What’s the done thing with the Uni kids bedroom?

[WhatsAppening]

I have plans.

The tumble dryer currently lives in the dining room so that’s going up there. I’m thinking a whole laundry room, with hanging space and even an ironing board.

DH wants to move his office up there (wfh for the foreseeable) as it’s bigger and lighter than the office downstairs, and spread his music stuff out over the office instead.

I’m also considering making it a walk in wardrobe.

DS is appalled and thinks we should stay the fuck out of his room while he’s away

What are your plans?

(Obviously lighthearted before anyone jumps on me, it will still be his bedroom however we repurpose it temporarily).

Not middle class at all, single parent. DD moved back home and pays me money each month. Other dd still lives at home too, or should I kick them both out

We won’t be touching dds bedroom at all! It will be hers and left exactly as is until she moves out permanently. University isn’t permanent. They spend a lot of time home for holidays etc.

I was only away 6 months of the year at my uni - it did have long holidays though, it's worth checking the length of the holidays. It seems like a faff to change the room around if terms are only 8 weeks long for example, and he's home for 3/4 months over the summer.

A desk in there to create a study space wouldn't take it over too much but would make use of the room while he's gone?

Mine is as I left it 25 years on!

@Bagelsandbrie

We won’t be touching dds bedroom at all! It will be hers and left exactly as is until she moves out permanently. University isn’t permanent. They spend a lot of time home for holidays etc.

That's how I feel, until he gets his own place funded by his own earnings the room is his.

MIL turned DP's into a second bathroom. And SIL's into a walk in wardrobe.

Probably more than halved the value of the place in a fortnight by changing it from a three bedroom family sized cottage into a one bedroom.

DS2 went to uni & his room remained totally as it was. To me this was really important so that he always knew he had a home to go back to.

As it happens he only did 1 year before coming home & deciding uni wasn't for him. He know has a good full time job with training & is still in the same bedroom.

I would never do anything with any of my DCs rooms until they have another permanent address. Their own rented or mortgaged property = yes. Student halls or student housing = no.

This is still my children's home so their rooms are still their rooms whilst away at uni. Until they tell me they don't need them to be rooms remain their private spaces

Now not know.

laundry room/office/music room and a walk in wardrobe - is it a tardis?

I'd use it while he's away, but something that can flip back in to his bedroom.

Mum and dad left mine until I finished uni. I was very grateful as ended up living back home after.

I didn't have a room - shared til 16, mum let me have her room and she slept downstairs til 17, then moved out and went to uni.

So there was nowhere for me to 'come back to' in the holidays as my mum obviously moved back into her room - I slept on the sofabed in the living room if I was back in summer, which I wasn't much tbh as I worked almost full time in my uni town. Didn't do me any harm!

As long as there's somewhere for him to sleep and store his stuff should he want to come home/during the holidays, he'll be fine :)

My boys' rooms stayed as they were, but we didn't really need the space. I'm glad we left them as both of them came back for a while before heading off again.

It's still her bedroom. It did get used as an extra office/study when DH and the younger children were home during the winter lockdown but only utilising what was in there nothing changed.

My ds's room stayed his, even through lockdowns when he had to live at his gfs parents house. I did however set up the electric drier in there so dry clothes. Easy enough to take back out when I knew he was back or just visiting.
He is, however, about to move out properly with his gf, and his room will stay his for now. We are planning an extension and his room will actually become ours and he'll have our current room. But I think that will be set up as more a guest room where they can come and stay as opposed to being his room. He will get priority over other guests though.

My room was always my room I used to come home at weekends and in the holidays I'd have been offended if my room hadn't stayed as my room to be honest

I have not and could not do that. Whilst at uni they still spend long perioda at home and still need stability, a room of their own to come home to.

I’m years away from this as a parent but both my rooms (separated parents) remained mine all through university.... uni holidays are long!

@unlimiteddilutingjuice

My Mum filled mine with a Japanese lodger pretty quick. In all fairness, she was a much better daughter than me. More polite and ate less.

This is a genius idea!

My youngest sister took over mine, which was sort of fair enough except that she fairly quickly ended up with three bedrooms - a bedroom, a living room and a study, which is a lot for a mid teen... I didn't go back much and to be fair that didn't have much to do with the bedroom situation - my parents lived in the middle of nowhere and none of my friends were really local - the few that were also did other things in the holidays (stayed in uni town to work, or travelled). When I was at uni accommodation had to be paid for either 46 weeks or 52 weeks per year so a lot of people stayed in the holidays, going back to parents constantly wasn't really the default.

I think it is nice to keep their room if possible but of course needs must so it isn't always possible. I think the amount of time they are home in the holidays is a factor. On my nursing degree we only had 7 weeks off a year so certainly not off half the year! The possibility of another lockdown is a factor too.

I only have a 2 bed house so I'd certainly be having daydreams how to use any space, though!

My parents still have my bedroom and I left for Uni 25 years ago. I stay there when we visit. I expect I will do the same.

I graduated about 6 years ago with a degree in acting, We had nearly 3 months off in the summer, 2 weeks for easter and 2-3 for Christmas. Nowhere near half the year.

My room was changed as soon as I moved out, but I've always been welcome back home.

All three of my children for various reasons did move back home for long stretches throughout their Uni years . They still have their own rooms but are not living at home now so now used for storing and guest rooms if friends stay .

Ours were kept as our rooms until we had moved on from uni and moved out. We all came home in the hols and worked/spent time with our parents. They're now rooms for visitors/grandkids but still referred to by each siblings name ie Amy's room etc.

My MIL however has kept her kids rooms exactly as they were the day the kids went to uni and still keeps the beds made up etc even though we live 3 hours away and my husband's sibling lives abroad with their spouse and children. She wont decorate until her kids (aged 41 and 43!) tell her how they want the rooms as in her words 'this will always be their home' They like going to see her but have their own lives and homes so it's a bit sad really.