what to put in a conservatory?

[incywincyspideragain]

8 weeks after we moved in and I still don't see the point of the conservatory - ok its been ridiculously hot so we haven't sat in there (or played in there or done any thing in it really expect walk through it to get to garden..) but we've moved from a small house to a bigger bungalow so we don't have any extra furniture to put in there and its a real dead space, 2 of the walls are the bungalow and 2 are glass (low ledges) the 2 bungalow walls both have double door access to the conservatory and one of the glass walls has a door to get to the garden...
what kind of furniture do you put in there? I'm not keen on extra sofas as it'll just block the access and we don't sit in there anyway, we have a living room and a kitchen diner (with table in)
or what do you use it for? we currently have 3 children in one bedroom so bed 3 is a play room
tempted to save save save and knock it down at moment so need some inspiration

[catherine19]

It must b lovely going from a small place to somewhere bigger! O what u want with it! U will like it mire when the weather changes and u can sit in there with a brew in the warm! What's ure garden furniture like? Would it look too trailer trash in there? U cud maybe use it as a reading room With a comfy chair and bookshelves? Or a utility room? Wud it make sense to make it a playroom and hav a spare bedroom? Maybe a space to display art work inc the Los! Maybe add a folding table or a more formal dinning space or move the tAble in there? Wud it work as or b useful as a green house? Or u cud send it to me, I'd love more space!

[PoppyWearer]

We use ours as a playroom. Fit some decent blinds and it won't get as hot in summer, then buy a plug-in heater for the winter.

[mummylin2495]

Dh uses it as his sports room. He has tele out there to watch all his sport on. We have a dining table in it and a corner unit settee. We just use it as an extension to the house. We love it

[incywincyspideragain]

Thanks, the sports idea is out as dh doesn't watch much sport on telly (I suffer the odd thing as he's smart enough to iron at the same time)
Because of the access from 2 key rooms of bungalow I guess I should have also said it has to look nice, we have plans to put a utility into the back of the garage, I've been drying washing in conservatory but bit of eye sore.
The play room idea could work although I feel it would need an investment in furniture which we can't do at moment, luckily the conservatory has posh blinds in already so that's sorted, I love the book idea, ds1 is a book worm and finding him space to sit would be great, maybe craft/book room? I could probably shift some things around to make that work...

[PoppyWearer]

Our playroom and most throughout the country is bedecked with Ikea Expedit furniture. Not very expensive, but very flexible and easy to assemble.

Otherwise all the DCs need is a beanbag or two. If they ever sit down (mine don't).

[Periwinkle007]

we moved to a house with a conservatory. We have 2 old 2 seater sofas in ours and an old table with a couple of chairs for the kids to use for doing craft stuff (it is a tight fit with the table in the corner but I didn't want to throw it out). We use it as a sort of second lounge, I like to open the doors out to the garden and watch the kids out there. We bought special film to put on the glass to make it less hot in the sun. It still gets hot but you can sit out there without the sun being in your eyes etc. Summer evenings sat out there are nice too.

I do put the washing airer in there too - it has to go somewhere.

We didn't want to make it a playroom because I want us all to use it and also it is the walkway to the back garden, it works for us as it is now, the kids toys are in the lounge or their bedroom, craft/drawing/colouring stuff they keep in the conservatory.

If you aren't sure at the moment I would stick a spare couple of chairs out there and try sitting there at different times of day to do things like read or relax etc and see how the space works when you try using it in different ways then you can decide how it will work best for you. look on freecycle for furniture or just put out the thought among family and friends that you are looking for stuff and see what comes your way.

[incywincyspideragain]

peri just starting to use it sounds like a logical start a couple of chairs n bean bag and sticking all the books in there would work
poppy you're right we have one set of those shelves already from the old house, unfortunetly they won't fit in the conservatory and I'm carrying out a self imposed ban to ikea at moment as I know I'll spend on loads of other stuff!
Thanks for ideas