One they consider “theirs” when they return home to visit, that has their stuff in it?
Two of my three shared a bedroom until the oldest moved out and one of the sharers moved into that bedroom for his last two years of high school. I feel a bit of conflict when they are both visiting. My plan is on turn one room into an office with a single bed and one into a guest bedroom with a larger bed for visits with significant others (only one has one currently) I want to make both generic so that no one’s stuff is in it. Wondering what others have done.
We moved when my D started college but had her set up a room in the “new” house. That room is still hers when she comes to visit. That said, it’s pretty devoid of her personality as she moved most of her stuff with her to her new apartment so it’s a pretty generic extra guest room.
That’s my plan.
During college, there were enough, and long enough, stays to be “her” room - besides then it had only been a partial/seasonal move into college housing. Now in a full-year grad school program, there had been big “true” relocation, and the trips back are few and just a few days at a time.
Once we downsize, we’ll just have a “guest room” that will be up for grabs for whomever.
Our kids’ bedrooms really are both guest rooms now. But both still have things belonging to each of them in the rooms…although less and less and less every year!
I think it depends on how big your house is and also how long ago they moved out.
We have a 5 BR house and 2 kids. We don’t use the 2 spare bedrooms already. One was supposed to be more feminine type room with the kids’ old daybed/trundle bed, but it has since morphed into a room full of all H’s collectibles thrown everywhere. (Can you tell I hate this?!) The other was the kids’ Xbox room/computer room, but it’s basically empty now. We haven’t had a desktop in years. I sleep on the couch there when H snores.
So both of the kids’ rooms are still theirs with all of the remnants of their stuff. Older S moved out 3 years ago and has a small apartment. Most of his current stuff is gone. Just the old decorations. When he gets a house, he will get everything from the attic. Younger S moved out this summer, but is staying with GF’s family until they get an apartment. His room is still pretty full with stuff brought home from college.
I often think about renovating them to make them more like a guest room, and then I’m like “Why bother?” Not only do we not need them, we keep the doors shut and latched to keep the cats out of there. Our eldest CAT sometimes has bathroom issues. So nobody sees them! I’ll save the $$$.
In general, we kept their “assigned” rooms through college and until they got their first post-college apartment. At that time we maybe updated those rooms somewhat - took out a good majority of their personal belongings and made them more adult-like but still familiar when they came to visit. Didn’t turn any of their rooms into something else though did add a better desk to one room so I could WFH occasionally from it.
We just moved. We have 3 kids, 2 are out of town, 1 in town with his own house. We have 2 extra bedrooms in our house. Each of the girls discussed which was “theirs” - and I’ll give them some input in decorating them - I want them to feel like it IS their room to a degree. They are 26 and 35 and still love having “their room” at home - but it’s not filled with high schol memorabilia or anything!
3 rooms–one for D , one for son and a guest room (always has been). Slowly turning son’s BR into an office of sorts but mainly has a large desk and holds my photo projects. But it’s still his room when he visits. Had to replace the furniture when he left since he commandeered it (with my total blessings).
D’s room (although I try to trim things) still looks like she lives there mainly because she was very much the artist and I truly like her work. At times it turns into storage…
This post reminds me of the ad where the son comes home from college and the parents are raving about their new kitchen remodel and how great it is! The kid suddenly looks concerned and asks ,“Where’s my room?” Dad flings open a door and says “HERE!” and its a single bed jammed in a closet…
We call my DDs old room “the shrine”. We have extra bedrooms and when she is here, she generally stays in the ADU/MIL space in our lower level. She is staying here (and working) temporarily (back from one gig in Europe, gearing up for another) right now.
I keep talking about changing her room into a proper guest room and haven’t yet primarily out of procrastination. DD gets very sentimental and is borderline stunned that I want to put the contents of her room in the archives. hahaha… I am amused by that.
She graduated college in 2017 and, other than these 4 months, has not lived here since the summer after her freshman year in college. It’s like she hasn’t really come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t live here anymore.
I, on the other hand, was completely on board with the empty nest thing by the time she was 20, so it is WAY WAY past time for the shrine to go.
Yes, D still has “her” room, but almost none of her belongings are there since she truly moved out years ago. We also use the room if we have visitors (rare).
ohh so relevant. just two minutes ago ordered a new bed set to replace my newly married son’s twin bed!
it’ll go in #2’s room. If she is home when married kid is home, she’ll have to sleep in his room! #3 & #4 (in college ) still have their own rooms. Musical rooms! Most of their stuff is gone from their rooms.
3 kid bedrooms, all still usable as their bedrooms, or as guest bedrooms, but they’re also used as office space. The real question is, if we move, will there be more than one dedicated guest room? They certainly wouldn’t then be set up as “kid” rooms, with their stuff. But I can’t think about that today…
DDs are 22 and 25 and haven’t lived at home in a while, but their rooms are basically their own personal store rooms. No need in making any changes, really. The only people that stay here overnight are them, and their friends that still pet sit for us. And they are the only rooms upstairs and we keep them shut to save utilities and keep cats out.
Older DD’s has less stuff, younger’s is full and that will hopefully change when she is more settled. Once they have more stuff out of their large closets, I can see setting up pack-n-play, etc in there to make it workable if they come home with families.
Skiparents kept the kids’ bedrooms as a shrine until each graduated college. Once that happened, one was turned into a guest bedroom and the other into a home office.
My kids are only in 10th and 12th grade, so we have a few years still before they’re officially totally out of the house and living on their own and not returning home for long summer breaks and all that good stuff.
BUT…
Once our youngest finishes college, gets either a full time job where she can support herself OR moves onto grad school, then I fully intend to turn her & older daughter’s shared bedroom into a 2nd guest bedroom with a queen sized bed in it.
Our house has 3 BR + 1 office (which DH uses as his home office). I don’t need a ‘craft room.’ Nor do I need or want my own office. Our current guest bedroom is decorated Jungle Cruise style (I’m a Disneyland fan). Master bedroom is Southwest-ish (it’s secretly Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but DH doesn’t know this). So guest BR #2 is probably going to be Tomorrowland.
My kids are in their 30s but both come to visit, sometimes for weeks or longer. We have a 3 bedroom house, so each bedroom is the way the kids like it. So far, so good. I mostly use a portion of the great room as my office. H uses the carport and whatever space he wants outside as his workshop.
Anything our son thought was important/cherished went with him to boarding school but, of course, we kept his bedroom intact through those years. Prior to moving to our current home, we made him go through his old room one last time to identify anything he wanted moved to the new house. After boarding school, stuff that couldn’t go with him to the academy came to this house where he owns the casita. On an earlier thread, I posted what I did with that space after he commissioned and moved to his first duty post.
So, technically, yes, he (and every other guest) has a space to call his own when he visits, but he hasn’t been home in four years, so he hasn’t used it in its renovated state yet. He and his new wife will be coming here for a week in January and that space will be all theirs for as long as they can stay.
Yes my DD who graduated three years ago and lives in a different city still has bedroom and her stuff at our house. She is here every few month and for birthdays and holidays so it makes perfect sense to have her stuff in her room here. I guess if we needed this room for something that would be different but we don’t.
