What part of your home do you use?

I have another question - where in your home do you have your daycare? Is it a seperate room or floor just for the daycare? Do you use your whole main floor or most of your home? What about naptime, especially if you have some that nap and some that don't?

My family room in my basement has no windows (windows are in the laundry/storage room) so I can't imagine being down there all day. My only concern with the main floor is that it's where we spend so much time evenings and weekends, I always seem to be in the kitchen! Does it get frustrating being in the daycare space all the time or is it somewhere you love to be?

Does anyone have a main floor they use but some hidden storage so it doesn't look so much like a daycare on the weekends? I think i need a bigger house :)

I'm still deciding whether to start a home daycare and love hearing other peoples ideas!

Thanks :)

I use pretty much my entire house for daycare. My kitchen is eat-in, so we don't use our dining room, and I converted it into the "toy room", but we hang out on the main floor of my house most of the time. The babies nap in our family bedrooms. I try to pack up as much as I can on weekends, so that I am not reminded of work constantly. If I get really industrious, I'll post some pics in a bit.

I used to have my daycare in the basement - we had big windows, but I still hated being down there all day. I now have a townhouse with a small kitchen, living/dining combo and powder room on main floor, which is wholly dedicated to the daycare. It was just easier with the kitchen, bathroom and outside access right there. It always looks like a daycare. So far, it doesn't bother any of us. I actually get a bit of the warm fuzzies when I'm in it as I'm pretty happy with the set up. We each have a crib in our bedrooms (3), plus 2 in the family room in the basement. I also took a bit of a financial leap and had our basement renovated. With my own decorating, it looks fantastic!!! It really turned out to be a nice space with our dining table down there, a built in electric fireplace and lovely furnishings and art work. It's a nice place for our family to be away from the daycare and doesn't feel much like a basement. It didn't cost a tremendous amount, but helped immensely! I think it was around $8000 for laminate flooring, repaired drywall and reskimming, light fixtures, built in fireplace, nice shaker doors (sliding on laundry, 2 regular for furnace room and storage), priming. And the best part is that it was all done while I lay in my hammock in Puerto Rico ;)

So far (almost a year into it) it seems to be working very well for us. Also, every interview I've had said they liked that the daycare was on the main floor. Most have said they prefer it.

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Originally Posted by Sandbox Sally

I use pretty much my entire house for daycare. My kitchen is eat-in, so we don't use our dining room, and I converted it into the "toy room", but we hang out on the main floor of my house most of the time. The babies nap in our family bedrooms. I try to pack up as much as I can on weekends, so that I am not reminded of work constantly. If I get really industrious, I'll post some pics in a bit.

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we must have the same house because thats what I do too

We use the kitchen / family room which are open to each other. There are doors to close this area off from the rest of the house, and it has its own entrance, which also opens to the back yard. I love being on the main floor as opposed to a basement. I am the type of person who needs lots of natural light. The only time a dc child enters the rest of the home is to use the washroom (just upstairs in a slpit level). I really wanted clear boundaries between my home and my daycare space (which our family obviously also uses after hours). Nap time is done right in the room too. I have room-darkening curtains and pack n plays / nap mats. I usually read in the living room where I can hear everything in the family room.

Here is almost the same as Monkeymamma. Family room and breakfast area are open to each other and that is the daycare area. All kids nap upstairs in the same room. The rest of the house if for us.

Even though I have one small window in the basement it was pretty useless for light or I had the blind closed cause the streaming sun was distracting - can't win right. Anyways once we added extra fluorescent lighting we started to love our space again. Painted the walls a soft yellow and used the four foot lights and it is now bright and fun again.

On the main floor we use the diningroom as a playroom and kitchen has childsize table and highchairs in bay window area so again nice and bright. We moved the family table in to the end of the large family room next to kitchen and that works well for us but my kids are grown and now not even at home anymore. The dining room is where kids on mats sleep and babies are upstairs in family bedrooms in playpens - have 4 bedrooms so each can have own room.

We converted our main floor living room into a dedicated playroom, with a big homemade train/activity table in the middle and a couch. In the basement we have our family room/second playroom. The downstairs area I made into more of a preschool area with a play kitchen, dress-up clothes, baby dolls and tool bench play centers.

We bought the Ikea Expedit cube shelving units for upstairs and downstairs to hold the toys, using cloth bins that I put pictures labels on so the kids know what is inside. It makes everything look nice and neat, so it can be put all away and not just look like a daycare. That being said, it is still obvious that we have kids! :)

We usually spend the morning s upstairs as it is bright and sunny there at that time, then go downstairs in the afternoon. I really like having the change of scenery and there is no way I could handle being in my basement all day.

We have three bedrooms on the main floor and one of them is used as a nap room and then I also use my main floor playroom as another sleep area. I have sleep mats that I got from Scholar's Choice for them to sleep on.

I really like having everything set up the way it is, it is a really great place for my own kids to enjoy. I put a lot of work into getting everything set up and safe and it makes it worth it that my family gets to reap the benefits of it 7 days a week.

Ha ha....I'm the odd man out here! I had a main floor daycare in my old house but we moved last summer and now my daycare is in the basement. I would never go back to a main floor set up! I love my set up! I have a huge playroom, a large room set up with full kitchen table plus 2 kid size tables where we eat and do crafts, another large room that is our storage with a full wall of kitchen cabinets I have a playpen set up there, 2 walk in closets plus a full bath. Everyone sleeps downstairs as well. Nothing daycare comes upstairs and I love closing the door at the end of the day!!!

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Originally Posted by Wonderwiper

now my daycare is in the basement. I would never go back to a main floor set up! I love my set up! I have a huge playroom, a large room set up with full kitchen table plus 2 kid size tables where we eat and do crafts, another large room that is our storage with a full wall of kitchen cabinets I have a playpen set up there, 2 walk in closets plus a full bath. Everyone sleeps downstairs as well. Nothing daycare comes upstairs and I love closing the door at the end of the day!!!

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I would love to have that! with clear slide doors overlooking the backyard and lots of natural light through large windows in the basement. That would be my dream space... Unfortunately I do not have a separate entrance to the basement and only 2 tiny windows over there... It should be nice to close the basement door after working hours... well I still be seeing toys everywhere since I currently have a toddler at home :)

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Originally Posted by momofnerds

we must have the same house because thats what I do too

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Me too! Except I have my guest room converted as the daycare sleep room, there's 2 pack and plays a crib and toddler bed in there all spread out.

Thanks! I like the idea of using the main floor and bedrooms for naps. Lots of great advice/ideas!