is your house a home or a nursery?

[Louise0208]

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 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]

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

[*donnalouise*]

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]

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]

Its a home

[gigglinggoblin]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Aimi-jo]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

my house is my home

[Mookins]

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
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad

xx

[sweets]

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
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad

xx

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

[singingcactus]

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]

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
One mum said to me this "ooh it was tidy here first thing look at it now" i didnt think it looked too bad

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

[mufftie]

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]

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 ....