Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 29, 2015 7:18 pm Hi guys! We will 4 kids under 6.5 by the time we move into our new home.... For those who have kids and are building or have built what things did you change/alter/consider due to wanting to make your home family friendly? Eg) Flooring durability (vinyl, laminate or bamboo) Layout (kids retreat & location, room locations) Furniture choices (leather or?) Electrical (considering future needs) Really I'm interested to know any advice people are willing to give. Obviously each family needs are different but its always good to know peoples line of thought... Thanks in advance! Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 3Jan 29, 2015 9:02 pm Toys... you need to deal with the toys. #1 reason for us building was to have a toy room (this will become a bedroom down the track as well). We wanted the kids rooms downstairs and ours upstairs to avoid the "herd of wild elephants" effect. We also put sound insulation around the kids rooms. So they wouldn't disturb us and vice versa. Flooring wise we went tiles and carpet. I wouldn't get timber because it gets trashed too easily. Will probably get a leather lounge but will get a cheaper one to start. Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 4Jan 29, 2015 9:59 pm We have a playroom for the kids, for us we located it close to the living/kitchen as my kids are only young and it is easier to break up fights from the kitchen/living area. Our house is multi-storey. The grand plan is that we will have our master bedroom 2 levels from the kids, but given they are only young we put in a guest bedroom and ensuite on the same level as them that we are using currently as it makes it easier if they need us during the night. Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 5Jan 29, 2015 10:41 pm We have 3 kids eldest is 9 and the youngest 3, we are having a kids retreat that we can close off the main bedroom shares a common hall way but still not too close we having insulation between all rooms. Having tiling in living areas as they are easy to maintain. Looking at data cabling to each room for server access and future schooling needs for computers etc. That's about all I can think of Building a sekisui house in Holmesville NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75060 Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 6Jan 29, 2015 11:02 pm I'm not against dedicated toy rooms or activity areas etc but IMHO you need to think about future uses of the room when designing your house. The kiddies 'bulk toy' phase only lasts so long, so what plans do you have with the room after they have stopped using bulk toys? We designed and positioned the kids room so we can change its purpose over time. Initially it was a toy room but it's now slowly morphed into a gaming room (playstation, bean bags, tv etc) and we've moved their now smaller collection of toys into their bedrooms. Eventually it will no doubt become a teenage retreat with room for a lounge, study desk etc. But after that it could quite easily be converted to a pool room, formal dining room, rumpus room as it has a powder room and connects to one side of our alfresco. All good for resale too if we ever decide to sell. I like the fact that our house can grow with us and its a shame to see houses built with nooks and rooms that can't be used for much else later down the track. This is just my take; plan ahead and see what you can do with the house layout to accomodate multiple uses for the kids toy room. Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 7Jan 29, 2015 11:05 pm Have a laundry chute (if double storey house), mud room for school bags so it's not always in the lounge area, IT nook/ homework area near the kitchen, or large and wide enough kitchen island for homework help, when they are still young. Separate lounge handout area when their friends are over when they are older, 3 way bathrooms! Yikes! Totally deluded by the planning and building process Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 8Jan 30, 2015 10:03 am Wow! Great suggestions... I too have a rumpus room which is off our kitchen so I can see the children clearly from our island bench... the opening is quite wide 2.06m, I was thinking if I should be cavity sliders in or leave it open? Will it wreck the open plan feel? With flooring we were going to opt for bamboo flooring for strength, me and tiles just don't go? Furniture we were thinking leather but speaking to our friends who own a leather upholstery business they said unless I have a good $7,000 to spend on quality leather its not worth it, stick with fabric? Any suggestions on what type? Electrically, we have NBN (think thats standard these days) and a TV point in the kids retreat plus lounge. Which brings me to backyard? Any ideas we have a small 4.2m × 14m backyard? Cheers Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 10Jan 30, 2015 12:57 pm I have 6 kids . Nothing these days is kid proff lol .last days of school holidays .in over it .ha ha . Back to your house .I have french doors to games room .so you can see through but they do my head in one always is left open .I would go fir the cavity sliders .do you have a plan . I have material lounges I do find them better but if you go that way make sure you scotch guard them Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 11Jan 30, 2015 5:07 pm I would LOVE a veggie patch however the green thumb and me don't work... lol Oh yes nothing is kid proof lol I am going to try with the cavity sliders for rumpus.... I have a plan but dont know how to upload Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 12Feb 02, 2015 2:36 pm Definitely go with the cavity sliders, we really regret not getting a couple into our place during the build. Toy room/rumpus room is great, it makes our whole house feel so much tidier to restrict toys to one room. Ours is actually an extra bedroom, so can revert to that, or a study/gym/whatever room. I also agree with the leather couch sentiment. We bought a couple of leather couches from freedom a few years ago thinking leather would wear better with kids, and in less than 12 months is had worn holes in itself where the seat cushions rubbed together. It was a nightmare to get refunded but we eventually did and replaced it with a giant microfibre thing which isn't as good looking but has been very practical with 4 boys. Even texta and pen come straight off with a spritz of hairspray! With the electrical, we have sensor lights in the kids hallway so that at night as soon as they set foot outside their bedrooms some low lights light up the way to the toilet for them. We also have a really spacious kitchen, its a bit of a different design (we custom designed it after a great suggestion here on the forums) Its not huge, but the island is set a bit further than normal from the other cupboards so that there is more room for "helpers" So far it seems to be working really well. Our WIP isn't fitted out yet, but once that goes in I'll be even happier. We're moving breakfast making stations to inside the pantry so no more mess out for the world to see from 6am every morning! Another thing to consider is storage of big things - bikes for 6 people take up a ton of room, then by the time you add in scooters for the kids, maybe skateboards, tennis racquets, surfboards, prams, spare booster seats etc you quite soon fill half a double garage. We put a timber platform in our ceiling and installed an attic ladder so that we can keep other stuff we would normally put in the garage (camping stuff, christmas deco's etc) up in the roof and free a bit more space for stuff the kids use all the time. We only built 4 bedroom and have our 4 boys share two bedrooms, but to sweeten that deal a bit they got to pick a theme to decorate their rooms, we have a minecraft room for our 7 and 6 year old, and a superhero room for our 3 and 4 year old. Get them to pick early so that you can keep an eye out for bargains, eg. the reject shop had awesome comic book canvasses for $20 and they look great in the superhero room, even though we haven't been able to do much else in there yet. Good luck with it all Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 13Feb 07, 2015 5:36 pm staceyd Definitely go with the cavity sliders, we really regret not getting a couple into our place during the build. Toy room/rumpus room is great, it makes our whole house feel so much tidier to restrict toys to one room. Ours is actually an extra bedroom, so can revert to that, or a study/gym/whatever room. I also agree with the leather couch sentiment. We bought a couple of leather couches from freedom a few years ago thinking leather would wear better with kids, and in less than 12 months is had worn holes in itself where the seat cushions rubbed together. It was a nightmare to get refunded but we eventually did and replaced it with a giant microfibre thing which isn't as good looking but has been very practical with 4 boys. Even texta and pen come straight off with a spritz of hairspray! With the electrical, we have sensor lights in the kids hallway so that at night as soon as they set foot outside their bedrooms some low lights light up the way to the toilet for them. We also have a really spacious kitchen, its a bit of a different design (we custom designed it after a great suggestion here on the forums) Its not huge, but the island is set a bit further than normal from the other cupboards so that there is more room for "helpers" So far it seems to be working really well. Our WIP isn't fitted out yet, but once that goes in I'll be even happier. We're moving breakfast making stations to inside the pantry so no more mess out for the world to see from 6am every morning! Another thing to consider is storage of big things - bikes for 6 people take up a ton of room, then by the time you add in scooters for the kids, maybe skateboards, tennis racquets, surfboards, prams, spare booster seats etc you quite soon fill half a double garage. We put a timber platform in our ceiling and installed an attic ladder so that we can keep other stuff we would normally put in the garage (camping stuff, christmas deco's etc) up in the roof and free a bit more space for stuff the kids use all the time. We only built 4 bedroom and have our 4 boys share two bedrooms, but to sweeten that deal a bit they got to pick a theme to decorate their rooms, we have a minecraft room for our 7 and 6 year old, and a superhero room for our 3 and 4 year old. Get them to pick early so that you can keep an eye out for bargains, eg. the reject shop had awesome comic book canvasses for $20 and they look great in the superhero room, even though we haven't been able to do much else in there yet. Good luck with it all THANKS this was so helpful. I had to make a variation to organise cavity sliders which they quoted me $700 for 2 cavity sliders I obv. questioned this price. Sensor lights are also great advice. im interested to know how far your island is as I also want 'helpers' lol from my 3 nearly 4 children. Ours is 1.3m wish we could've extended garage for storage. Do you remember how much for the attic/storage space in your roof? thanks heaps Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 14Feb 09, 2015 7:52 pm My kids are now late teens,but storage off garage was brilliant and freed up garage for cars,I,Ve always had bedrooms near or off kids retreat room,worst flooring for kids is carpet, I,ve gone bamboo, but if my kids were younger, vinyl would be very practical ,also a built in desk always used, and try and avoid heating vents in floor has little devils love shoving toys down them. Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 15Feb 09, 2015 8:51 pm Storage. Hard wearing floors. Flexible floor plan - we have a playroom for now, but it will also work as a study or retreat, or could be converted to another bedroom. We put the playroom near the kitchen and family area with plantation shutters in a cut out window separating the playroom and the kitchen/meals. I can see into it when they're young by opening the shutters but it gives them a little privacy when they're older but they know I'm still nearby. Re: Got 4 kids.... what to consider when building? 16Feb 12, 2015 7:25 pm Everyone has said hard wearing floors? We are tossing up between bamboo and laminate. What would people suggest. My kids are all under 6 atm. Ive heard that strand woven bamboo is the best? 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