I grew up in the 70’s. 3 kids, and we always had a playroom. However, we did not have a home office in any house we lived in. I now live in a much smaller house than any I grew up in. One of our bedrooms is a home office. For a very long time our play room was the family room. We finally fixed up the basement and moved everything down there. Kids really stopped using the play room around age 10. basement is now a hang out and work out space.

This thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k

Oh my gosh, I grew up during the 70's and my parents really pinched their pennies and I shared a bedroom with my sister. Even so, one side of our basement was dedicated to our toy boxes, doll houses and whatnot. One doll house bought at a yard sale for cheap can take up a lot of space..

Anonymous wrote:At some point my sons will want their own room and I'll need to move the guest room. I'm hoping that day doesn't come while they are still young enough to have a playroom. Just wondering what age your kids were when you no longer needed to have a play room. I certainly did not have one growing up but my kids have so much more junk than I did.

Your kids can't possibly need a room and a half.

Anonymous wrote:If the luxury of having a playroom doesn't make you feel like you are privileged, what would it take then?

If we had a home office or another kid or a spare bedroom or a storage room...we wouldn't have a playroom.

Is a spare bedroom or a home office a luxury?

We have a finished basement. My boys are now 10 and 13. This is their place to hang out. They clean up and vacuum too. We are lucky we have the extra space.

My boys are 5.5 and 8 and they now prefer their shared bedroom or family room to the designated rec room or spare bedroom.

I plan to make the rec room more a casual TV area...I for-see it being used more that way in jr high/ HS.

They were down in the rec room all the time as toddlers and preschoolers, not so much now in elementary school.

At adult parties--it's good for separate space--but we even seem to have more adults-only type events as all the kids in neighborhood are getting older.

I'm hoping my boys will be ok with sharing a room for a looong time. I love having the playroom, and can see it changing as the kids grow. Right now, it's full of toys, but as they get older, it could be a place to leave partially-finished projects, legos, models, for video games, hanging out with friends, etc. Maybe I'll be able to move my craft stuff in there, too.

Convert it into a bedroom for an adopted child and bring one more foster child in from the system.

I would think it would depend if it was a room that was out of the way or if it was a room that was desired for something else.

Ours is a bunch of kid stuff in the basement. I imagine it will continue to grow and evolve, just the legos will be replaced by video games as he grows. If the play room was a guest room or the family room, it would disappear as soon as I could squish all their toys into their room.

As kids, my sister and I had our playroom as kiddos, it was only because we were sharing a room. By the time I was 5 and she was 4, that wasn't cutting it any more (to this day I'm a neat freak and she's super messy). I moved into the playroom, and playroom disappeared. We didn't have any other bedrooms or a basement.

I'm interested in this too - wish you got more real responses. Right now our family room is the playroom. In my mind, the room will just evolve as the kids get older so that instead of a bunch of bins full of toys, we might have a cabinet with games inside, a couple comfy couches, and maybe a TV/video game console or whatever tweens/teens would be into.

I grew up in a house with 5 kids, and we pretty much just kept toys in our rooms or in a couple of cabinets in common areas. If you want to have a guest room, In your situation, I think giving up the play room should be a condition of getting their own rooms. You can always store excess things in the guest room if you need to. I happily shared a room until 11 or so before wanting my own space which seems plenty old to me to be keeping their stuff in their own rooms.

If the luxury of having a playroom doesn't make you feel like you are privileged, what would it take then?

Ha, ha. No mansion but we do have a playroom (that makes us rich? lol). At any rate, I keep thinking that we'll convert the playroom into a spare bedroom but....no. The kids are tweens/teens and they still have lots of stuff in that room - nerf, balls, skateboards, pinball machine, board games, etc. I think the playroom is here to stay for a while.

1%'er problems. We have a 2 bR 1200sf home, 3 kids. No playroom.


Not helpful.
I find persoective very helpful, actually.

I don't, because I don't need it. I grew up sharing a bedroom with my sister and my two cousins. I don't need to be reminded that not everyone has a playroom. I am well aware. However, now I am fortunate enough to have one for my child, and am interested in hearing other people's thoughts and experiences as to when it makes sense to convert it to a guest room/something else.

I don't know, maybe because if you are so fortunate that you worry about whether to sacrifice a playroom or a guest room, maybe some perspective will help you realize how good you've got it and make you happier.