Empty nesters' sanctuary/ Parents' fantasies of remodeling come to

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 12, 2002 | by Dru Wilson

JoAnne Henjum of Colorado Springs has no trouble remembering what became of her bedroom when she left for college in the 1950s. Her mother promptly took over the space and turned it into a parakeet aviary.

"The whole thing," Henjum says. "You can imagine the mess the birds made, having the whole room to themselves."

Sure, that's extreme, but Henjum's mother isn't the only parent who has ever jumped at the chance to refeather the nest after the kids have flown the coop.

"There is no question that it's pretty soon after the child has shut the door that the movement and activity begins," says Jackie Hirschhaut, vice president of the American Furniture Manufacturing Association, which tracks empty-nester trends and furniture purchases.

After years of shuttling children to school and extracurricular activities, parents feel it's time to indulge themselves with things that were impractical or financially impossible when the kids were at home, Hirschhaut says.

So they lay claim to the abandoned bedroom and turn it into something that suits their needs or desires - anything from a home office to a home theater.

Some projects require little more than a change in furnishings, paint color and accessories. When Susanne Routh converted an upstairs bedroom into a sitting room and studio for her crafts projects, she simply added shelves, cabinets, comfortable chairs and a music system.

"Now I can listen to music while I work. My friends come and we paint together," she says. "It is my very personal heaven. My friends are jealous. I love it."

Upheaval was worth it

The other end of the spectrum involves major remodeling, which is what Denise and Terry Pyne did when their son, Justin, and daughter, Toria, moved out.

The Pynes started with a ranch-style house with three bedrooms and two baths on the main level. By moving walls, redoing plumbing fixtures and relocating windows, doors and closets, they eliminated the two kids' bedrooms and ended up with one huge master suite, an office/study and one large bathroom.

But it gets even more involved: They designed the floor plan so that one big bathroom can be converted into either two separate full baths, or one monster master bath and small guest half-bath, simply by closing a door or two.

Though they did almost all the work themselves, they spent about $10,000 for plumbing and electrical work and some help painting and plastering. They also got carpentry help from Denise's father, Fred Jayne.

"It would have cost us two or three times as much if we hadn't done so much ourselves," Denise says.

They began converting Toria's bedroom after she moved to a basement bedroom. This part was easy: With a few minor modifications, they converted the bedroom to a study.

When Justin vacated his bedroom next to the master bedroom, the real work began.

Because the project required some architectural changes, like moving walls and plumbing, Denise became the contractor. First, she drew up a complete floor plan, using a $30 computer software program that allowed her to virtually move furniture and plumbing fixtures.

With a final plan in hand, they knock-ed out the wall between their son's old room and the master bedroom, expanding the master by nearly 8 feet. Then they erected a new wall, turning the rest of their son's bedroom into a 10.7-foot by 7.5-foot walk-in closet for the master suite.

"I would have had to spend $500,000 on a home to get this large a closet," Denise says.

Other elements of their mega-remodeling project included a sewing nook with shelves and a rolling cabinet.

Meanwhile, the old master bedroom walk-in closet became part of the expanded master bath. That involved removing a wall, creating a new access door, moving the toilet, and adding a double sink and vanity and a larger shower.

This new, larger master bath has an entryway into the adjacent bathroom, which also was remodeled.

With all the dust, noise and mess, the remodeling project was "a nightmare while you're doing it," Denise says.

But now they have what to them is a perfect home. "We will probably live here until we die," she says.

Project takes commitment

Redoing the nest doesn't have to be nearly as elaborate as what the Pynes undertook, nor does it have to be expensive, says Hirschhaut, of the American Furniture Manufacturers Association.

"If they have made some smart purchases in furnishings over the years, they will be able to move a lot of it into the new location."

When Penny Talley's daughter left for college six years ago, she moved everything out of the upstairs bedroom and turned it into a craft workshop, mostly using furniture she already had.

It wasn't easy fitting everything into a 10-foot by 10-foot room, she says. "I have five sewing machines, a computer desk, craft table, and pattern cabinet. I just kept rearranging things until I could walk through," Talley says.

She did take the door off the closet and added adjustable shelves, which hold stacked plastic bins to store and organize craft supplies.

Some parents make sure to keep photos, accessories or other elements of their children's lives in the room, even if it has a new purpose. Sharon Oldfield kept her son's mural on the wall in what is now a library/office. The room makeover wasn't exciting or fancy, she says, but the mural makes it special.