Lighter Side of 50-Something: Hose the room down and it’s yours

November 8, 9:38 AMSF Fiftysomething Lifestyle ExaminerAmy Wachspress

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Your son/daughter went off to college and left you with a spare room. Rejoice. That room is your playground. Redoing that room can cost a lot or cost a little, depending on your imagination (should be supersized after living with a teenager) and budget (i.e., which meal plan you purchased for your child and how much of the tuition is covered by the scholarship).

For the first time in four years you can not only see the carpet in that room but you can actually get into the room to vacuum (if you move the drum set). You are about to convert that former ant farm and dirty dish cemetery into an art studio, sewing room, meditation room, music room, guest room, study, library, home fitness center, aquarium, museum, cupcake factory, or whatever your little heart desires.

First deal with the walls and then the floor. Here’s a cost-saving tip: melt down the candy you find along the baseboards and use it to spackle the tack holes in the walls. Have the carpet professionally cleaned or just tear it out and put down a new one. Use the old carpet to grow Shitake mushrooms in the garage.

Clean out the closet so you can stash all of your child’s things in there and free up the rest of the room for your purposes. It is likely that a number of items that had mysteriously disappeared over the past few years will turn up at the back of the closet, like your digital camera, the toilet plunger, the badminton set, a dozen tape dispensers, one or two overdue library books (“I swear I returned it”), your father’s dentures, and the cat. Note that petrified donuts make good doggy toys. If you are wondering what the heck to do with the mountain of old shoes, take them to the Nike Outlet in Petaluma to be recycled.

If you can afford to purchase one new piece of furniture for that room, go for a bed that can be folded into a couch, such as a hide-a-bed or futon bed. This will make the room more versatile when your child is not at home. You will have more space in there with a bed that folds up. Futons can be hard to sleep on so if you go that route, buy a foam pad to put on the futon to soften the bed for sleeping. The foam pad can be rolled up and stored in the closet when no one is using the bed. After you give the room a makeover, break the news to your child gently. Try saying something like, “Honey, I pimped out your bedroom.” Then laugh diabolically.