The last of your children have moved out. After you wave goodbye and shut the door, the quiet of your home settles around you. Finally, after almost two decades (or more than two decades, depending on your situation), the house is quiet. It’s just you and your spouse again, and you have all the space to yourself.

If you’re like many parents, this moment of serenity lasts all of about five minutes. After that, it hits you that all of your children are now out on their own. They have their own lives to live, and even if they didn’t move far, you won’t see them every day. It’s now just you and your spouse all day, every day. When was the last time that happened for an extended period of time? You may find that the two of you aren’t even sure how to act around each other without someone else in the house. 

Those are just a few of the changes you’ll experience and challenges you’ll face as an empty nester. Fortunately, while it is a change, it’s ultimately a good one. Your kids are gaining valuable life experience and are out there facing the world. Plus, they always know you’re just a phone call or text message away. It can be a sad time, but it’s also a happy one because now you get to watch your children live their amazing lives.

Oh, and you get to transform their old rooms into spaces for your hobbies, a home gym, a home theater, or whatever else you might want! Sure, you probably want to keep at least one as a guest room, but think of what you can do with the extra space you now have. You may need to pack up some stuff and store it in the attic or even call a junk removal service to get rid of some things, but in the end, you’ll have a room dedicated to whatever you want.

Planning Your Empty Nest House

The first step in transforming your home for your empty nest stage is to decide what you want to do with the now-vacant spaces. If your kids are in college, you may not be able to go too crazy because they may be back during the holidays and over the summer. They will still need their room, so whatever changes you make shouldn’t prevent them from having a bed and their own space. 

If your kids are out of the house and likely won’t be living with you again, there are a few things to consider. First, how many rooms do you have to work with? If you have more than one child, did you transform their rooms as they left, or did you keep them like they were? If you took over their old spaces as they became available, you may already have a hobby room and guest room in place. If you didn’t, now you have all the spaces to play with. 

Once you decide what you want a room to be, it’s time to figure out what needs to stay and what needs to go. In some cases, you may want to take everything out of the room. In others, you may want to keep some of the furniture but get rid of the bed. It all depends on what you want to do with the space.

What Do You Do with Your Kid’s Stuff?

Even if you’re not going to make major changes to the space, you probably do need to clean it up. Your child may have taken most of their stuff with them when they moved out, but some things may remain. For example, they may have upgraded to a larger bed or decided not to take all of their high school sports trophies with them. What do you do with this stuff? You have a few options.

Give it to Them

First, you can call up your kids and tell them to come get their stuff. This is perfect if they live nearby. If they don’t, you can always box it up and wait until they visit to give it to them. Even if they don’t want all of it, they can at least look through it and decide what they want to take. You may also decide that you want to keep a few sentimental items. 

Give it to Family or Friends

If your kids don’t want all of their things, is there someone else who does? Maybe you have a sibling, cousin, or friend who needs a new bed for one of their kids. If your grown child still has a lot of their toys, they may want to give them to their younger siblings, cousins, or nieces/nephews. 

Donate it

If you can’t find anyone to take things, you can always donate them. There are various organizations that will take donations any time of the year. If you have clothing or toys, there are some specific charities who help children in need or who are with a single parent who has escaped an abusive household. 

Call a Junk Removal Team

What do you do with stuff that is broken or so old that it’s not really usable any longer? You need to get rid of it. The easiest solution to get rid of old furniture, broken appliances, and other trash is to call a junk removal service such as Junk King St. Paul. Junk King is a quick and convenient solution to junk of any sort, whether it’s from your kid’s old room, your basement, or your backyard shed. 

In fact, if you’re going to get rid of some stuff from your kid’s room, why not do a full house cleanout? Get rid of all your old, broken junk at once so you can take full advantage of the newly-free space in your home. There’s no point in storing broken things you’ll never use.

One thing to remember is that you don’t have to do any of this right away. If changing up one of your kid’s rooms doesn’t feel right, you can put it off. If you’re not ready to let go of their old bed or anything else, that’s okay. Becoming an empty nester involves a lot of emotions, so take your time to digest these feelings. When you’re ready, you can start cleaning out the space and making it into something new. For some parents, this emotional journey takes a couple of weeks and then they’re ready for that home movie theater! For others, though, it takes longer. Proceed at your own pace.

Some Things to Consider When Transforming a Room

Now that you’ve got stuff out of the room, it’s time to transform it! Before you go all-out, though, here are a few things you may want to keep in mind:

If it’s your only spare room, you may want to have it double as a guest bedroom when you have overnight company. Consider putting a daybed or a sleeper sofa in the room. This ensures you have an extra bed when needed, but it also gives you more space in the room when you don’t need it. If you have a small home, this spare room may need to do double-duty, but that’s okay. 

Paint, put in new light fixtures, and make any other major changes before you move any new furniture into the room. It’s much easier to change these things when the room is empty or mostly empty. 

Let your child know what you’re planning. Yes, it’s your house and you can do whatever you want with it, but it can be shocking for someone to come home and find their childhood room is gone. If you didn’t tell them about your plans, be sure to do so before they come over for the first time post-renovation. Your child may have their own complex emotional reaction to moving out, so letting them know that you’ve changed up their room may help avoid those emotions exploding.

Be sure you and your spouse are on the same page about the room. You don’t want to fight over who gets the space. If you do both have ideas for it, you may want to consider splitting the space or finding additional space in the house for one of you. For example, a room could be a home office during the day but a sewing room at night and on the weekends. Whatever compromise you come to, you both need to agree and abide by it. 

Call Junk King St. Paul to Get Rid of Stuff You Don’t Need

Another compromise may be to convert the basement or attic into additional space for you or your spouse. Of course, that means getting rid of more junk. That’s where Junk King St. Paul comes in. Whether it’s your child’s old bed or a whole basement full of stuff, we’re here to help. Give Junk King a call today at 1-888-888-JUNK or text us information about what you need removed to 1-737-888-5865.