What sort of house do you have

[buttonmoon11]

Hiya

I'm in the process of reducing my resources and wondered how you all keep your home. Do you have a playroom or do you have toys/resources you bring out in morning then store away or are you the minimalist type?

I would like to get my home back a little so I'm thinking of a notice board I can pack away at night, wheeled toy storage chests again that I can pack away and start to send all artwork home (except what I keep for ljs ect) instead of displaying on the walls. I offer total home from home care anyway and I think this is a better way to promote it and as I say get my home back.

What do you think?

[loocyloo]

i will have a playroom soon, currently my conservatory is my playroom, and the toys spill out into sitting room. at weekends everything gets tidied back into the conservatory, but duringt he week there is often a 'creation' in the middle of the sitting room floor, or the sensory box spread out and puzzles on the coffee table! mynotice board hangs in my porch, this is meant to be taken down, but i never do! same with steps in downstairs toilet and there is usually a little pair of wellies/slippers hiding somewhere in the hall!

luckily DH doesn't mind/notice ( or if he does, has learnt to live with it! )

i do and can tidy away if need be, but in that it will all be out in the morning again, it doesn't bother me to have it around! however, i am looking forward to having a playroom i can shut th edoor on and not see, although i know the toys will still creep into the rest of the house !!!

[k1rstie]

[QUOTE=loocyloo;1179013]

luckily DH doesn't mind/notice ( or if he does, has learnt to live with it! )

QUOTE]

that helps alot!!!!

I have stuff hidden everywhere, I even rent a garage from the council (we do not have one), and its in another street, just to store/HIDE some of my equipment. I do not think my husband has ever looked in there. He would have a fit!!!!

[hedgehog]

I would love a playroom as I use the lounge and dining room to childmind in so my house constantly looks like a nursery! I have young children of my own at the moment so it's ok for now but when they have grown out of all the toys I think I'll find it really annoying. We have large shelves in the lounge full of toys a small toy storage unit and a plastic set of drawers for the creative stuff. There are always toys everywhere by the end of the day! My notice board doesn't come down but I wish it could! It took years to convince my husband that I should become a childminder as he didn't want the house to get trashed. Once my children have gone to school I think I might look for a nanny or nursery job and finally get my house back!

[samb]

Well I think your plan sounds great.

I live in a flat with just 2 bedrooms and 1 living area so basically I have a huge cupboard to store all my bits and a loft for large equipment that I don't need all the time like my other 2 buggies, moses basket, extra high chair etc.

I do have a door in the hallway with my must have up documents on and another that I use to write notices on. Then my cupboard door to my toys etc is where I display things for the theme and I do hang mine and minded children's art work up along 1 wall with a piece of string but I tend to send home minded children's bits every week so they are not up for long at mine.

I find it really hard work putting everything away and getting it out every day however my oh would definitely not cope with our home looking like a nursery all the time.

[nipper]

I live in a three storey house and my playroom is my former dining room situated right on the front of the house so it can be seen by parents when they come to the front door (whether or not that's a good thing I have yet to decide). I've got the Ikea cupboards which swallow up toys in boxes. It can look a bit clinical when everything is put away so I prefer it when everything is out, but a complete nightmare to tidy away. My parents think of it as the 'school room'.
Luckily I can shut the door on it, but my own two can often be found rooting around in it after hours/at the weekend. We are planning to build a big conservatory on the back of the house leading off the utility room, like a sort of garden room, with easier access to outdoor play...at least that's the theory!
I also have a permanent notice board right next to the front door with my certs and other ofsted paraphernalia on it...I'm afraid I don't have that much time to keep unpinning posters so they stay up 24/7.

...luckily we are very quick at tidying up, I think we might have to be today!

[doris127]

We added an extension a couple of years ago and added on a playroom. When my children were little then it didn't bother me to have the toys out in the living room and stored in their bedrooms. As they got older I thought it was a bit unfair to expect them to store (and keep tidy!) all the toys they no longer played with so we put a shed on the drive with all the toys sorted into labelled boxes. I would take the pre schoolers out every morning to choose which toys they wanted that day and they were then tidied away back to the toy shed at the end of the day - which was fine but a bit of a pain when it was pouring rain! It's so much easier now with the playroom - we can decorate the walls with all sorts of pictures and at the end of the day I can walk away and shut the door on work. I'm quite strict on toys staying in the playroom so my living room stays toy free.

[cathtee]

I have a through lounge and everything gets put behind my chairs by the dining table so we can't see all the toys in the eve,
have stuff in bedroom cupboard and in the sideboard, I'm in process of getting planning permission for a conservatory to use as a playroom
so hopefully it will come through and i can get my house back and childminding things out of the way

[ChocolateChip]

I was lucky enough to have got a conservatory built last year, that is a craft/ messy play room kitted out with lots of storage, one wall is the Ikea plastic tubs that slide in and out (Trodat?) and another side is the cheap plastic drawers that you get from Argos. This has freed up space in our lounge so we replaced our furniture with good old Ikea again, Traby I think, like cubby holes with assorted tubs of seagrass, rattan etc. so apart from books which are on the open shelves, the lounge is pretty much toy free of an evening- bliss!
Before that it was a nightmare though, stacks of plastic tubs everywhere, only have a kitchen diner so kept having to clear craft away for meals etc, and only a tiny hall so I still don't have a notice board for parents, literally only have room for my cert. and Ofsted poster in the hallway, and that is stuck to the shoe store!
I have a magnetic board above the dining table and one of those plastic pocket hanging displays in the conservatory, also I stick things on the windows out there from time to time but parents only see it if I invite them through the house, I generally take photos of displays and email them in my newsletter or an update.
I still have boxes of toys in the attic that I rotate from time to time, and most of the time we play in the lounge, it just gets tidied up and put back in the conservatory at home time. I still have far too much though, despite the extra space and really need to get rid of some of it!

[gegele]

in a messy one ah ah ah ah ah

[EmmaReed84]

I have sets of drawers from Asda with a variety of toys in my lounge, then in the hallway 2 MASSIVE boxes, 2 medium boxes and 1 small box... Then I have a loads of toy boxes in my kids bedroom...#

Unfortunately I don't have a playroom, just a lounge/diner so I have to rotate toys, also the kids know what I have so sometimes ask for different things.

I would LOVE a playroom!

[k1rstie]

I have sets of drawers from Asda with a variety of toys in my lounge, then in the hallway 2 MASSIVE boxes, 2 medium boxes and 1 small box... Then I have a loads of toy boxes in my kids bedroom...#

Unfortunately I don't have a playroom, just a lounge/diner so I have to rotate toys, also the kids know what I have so sometimes ask for different things.

I would LOVE a playroom!

They look great Emma, I love you labels. Mine are like yours too - peaking through your boxes, you are not OCD about the contents

[watgem]

ours is a messy one that looks a cross between toys r us and mothercare lol

[blue bear]

My house is sort of split in half, so come in through front door and there is down stairs bedroom and stairs with three more bedrooms and bathroom.

Next to downstairs bedroom is door to kitchen.

Parents entrance is back door into kitchen which leads on to lounge then onto conservatory which is permanently set up as playroom.

So during the day my family tend to stay in their side of the house, only using the kitchen downstairs and don't really come into contact with mindees. (all adults now)

In the evenings conservatory is locked and all signs of minding disappears from The rest of the house.

[silvermist]

Im lucky enough to have a seperate playroom for which I am very grateful as I can shut the door on it in evenings and on weekends xx

[buttonmoon11]

Thanks for all the replies, I think I must be in the minority lol. I do have you boxes on wheel that are stored away and other resources to hand but there is nothing on show in my house. You would never know I was a cm if you popped in for a coffee, the buggy stays in the garage and apart from art work to go home, daily diaries and my daily folder on the side that's it. Looking at your replies with fantastic playrooms ect I think I may have to change my home a bit

I wonder if it puts parents off?

[tialil]

Sounds like a good idea. Childminding as much as is rewarding and enjoyable does take over your home

When I first started childminding we used to have ''stuff' in every room- even bought midi beds for my children so I could store my stuff behind their beds lol. The living room had a 8 cube unit that took plastic boxes. I dont think it bothered me then as my own children were 3 and 5 so had toys everywhere anyway.We had a bungalow and had to have gates on nearly everyroom and my boys couldnt go off and have their own time as mindees would try getting into their bedrooms

When we moved I made sure we had 2 seperate rooms - a front room as our family room which no one apart from family and invited guests could go into and I use the dining room for our playroom. Choose the dining room as we have to walk through this room to get to kitchen,loo and garden.This room has a good space under the stairs and an old larder so is fantastic for storage and I have a curtain that I can just pull over to hide these storage areas when not working. I also have big cube unit (of several units put together) with tv/dvd etc in the middle.

My son has now taken over the family room with his guitar/ music and so we do use the dining/playroom in the eveningsweekends but would be nice if I could make a cover to hide the toys on the unit just so I am not looking at those toys all evening lol

[buttonmoon11]

Thanks for your replies, I think I may have to change my house

I dont have lots of boxes, I have about 9 small ones with different toys/resources in but then we do spend lots of time outside on walks/park ect so never felt the need to keep loads. This is stored under the stairs when mindees are not here. I do buy different craft materials for different topics but not enough to keep. The buggy is kept in the garage, I have no slide or swing in the garden as its only small and have a park close. I only display the essentials (certificate, insurance and ofsted poster) on working days and this is on a notice board, again that goes away. Id say that if you didnt know I was a cm you would never guess. I save all the recycleable boxes ext and we make things out of those which keeps us busy, we use household items as toys sometimes (plastic bottle and rice ect), I have tried to be more natural and expressive rather than have a huge amount of toys that need cleaning and RAs ect but I kinda feel inadequate now I have read about your playrooms

Maybe I should invest in more toys and storage?

[PixiePetal]

I worked for 15 years using my lounge diner - hiding stuff where I could and storing some in shed to rotate. Crafts and pics went home - I photograph things for LJs

I have a small playroom in this house - been here 3 years and love it. Still send art home and only have a few things on the wall - an autumn tree display right now and hanging plastic pockets behind the door for anything else. I am not a nursery

[rickysmiths]

Thanks for your replies, I think I may have to change my house

I don't have lots of boxes, I have about 9 small ones with different toys/resources in but then we do spend lots of time outside on walks/park ect so never felt the need to keep loads. This is stored under the stairs when mindees are not here. I do buy different craft materials for different topics but not enough to keep. The buggy is kept in the garage, I have no slide or swing in the garden as its only small and have a park close. I only display the essentials (certificate, insurance and ofsted poster) on working days and this is on a notice board, again that goes away. Id say that if you didnt know I was a cm you would never guess. I save all the recycleable boxes ext and we make things out of those which keeps us busy, we use household items as toys sometimes (plastic bottle and rice ect), I have tried to be more natural and expressive rather than have a huge amount of toys that need cleaning and RAs ect but I kinda feel inadequate now I have read about your playrooms

Maybe I should invest in more toys and storage?

Don't you change a thing.

Your home sounds wonderful and there is no reason at all for it to look like a nursery and be full of toys and posters all over the walls. My house has never been like that and even after having a huge extension built two years ago and being able to have a room for cm that is not our living room it is still not like that! I have to live in my home and I don't want to be surrounded by my work all the time.

I have a cork board on a table by the door my parents come in and it had my Cert, my Employers Insurance Cert and the Ofsted Poster as these are the only things we have to display though i have never understood why or who they are for?? My parents see them when they come for an interview as they are in my parents info folder and I give them a copy of the current one in the parent folder I make up for them and give them any up dated Ofsted Cert and the new Employers Ins Cert every year which they sign for. I know what is on them, my dh is my only reg assistant who works with me in the holidays knows what is on them so I have never understood why we have to display them!! The cork board can easily be slipped behind the table out of the way in the evening though I confess I don't tend to do this but it is at the weekend and when I'm not working it goes in my shed.

Works of art are blu tacked to the glass back door the parents come in ot on the door of the room we use and they go home quite quickly and definitely before I have holiday and before Christmas.

I don't have masses of posters and stuff on the walls in the room I use. I have two frames prints by the same artist. One of them was given to me as a small child by my grandparents some 53 years ago and was always in my bedroom, then my children had it in their room and when we had the new room I decided to use it. I then spotted another one that went with it very well and so I bought it and had it framed to match mine.

Woodland Hospital - Margaret W Tarrant - MEDICI PRINT | eBay

This is the one my grandparents gave me and the other is similar characters in a Woodland schoolroom.

I did put bunting up for the Jubilee and Olympics and will put up Christmas bunting. I hang mobiles, lanterns and sometimes balloons from the light but that is it. We sometime put stuff on the windows and French Doors at the moment there are cling on butterflies.

Anything I put up can be removed rapidly and does not damage paintwork etc. I would not dream of painting on the walls it does not fit with the way I choose to use my home when I am not working. The room I use is used as a spare guest room, it has a sofa bed and two arm chairs and although there are Trofast units and Billy Book Cases with tubs of toys and resources and books on it does not look like a nursery. I have tents and cookers and shops etc etc but they are all put away at the end of the week. My teenagers do use the room if their friends come over. It is off my dining/kitchen and we had double door put in so if we are entertaining and need the space the doors are opened.

As far as I am concerned I do not run a Nursery in any way. I offer Home from Home care in my home and that is what i like to feel it feels like when a parent comes to see it. I do have coat hooks for the children and a box underneath with drawers in for the children's stuff so I don't have masses of bags everywhere but they are no different to what I would have had and did have for my own children when they were little.

I had a big sort out in the summer and still have a little more to do because I had too much. I do buy new resources. If something gets old and tatty ot breaks and something new. I have started to have a one in one out policy though. To be honest with the combination of going out and playing in the garden, and doing crafts there is a limit to the number of other things the children can and have time to play with anyway.

I think the parents that use me like the feeling of home and family they get, they have chosen me because they do not what their child to go to an institution.