also put in skylights. It feels like a risk because the older girls (9 and 11 still technically) are scared to even go up to the attic. It’s a pretty primitive space fit only for parental offices (!) and thus we are planning renovation — also trying to put a bathroom up there. But husband thinks a guest room is just as good and cheaper…requiring no work. But i think it’s an opportunity and we have to mess around up there anyway since we need a new roof.

It’s really nice to have but there are no guarantees. One of my kids had friends over in our basement all the time, the other always goes to other peoples houses.