Redecorating Your Home after the Kids Are Grown and Flown

While the kids are in college, we tend to leave their rooms as is, not just as shrines to their childhood, but for when they come home to visit during school holidays. But once they get their own apartment, it’s time to take a look at that vacant space and redecorate it for your own use.

Choose a New Color Scheme

Our children’s rooms see numerous transformations over the years, from princess beds and Star Wars sheets to black from floor to ceiling. So, you are probably no stranger to choosing new colors for your children’s spaces. Refresh the paint with one of the new neutrals for interior design and invest in new linens and bedcovers to go with it.

Change the Rugs and Furniture

If the carpet in your children’s rooms has seen better days, consider layering an area rug on top to hide the worst of it. Change out the bean bag chair for a chair-and-a-half or loveseat. Downsize the bed from a king to a queen for more space in the room. The streamlined Soliloquy Queen Bed from Universal creates both visual and physical space in your new guest room.

Add New Art, Accessories, and Lighting

Remove teenage posters and other accessories and replace them with abstract art or even a gallery wall of photos. In addition, update the lighting in the room. A cool new lamp will quickly modernize a child’s room. Instead of cluttering the shelves with trophies, stuffed animals, and other collectibles, style them with books and artful displays of mementos.

Just Say No to Clutter

Redecorating your children’s room can not only make your space more enjoyable, but can also help keep it clutter-free. As you are redecorating your vacant rooms, get rid of things you no longer need. While many of these things belonged to your kids, there comes a time when they have to go. You can ask them to clean out their old room, or pack it up and put it in storage. My mom handed me my stuff in boxes when I moved into my first place.

Make a Home Office

A home office/guest room combo can make the space more usable. All you need is a desk, comfortable chair, computer, printer, and a place to store paper and other supplies. Add to this a sleeper sofa and a TV. The Natuzzi Editions Sleeper Sofa features contemporary design and modern convenience. Simply pull the seat cushions out and you have a comfortable place for your guests to sleep.

Create a Master Guest Suite

Your children will probably return to visit for holidays and whatnot, and they may bring friends and significant others, and possibly their own children one day. Your craft room may not be the most comfortable or most kid-friendly space for visitors.

If you have elected not to downsize, consider creating a guest suite out of one or two bedrooms and an adjacent bathroom. The furniture of this guest suite may change as your children go through the various stages of their adult lives. You can choose a queen or king size bed, depending on your space. Or a sleeper sofa so that the space doubles as a bedroom and sitting room for your guests. Other furnishings can include a computer desk, flat-screen TV, and a sitting area, if you have space.

No matter what you decide to do with your children’s abandoned bedrooms, the fact that you choose to change the room doesn’t mean that they are no longer welcome. You can easily turn it into a home office or guest room and still have a place for them.

Find more design inspiration and read Baer's Furniture reviews on Houzz. Find out more about Baer's Furniture.