For Them, Not You
DeWulf Nickell recommends that parents consider their children's interests and hobbies when filling in a playroom. For a daughter interested in outer space, parents can add a hanging model of the solar system. For a son who takes karate lessons, parents can include kicking bags, floor mats and a place to hang his belts.
"These playrooms should be very creative areas," DeWulf Nickell said. "The emphasis should be on creativity. Whatever the child is interested in, make sure they have those tools there, right at their level. It could be as simple as finding the right soft pillow that a child feels is his and putting that pillow in the right space. You want this to be a space of their own."
Jonathan Korobkin, 10, of McLean plays a video baseball game in the family's playroom. His father, Alan Korobkin, president of Saratoga Construction, says playrooms, kitchens and family rooms "are the rooms that people now want -- rooms they actually use and live in."
(Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
|
|
DeWulf Nickell also recommends that parents forget about the walls when designing a playroom and instead view the room through the eyes of their children. Children are shorter than adults, remember, and are more interested in items that are on the floors than those pasted to the walls above their heads.
Parents can be as elaborate or as low-tech as they like when it comes to playrooms. Korobkin, though, does recommend that playrooms contain at least one electrical outlet for a television and another for a computer, especially for when children get older.
"It's nice to have all that downstairs," Korobkin said. "We love it. We don't have to hear the cartoons, then, blaring through the rest of the house."
As children get older, their playroom needs, of course, change. The playroom should actually transform into more of a traditional recreation room, housing experts say.
"As they get older, kids really need a game room on the lower level or off in the wings of a house," Guyton said. "It might work over a garage, too, so that the noise is less. It should have things like pinball machines, jukeboxes and pool tables, things that make a lot of noise."
Some homeowners have called on Korobkin to build custom couches or raised areas that look like bleachers in their playrooms. Korobkin remembers one Virginia homeowner who had a mini-basketball court installed.
That may be extreme. And housing experts caution parents against building a playroom that may actually be more suited to their imaginations than to their children's.
"I live in a pretty affluent community, and I am amazed at some of the playrooms I visit," said Sandra Gordon, co-author of "Consumer Reports Best Baby Products" and baby-safety expert on the Discovery Channel television show "Make Room for Baby." "Some of these rooms can be very elaborate. They'll have playhouses inside them, tons of toys, elaborate entertainment centers. Kids like that, but they don't really need that. My kids have the old-fashioned playroom in the basement and they love it."
She said, "You can do a playroom for a kid or you can do it for yourself. The more elaborate you get, the more it's a 'you' thing than it is for your kids."
Safety Matters
Playrooms are meant to be safe havens. Parents should take steps to make sure that their children are not injured there.
First, make sure that playrooms are located appropriately depending on the age of the children. Young children should have a playroom that is close to the center of the home, where parents can always hear what is going on. The youngest of children, of course, should never be left unattended in a playroom, no matter where it is located.
Besides location, though, there are plenty of safety matters to consider. Gordon, the baby-safety expert, recommends that parents bolt high bookshelves or entertainment centers to the walls when they have little children. Youngsters like to scale such items and can be seriously injured if these heavy pieces of furniture topple onto them.
