Would this really be so crazy?

[LittleSweetPeas]

Ok, I'll see if I can post some pics to help visualize what I'm talking about.

We have a dining room that opens up to what we use as a more formal living room. On the other side of the dining room wall is our family room which opens up to our kitchen. The kitchen and dining room don't connect.

I have been wanting a playroom for the kids but aesthetically it doesnt work with our floor plan. I dont want people to see it right as they come in and both living and family rooms are seen from the front door.

SO I thought about converting our dining room into a play area. I figured I could somehow squeeze the dining table into a portion of our family room and then maybe put up a divider between the dining room and formal living room.

DH isnt convinced. He thinks it will all look too closed off and cramped. Our 4/2 house is only 1500 sq. feet so the living areas arent huge.

Any other ideas? The kids wont play in their rooms and I'm tired of stepping on toys all day trying to get into the kitchen and rest of our house.

[brown eyed girl]

Do you have a porch? Can you make a covered porch or deck? I have a covered porch that runs almost the entire length of the house... my computer is in front of the non-working half of the sliding glass door; then there is the kitchen/dining room to my right. So while I am in the kitchen or at my computer I can watch the kids on the porch. We're screening it in next week, with doors. That will keep leaves off and my baby IN, so it will be baby safe too! And we'll put down that indoor/outdoor carpeting. I have a shelf out there, on the other side of the sliding glass door and there are 4 tubs of toys on the shelf-- lincoln logs, duplos, rescue heros and wooden blocks. We have some old fashioned school desks, a bin of Thomas tracks, etc. It's a great playroom because the kids don't complain about the heat... besides, there is a nice breeze on the porch. And after we screen it, no more leaves or mosquitos!

[LittleSweetPeas]

Nope, can't do that.

1) we dont have a porch

2) we dont own our house--should've mentioned that! No major remodeling/additions going on here!

:giggle

Good idea if we had one though!

[joystrength]

You know, this is exactly what we did!

Our "dining room" was at first an office, then it became the kids' playroom. For us it was great.

We had a huge living/family room and, since we had non-carpeted floors, we just put our table at one end of if. And we still had plenty (PLENTY!!) of room for an entertainment center, couch, loveseat, rocking chair and a big fireplace. We just didn't have that much furniture.

Great idea, if it works for yoU!!

[SouthPaw]

we have a combo dining/play room! it works great for us. informal and useful. the spaces are kinda separated visually b/c the "dining" side has a fireplace and some nice curtains, the other side toy chest and a rug to demarcate the separate area :grin

[BHope]

We have our kitchen table in the kitchen and at the moment our formal dining room is empty. Well, it has a china cabinet... but hardly a formal dining. I think it's absolutely feasable to do what you are suggesting. Could you put up curtains, so that you could keep the space "open" until you had visitors. If you had proper storage you could probably always keep the space open unless it was messy, and then the curtains would be a quick fix for closing off clutter.

[OnlyBelieve]

Is the furniture easy to move about so you can move some to get an idea of if it will work or not? It sounds like it would work.

[MarynMunchkins]

Move the furniture around. :shrug If you don't like it, you can always rearrange. :grin

[Katydid]

What about nixing your formal living room altogether and make that the dining room? :shrug

[LittleSweetPeas]

What about nixing your formal living room altogether and make that the dining room? :shrug


Its too far from the kitchen. Actually even where the dining room is is a bit of a pain. It involves me taking all our food through the family room and then into the kitchen. All the areas are carpeted. Yuck! DH doesnt seem so hip on the idea so we may just have to try it out. I thought about curtains as well.

Hmmm, lots to think about! Thanks for the ideas!!!