We raise our puppies in our home, so we can always be with them.  We have two different puppy rooms in case we have two litters at the same time.  ​The whelping/play area consists of a whelping box (where they start their new life), large play area (once they are around 3-4 weeks they begin to play with toys in this large area) & two potty boxes, so they can begin the potty training process.
Once the puppies reach 6 weeks or so, we let them play in our main living space in the house with us.  They have the experience of getting into the dishwasher, pantry and watching tv like normal Labs. ha ha!