When our youngest son moved to Texas almost four years ago, we didn’t fall into the empty-nester stereotype and convert his room into a home gym.
After all, he returns home a couple of times a year for long visits.
The room across from ours also remained untouched – unless you count everything from our bedroom closet that we placed there “temporarily” while Derek began building a walk-in closet.
He got sidetracked by other projects, and the room that was once occupied by all four of our sons became the “junk room.”
Then on Thanksgiving, Sam got engaged. Not only would he come home in May, but he’d be bringing the beautiful Susan with him!
Just like that, we had motivation for renovation.
First, Derek needed to finish the walk-in closet so we could clear out the junk room. That became the most labor-intensive part of our home makeover. We had everything from seasonal clothes to photo albums to boxes of china in there. And tools. Lots of tools that he wanted to keep nearby.
We agreed that the room would become a guest room/home office for Derek and that Sam’s old room would be transformed into a guest room with updated paint, lighting and furnishings.
The only glitch in our grand plans was that Derek wanted to do all of the work himself. With the spring visit looming, I balked at the idea that he could finish a closet and two bedrooms before Sam and Susan arrived. (There was also the matter of the unfinished shower in the downstairs bathroom.)
You don’t stay married for 40 years without learning the art of compromise.
My husband agreed to gut and redo the upstairs room, while I took charge of the downstairs room. This was great because I’d already hired a contractor to paint it.
When Sam moved, the sticky tack he’d used to hang scores of posters had left gouges and removed the paint in many places. The cobalt colored walls were scarred and stapled.
He’d attempted to paint his closet doorknobs red, cats had bent the blinds, and the ceiling light was dated. Only the lovely wood floor that Derek installed when he built the room still looked good.
I chose a soft, powder blue paint. In two days, the contractor painted the room and refreshed the molding and the closet. The result? A dark, outdated room transformed into a bright and airy space.
Derek installed new blinds and lighting, and then the real fun began –decorating.
The only new furniture I bought was a bed, an end table and lamps – everything else I sourced from our home.
A white shoe shelf from our old closet fit perfectly in a corner and holds books, games, movies and a few teacups.
My mom’s antique washstand became a TV stand. An easy chair from my office, draped with a soft white blanket, made for a cozy reading spot. I repurposed wall art from other rooms and bought a large white-framed mirror. A throw rug and blue-and-white bedding completed the transformation.
Meanwhile, Derek wasn’t having quite as much fun (or at least not what I consider fun). He’d removed the aging gold carpet in preparation for new laminate flooring, but a pesky squeak in the floorboards drove him crazy.
That squeak woke the babies who once slept there every time I’d tiptoed in to peek at them.
Derek wasn’t having it. He ripped up part of the subflooring, and after much YouTubeing, many nails and some creative language, he vanquished the squeak.
Before he could lay the new floor and paint the dingy white room light gray, there were holes to fill and texturing and priming to do.
Oh yeah, he also removed the horrible popcorn ceiling that adorned many houses built in the ’60s and ’70s.
After days and days of dust, he emerged and said, “Yeah. I’m not doing that again.”
Finally, he got to have fun. He brought up Sam’s bed and desk, and together we figured out how to haul our old pine TV armoire upstairs. The addition of my mom’s bookcase means Derek finally has a place to display his collection of shot and beer glasses.
The aging white ceiling fan/light was tossed, and he found a cool low-profile industrial-looking version online.
The day before the kids arrived, Derek installed the shower door.
Whew! Our empty nest transition is complete.
No home gym. No craft room. No shrine to childhoods long past. Just inviting rooms ready to welcome visiting kids and grandkids.
It was worth the wait.
Cindy Hval 