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View Full Version : is your house a home or a nursery?



Louise0208
14-01-2011, 08:54 PM
on reading lots of threads recently i see some people are always asking for posters, images etc for there setting...

do some of you have your walls covered in early years, ofsted, positive images, setting photos.....all the time or do they come down of an evening?

i feel like im doing something wrong compared to you folks :blush: i hate to see clutter and my decorating was sooooo expensive i wouldnt want to ruin my walls with blu-tac etc

i only have 3 part time mindees (my choice as i have a very busy large family) and feel i dont need all the bumf that makes my house look like a nursery (as recomended by my DO- the kitchen partitioned off, all my certs on display (i have reg up), positive images.

im also a bit of a control freak when it comes to toys, everything has its place (out of sight in sideboards & kitchen units) but my DO has told me to put lables on the outside of my sideboard & kitchen doors to tell children where the toys are (like im going to make them guess!)........cus that would look really tastefull on my Ikea £250 sideboard lol....and the fact that my mindees cant read!

am i the only one that needs my home at the end of the day?
i just cant settle till my work & home is seperate :(
does having a playroom make it all easier?

guest4
14-01-2011, 09:00 PM
Hiya,
I also am a bit of a clean freak and like everything put away when Im not working!
YES! I can honestly say that I would not do the job if I didnt have my playroom. The only room in the house that is evident of a childminding business being run here!! It is a very large conservatory to the rear of my house and so I have ample window and ceiling space to display all posters, certs, artwork etc....
The whole ground floor is used in the daytime but everything is put into the playroom at night and weekends.

Hope this helps, I dont think I would feel 'off duty' if I could still see all my work stuff during the evenings etc!!!

Tracey x:laughing:

*donnalouise*
14-01-2011, 09:00 PM
I keep all my posters ect, in my hall. I have nothing up in my living/diner which is the main play area. I have a big cupboard in there too (the hall)where i tend to have a bit of the children's 'work' on display at their level.

My living room / dining room does have toys about - a wooden pram, push a long toddle truck - but only at i have DD aged 3 and DD aged 16 mth. They all have their own place, i have a bright and funky long storage unit with lots of drawers in for their toys (which are labeled with a photo), and a sling style bookcase. So I guess my house does look a bit like a nursery, but only cos i have young children myself!

mamasheshe
14-01-2011, 09:01 PM
i think it's balance to be honest my house looks like kids live here ( i have two dds) i have all the official posters in the hall and use a bookcase for toy storage so it's accessible for the children i usually leave the play tent up ( i splashed out and got one i like the fabric) i have display type bookcase. i don't mind it looking this way while my girls are young ( i may change my mind when their all bigger. guess it's just what's right for you and your home

Pipsqueak
14-01-2011, 09:02 PM
Its a home

gigglinggoblin
14-01-2011, 09:03 PM
Both! I have young children of my own and I dont want them in their bedrooms shut away so we have toys everywhere anyway. When I started childminding I put my certificate and Ofsted poster on the playroom door, added a stairgate to seal off the kitchen (not registered) and that was it. I already have walls full of artwork the kids have done (mine and friends), my home is also my childrens home and thats very much what it looks like! I do sometimes wish it could be tidier and in September when my youngest goes to school I might reclaim my front room but we will still have the dining room as a playroom.

snufflepuff
14-01-2011, 09:05 PM
I don't think my home looks like a nursery- I really wouldn't want it to! I did have a playroom but found we were not using it so we are in the process of changing it back in to my sons bedroom. I will use the small bedroom for storing toys and have a 'catalogue' for the children to choose from. We have an ikea unit in the lounge which has toys in the bottom 2 rows, then I bring more downstairs when i'm minding and my son asks for different things to come downstairs when he wants them. The lounge would have toys in it even if I wasn't minding because my son is still young.
I have a small notice board in my hallway with my certificate etc on which I intended to take down at the weekends but I don't bother- because seeing the nails in the wall looks worse than the board itself, lol! But that's it- pictures of the children/ crafts etc used to be on the wall in the playroom but now that doesn't exist so they will go straight in to learning journals or home.

RachelE
14-01-2011, 09:08 PM
Mine is more a home than a nursery - but isnt that what a childminder is all about?!

I have my certificates on the side in the kitchen, laminated.

I have art work in the utility room (open plan from kitchen, where all art and craft stuff stored)

I have plenty of toys in the lounge in easy access in the lounge, but it is still my home.

Rachel x

janminder
14-01-2011, 09:09 PM
I have posters in my hallway on the outside of the kitchen door and sitting room door and on the wall to the stairs. Also on the hall wall I have my Registration certificate, first aid, food hygiene, gas safety and other odd childminding bits like school holiday dates, chart for the next holiday so i can fill in who wants me as I have some parents who automatically get holiday cover and if they dont need me I can offer places to other parents.

I actually quite like having the posters around:o

Aimi-jo
14-01-2011, 09:10 PM
Your definately not alone, I dont want lots up on my walls, but i think you have to consider that your house is where you operate your business.
Instead of putting lots of stuff up like pictures of children im gonna do scrapbooks and display them for the parents to see (business hours).
If you do ever get a mark from blue tac marks rubbing a ball of bread on the mark absorbs the moisture. Im a clean freak!! lolx x

kel1983
14-01-2011, 09:11 PM
I live with my parents in their house so I can't really get away with having things stuck all over walls. The toys all live in the spare room. We have my sisters children over a lot so we have toys and equipment for them so I can get away with a little.

The stair gates stay on the doorways most of the week but the narrower of the 2 always comes off at the weekends. My certificate, insurance and parent poster is on a pin board which is hung on some over door hooks so this is removed in the evenings.

I cant wait to actually be able to afford to buy or rent my own place. Bit I dont think I would want my home looking like a nursery.

mr man
14-01-2011, 09:17 PM
i have two living rooms, one is very different to the other. its not a 'nursery' or even a play room, we call it the back room ( why i dont know becasue its in the middle of the house) and in here i ahve two trofasts full of toys with the labels on the drawers,( and yer i have to have it all back properly) a shelving unit with all the games and puzzles and anything that is in a box. then i have open type tray shelve with toys in. these are more baby toys in here so they can get them ( although i dont have a baby as yet). i suppose it does look like a play room but we dont call it that. i have two notice boards - one for kids things and one for the offical stuff. my dining room and kitchen and living room has no eveidence of toys of childminding - although it does when i am minding jsut not when they;ve gone home. iykwim

sweets
14-01-2011, 09:23 PM
my house is very much a home. i dont have my own children so i dont want piles of plastic showing at weekends or evenings. i dont display any posters. i live in a tiny terrace with a through lounge diner and no playroom. i have the ikea 5x5 expedit unit in the dining room end with wicker baskets in that contain toys and the rest are stored and rotated into a shed in the garden, my DO also suggested i put labels on the boxes, i just smiled sweetly said its something i will get round to! but no way, in fact the children know better than me which basket has the train set etc in! lol. one way to get round is to have a photo album with pics of toys in so that children can choose.

if i had a playroom then i may do it differntely but it still wouldnt look like a nursery room because i feel that parents choose us because of home settings, we are homes not nurseries or settings!

Tinglesnark
14-01-2011, 09:23 PM
When i first registered i had lamiates in my hall, up until recently i had a big noticeboard with info on but then ive been empty so long that i thought i'd just take it all down - i dont want my small home cluttered with all of that gumpf when im not even actively working so i took it all down. I'm not going to bother putting it all up again either, going to pop my laminated certificates in to my portfolio and leave it at that :thumbsup:

my house is my home

:thumbsup:

Mookins
14-01-2011, 09:32 PM
im new to all this and may soon change my mind lol but strike me down for beingdifferent but i love having all the artwork everywhere my lounge/dinerhas changed into lounge/ nursery all the doors downstais have pcitures on,
i hate the mess and love the boxes all lablelled, but just having them out makes me happy.

my step daughter told me the other day the dinning room looked like a nursery:clapping:
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad:laughing:

xx

sweets
14-01-2011, 09:46 PM
im new to all this and may soon change my mind lol but strike me down for beingdifferent but i love having all the artwork everywhere my lounge/dinerhas changed into lounge/ nursery all the doors downstais have pcitures on,
i hate the mess and love the boxes all lablelled, but just having them out makes me happy.

my step daughter told me the other day the dinning room looked like a nursery:clapping:
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad:laughing:

xx

lol sometimes i wish i was a bit like that, but i am such a tidy no clutter freak! lol. :blush: maybe im in the wrong job ;)

singingcactus
14-01-2011, 10:08 PM
My house is my home. There are posters up, rspb, yorkshire trust, egar, kids pictures, calendars, all sorts. There are toys all over the place, in cupboards, on shelves, in the buffets, under the table, on the window ledge wherever.
We are an artistic family so we have loads of hand drawn sketches, watercolours, oil paintings around and interspersed with all that is the kids art, some framed, some suspended, some tacked.
I hate being in showhomes, they make me on edge, and stressed. In my home we can relax, curl up on the sofa, eat in the lounge etc. My home is exactly how I want it (I hate the ofsted certificate but that's out the way), bright cheerful, and designed to support the people who spend their time in it. I don't hide the people away. This is how it works for me - my step mother has a pristine show home where not a speck of dust dares to stand at ease, and I hate being there, it is soooo unwelcoming - this doesn't work for me, but it does for her (well not really cos she is now under doc care because she has injured her heart by stressing out about the house for so long).
I guess people will do what works for them, and if you need order then you need order and your house should be ordered. Otherwise you will get stressed and make yourself ill.

manjay
14-01-2011, 10:09 PM
im new to all this and may soon change my mind lol but strike me down for beingdifferent but i love having all the artwork everywhere my lounge/dinerhas changed into lounge/ nursery all the doors downstais have pcitures on,
i hate the mess and love the boxes all lablelled, but just having them out makes me happy.

my step daughter told me the other day the dinning room looked like a nursery:clapping:
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad:laughing:

xx

I am with you on this one! My house still looks like a home but there is not a hope that all my stuff goes away at night. I have a 4 yr old son so his things are always around. I don't have anything on my lounge walls but I have an enormous pin board which covers one wall in the kitchen/diner which has art work and posters on. I love it, the children love it and my family love it. So we are all happy in this house:thumbsup:

mufftie
14-01-2011, 10:26 PM
im lucky enough to have a playroom and all toys are put away tidy at night and the door shut , i have a kitchen diner that on 1 wall i display work on and in the hall i have my certs etc displayed , i also have an office where all files and equiptment is kept, so my lounge is child free come evenings |weekends , but i often crave to turn the playroom into a snug or something else more adult like

babs
14-01-2011, 10:37 PM
i have a small playroom at the back of my house so have some posters up in there, whole house is used when working but all put away at night and weekends.. i have 2 notice boards up in hall which are left up monday to friday pulled down over the weekend and replaced with pictures theses have planning on and important paper work cert, insurance etc.... do sometimes forget to pull notic boards down and remember when im looking for them on a monday morning lol ....

sarah707
14-01-2011, 10:43 PM
I am very lucky because I have 2 bits to my home - I have a playroom which is full of toys and games and posters and things and I have my front room which is for the family and has nothing to do with work in it except the odd DVD.

I like to be tidy at the end of the day but now I have the space I will happily leave children's models or unfinished artwork out over a few sessions so they can come back to things and modify them.

My conservatory really was the best investment I could have made and one day when I am ready to retire it will be my sun room :clapping:

bandlady
14-01-2011, 10:54 PM
My house is a home but I do have a playroom which is used only when working (my two children living a home are 18 and 16). During working hours I use the kitchen dinner for craft and messy play, toy room for play and office/study for quiet time (tv, rest or story time). Last half hour of work time is spent tidying up everything back in toy room and door closed when finished work. Anything related to childminding is kept in playroom, art work displayed on walls posters etc on notice boards.
Evenings and weekends our house is just our home lounge not used at all for minding so is very much our space.
My playroom is my saving grace because without it I do not think I would still be childminding as my own family are now grown up so it gives me the choice of still having a working environment but still allows our house to be our home.

Denise

grindal
15-01-2011, 06:16 AM
When I started minding DS1 was 3 and DS2 was 18 months and we had toys in the front room and dining room. As they have got a bit older I have found their toys are less appropriate for mindees so seem to spend most time in dining room now with mindees. However front room is still full of DS1 and 2s things. We have lots of storage for toys in both rooms and anything that is just for my 2 baby mindees gets put in the spare room at the weekend or holidays. Kitchen is covered in art work and there is a big pin board and white board in the hall with notices and pics on.

It is our home, but with 2 small children I think the nursery look is a bit inevitable.

Vickster
15-01-2011, 08:28 AM
I have a play room, but I had that before I started as I have two young children. My house looks like a house that children live in as that is what it is! My certificate and posters are in a wall hanging that gets taken down.

FussyElmo
15-01-2011, 09:16 AM
Mine is a lived in home. Well with 4 children of my own its never going to be anything different. Used to put all the work on dining room wall but since having it decorated I haev used the fold down notice boards which actually stay up most of the time but I could take them down.

My parish priest called the other day and there was stuff everywhere and all he said was that it was nice to see a lived in home where the children were happy and thats what I aim for :thumbsup:

Kes
15-01-2011, 09:29 AM
I don't know about a nursery but you can defo tell I'm a childminder. I have 2 children of my own and have always had toys downstairs for them anyway.
I do have times when I wish I could have my house back then theres other times when I don't mind and think well its my job and I want it to look inviting to the children.
My certificates are on a pin board in the hall, at weekends I turn it over and on the other side I have covered the board in material and put photo's of the family on it.
I might rethink it when my boys are older. I don't hold out much hope though with 3 males in the house they don't grow out of toys the toys just change slightly. :)

Doofuz
15-01-2011, 09:42 AM
I don't plan on allowing my house to become a nursery either. I do have a playroom but it's small. I have been told by my husband that I am not going to be able to put blutak on the walls in that room so he has made me display boards covered in felt. I lean them up against the wall and they can be put away in the evenings and weekends.

I might put labels up on some things, I am interested in makaton so the signs for that could be out but they won't be all over the house and certainly not up when I am entertaining - recipe for a pee take from my friends! My playroom will have a play kitchen so will possibly put labels on the cupboards, table, 'fridge' bin, 'cooker' etc. The reason Ofsted like it is, although children that young may not be able to read, they will develop their reading skills faster if familiar words are available to them all the time.

My registration forms will be proudly on display near the front door in a lovely frame for all to see. I was thinking about getting one that holds three items, and have my NVQ3 and first aid in there as well.

sweets
15-01-2011, 09:44 AM
I only have 2 rooms, living room and Kitchen. The walls, doors and anywhere else is covered in posters, pictures, art work, notice boards etc I hate it :angry:

take it all down if you dont like it, you only need your certificate up, send all artwork home like i do, and do the children honestly look at the posters? i bet they dont. lol, better to get them out occasionaly and talk about them rather than have them just on the backgroun all the time. if you have your own child just allocate one door for their work and rotate pictures.

reclaim your house :laughing:

Helcatt
15-01-2011, 10:09 AM
im new to all this and may soon change my mind lol but strike me down for beingdifferent but i love having all the artwork everywhere my lounge/dinerhas changed into lounge/ nursery all the doors downstais have pcitures on,
i hate the mess and love the boxes all lablelled, but just having them out makes me happy.

my step daughter told me the other day the dinning room looked like a nursery:clapping:
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad:laughing:

xx

I'm a bit like this

I have a 2yo and a 5yo of my own and have their artwork everywhere anyway, so adding a few posters to the hall didn't make a big difference

But then, I do work in the dining room, going out in to the garden, and we do have a space upstairs in the lounge that is not so Child friendly. I store the dressing up rail there but the mindees don't go there!

My DO commented on how great it was to see artwork everywhere and see that I cared about what the kids do. But we did both agree that once my kids are a bit older, I might not be so happy with it.

Miss Mopple has seen photos! She'll tell you, its crazy here

HX

flowerpots
15-01-2011, 10:45 AM
i really dont think i could do this job if i didnt have my playroom. I love my decorating and wouldnt dream of blutacking anything to the walls but the playroom is a different story, the walls are covere, there are toys in every nook and cranny, the children have access to almost everything and we love it in there. at the end of the day i just shut the door and my house is back to being my home. :D

rickysmiths
15-01-2011, 11:50 AM
My house is a home first. That is why parents use me. :thumbsup:

mamasheshe
15-01-2011, 12:08 PM
i think mine looks nicer than a nursery! xx

Tinglesnark
15-01-2011, 12:29 PM
my home is lived in and cosy, we have "very useful boxes" with the toys in and i have 2 under my table and 2 in the corner by the window with the rest in the loft and we rotate boxes. all of the books have been moved upstairs but we always pick 5 a week and they are readily available but i find we all tend to read together rather than one go off to choose a book. i have found that i can have things put away because my house is quite small, everyone knows where everything is and if they fancy playing with something not out we then all tidy up and go and find the other "thing"
I think that you can, if you want to, have lots of toys and other resources available but out of the way. it is more exciting if it isnt always on show. we get a lot of "ooh wow! i forgot we had that train track!" and then it is the favourite for a week lol

we're all on top of each other a it is..:laughing:

let me win the lotto! then i will have a playroom to rival the local playschool :thumbsup: i do love seeing all of our hard work displayed and would have all my certificatees laminated and displayed if i had the room lol

mrs robbie williams
15-01-2011, 01:25 PM
my dining room is the play room which has storage cupboards in it so everything can be put away if necessary. Yes it has posters (and pen marks and god knows what else on the walls) BUT we werent really using it as a dining room anyway only at christmas and if we have friends round in the evening and all my friends know i childmind anyway. My spare room has a nappy changing station and travel cot, highchair and baby walker stored in it and i have a fire blanket on the wall in the kitchen but thats it. And i can shut the dining room door and forget about it all weekend - bliss :)

Chimps Childminding
15-01-2011, 02:34 PM
I use my dining room - would love a playroom, but don't pick the right lotto numbers :angry: I took all posters etc down over christmas as I was off for 2 weeks, and as yet I haven't put them back up :eek: its lovely to have nice clear walls!!

If I had a seperate room that I could just shut the door on at the end of the day/weekend I wouldn't mind so much, but I have an open plan kitchen/dining room so everything is always on display.

I have the argos storage units (can't justify replacing them with the Expedit ones as much as I would love them instead :rolleyes: ) and these have plastic storage boxes in 6 of the 10 cubbyholes - with picture labels on, which I can turn around at the weekend. The other 4 holes have books and baby (shape sorters etc) which take up too much room to have in a box! I also have the play kitchen out more or less all the time.

Chatterbox Childcare
15-01-2011, 03:20 PM
No posters on walls here anywhere but I do have posters with string at the top that go over the door handles in the morning and down at night. ABC and 1,2 3, that sort of thing

caz3007
15-01-2011, 05:34 PM
I have two lounges, both are registered. But we try and keep the back one just for naps and occasional letting the older after schoolies sit quietly with the TV. We have to go through the main room with all the toys in, but I everything is on shelves units or in really useful boxes and gets put away at night, usually before the last one goes.

maisiemog
15-01-2011, 06:37 PM
Mine doesn't look like a nursery but it is obvious that we have young children in the house. I have one big storage unit full of toys and other boxes spread around the lounge/diner with toys in.

We are in the process of turning our spare room into a tv/ chill out room for the after schoolies so some stuff can go up there then. I'm also clearing out under the stairs at some point in the next few weeks and putting some toys in there and then we'll rotate whats on display.

Our hallway is a corridor and when your in the main part of the house you cant see it so I have anything CM related in there. All childrens art work, certificate, notice board etc. Only other evidence I'm a CM other than that is the fire blanket in the kitchen but tbh I think I would probably keep that up if I ever stopped minding now!

solly
15-01-2011, 06:48 PM
Mine is my home, I have a through lounge/diner. I have foam mats down in a morning and the toys out. When i finish work it all goes away in the sheds and then you wouldn't know that i look after children..
I have all my certificates on a notice board and even that come down and put out of he way when i finish work. I dont mind working from my house but at the end of the day it is my home

xdirtydancerx
15-01-2011, 11:14 PM
Definitely like a home. When ofsted came to inspect I hadn't even got any posters up (Inspector knew I wasn't working for 2 wks though). I think they come up with all these rules n regs to try and scare us tbh :o

miss mopple
15-01-2011, 11:17 PM
Hmmn, mine is mostly a menagerie :laughing:

Between the fish (3 tanks). house rabbit, guinea pig, dog and foster puppy there isnt much room for the kids :laughing:

Hubby reckons its a nursery but it really isn't. I use the dining room as a playroom so get to shut the door at the end of the day which is fab :thumbsup:

zillervalley
15-01-2011, 11:42 PM
mine is a home, i do have the toys that children play mostly with left out and tidied in a corner of my dining room

i have a display board in my hall way, i have a downstairs toilet so childrens art work is diplayed on the door ,

ziller

loocyloo
16-01-2011, 09:27 PM
a bit of both! as my children (5&8) get older, then the toys are being tidied away a bit more at weekends ! however, they were both in the playroom 'setting up' the little people farm this afternoon!

my certificate is in the hall, but i'm proud of it! i have a menu/activity notice board in the kitchen and a photo self registration board on my kitchen door ( but this is also covered in my childrens certificates, invites, star charts etc! ) just looked round my sitting room, and realised that the side table still has my 'theme' bowl on it ... currently filled with number objects/cards and a selection of books! none of us have even noticed !!! oh well! i'm about to get everything out of the playroom again ... a box of books for the sitting room, a tray of instruments for next to the piano, crayons & paper on the dining table ( oh yes, that gives it away a bit :blush: big table, covered with accidental scribbles, bits of paint, glue, glitter etc !!! i use a table cloth when people are visiting! ) and then all the other bits in the playroom! i suspect by the end of tomorrow, i will have a layer of duplo all over the house!

the cot is always up in the spare room and the garage is full of buggies & car seats! ( when i remember to take the extras out of the car that is :blush: )

xdirtydancerx
16-01-2011, 09:53 PM
a bit of both! as my children (5&8) get older, then the toys are being tidied away a bit more at weekends ! however, they were both in the playroom 'setting up' the little people farm this afternoon!

my certificate is in the hall, but i'm proud of it! i have a menu/activity notice board in the kitchen and a photo self registration board on my kitchen door ( but this is also covered in my childrens certificates, invites, star charts etc! ) just looked round my sitting room, and realised that the side table still has my 'theme' bowl on it ... currently filled with number objects/cards and a selection of books! none of us have even noticed !!! oh well! i'm about to get everything out of the playroom again ... a box of books for the sitting room, a tray of instruments for next to the piano, crayons & paper on the dining table ( oh yes, that gives it away a bit :blush: big table, covered with accidental scribbles, bits of paint, glue, glitter etc !!! i use a table cloth when people are visiting! ) and then all the other bits in the playroom! i suspect by the end of tomorrow, i will have a layer of duplo all over the house!

the cot is always up in the spare room and the garage is full of buggies & car seats! ( when i remember to take the extras out of the car that is :blush: )

A bit of both?? Lol. Sounds more like you're very proud of what you do and I don't blame you. I'd never take my mindees toys away every day if my oh wasn't so insistant about it x