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).

Ours will stay as they are so that they can return at any point. Would only use them for something else once they have left education and are in their own homes with jobs. They know they can always come home.

My room was kept for me, kept DSs' room for them so they still felt they had a home. As soon as they moved out permanently, rooms were re-purposed. But you have to make decisions based on what space you have.

My DD is in major panic mode stressing that she won't like her chosen city so i'm doing nothing with her bedroom until she's settled. It will get a deep clean as soon as she head off though.

We'll use it as the guest room whilst she's away (as it as a small ensuite) but it'll still be her room.

@Howshouldibehave

To those who say it’s their room and it’ll remain untouched whilst they are at university, can I ask if you also have younger children in tiny bedrooms?

I suspect I might have that attitude, if I didn’t.

my eldest had a double room that was his and remained his while at uni and his brothers shared a tiny box room that didnt even fit a single bed in it (they were in shorty bunk beds) there is no way eldest would ahve fitted in the little room and the younger ones had the downstairs space to use as well, they just slept in their room, where as eldest ds would spend loads of time in his room.

If there were size issues I would probably swap, but not if that left my oldest without a bed in the house they grew up in.

My brother’s car hadn’t even left the street when he left for his PhD and I was shoving my wardrobe along the landing into the bigger, better room . Bye now 👋🏼

DD's dorm room is tiny, with 2 other people there. The majority of her belongings will still be here. Luckily, we can shut the door and leave it. She'll also be home every few weeks as she isn't going far and we got new kittens to entice her back!

I didn’t know that university’s still had dorms.

I thought it was pretty much unheard of for universities in the UK to have rooms that are not single occupancy.

MrsSkylerWhite it's just a misnomer for accommodation block corridors of seperate, individual single rooms (even ensuites more like hotels than real dorms) - not boarding school/ hospital ward style big rooms with multiple beds...

is from the American use of "dorm room" meaning a room on a corridor, not a British English school dormitory at all.

When I went to university in the mid-80s to a campus university, I was only offered a shared room. How they allocated them was a mystery. It did seem to me that it was only pupils who’d been to state schools who got them. But that’s perhaps not true.

DS has a large single en-suite in halls so he’ll be able to take pretty much all his stuff.

I’m not getting rid of his bed for whoever said that.

He’s going to be a seven hr drive away so no coming back at weekends.

We’re staying the f out of his room while he’s away. But we don’t need the room so it’s not a problem.

I'm a bit bemused at the posters who are desperate to remove all traces of their offspring from their childhood bedroom; to turn it into a guest room
Can't guests stay in it anyway as long as it's empty? How often do people have guests that the room has to be decorated to their taste?

Dd's room will be redecorated and turned into a nice guest room, she can use it when she comes back for Uni holidays.
Inbetween my sister will use it when home from abroad and Dh will use it when I keep him awake with my snoring.

Why would you take the room when the child hasn't left home, they are at uni so will be home at some weekends, all the holidays etc?|??

@GreyhoundG1rl

I'm a bit bemused at the posters who are desperate to remove all traces of their offspring from their childhood bedroom; to turn it into a guest room Can't guests stay in it anyway as long as it's empty? How often do people have guests that the room has to be decorated to their taste?

I know, im literally sat here in shock!

@FedUpAtHomeTroels

Dd's room will be redecorated and turned into a nice guest room, she can use it when she comes back for Uni holidays. Inbetween my sister will use it when home from abroad and Dh will use it when I keep him awake with my snoring.

Why a guest room?? Its her room ffs

My daughters 24 and still has her room here, as long as we are able she will have a bedroom in our house, I’d not dream of turning it into something else. This is still her home. Her family home. And she’s part of our family and has as much right to a room here as we do.

Respect his wishes and stay out of his room.

@DottyHarmer

They are back for the holidays in the blink of an eye! And ds had to come home for lockdown and has been here ever since. He would like to spread his wings, but jobs have other ideas and it’s all wfh.

Ds’s friend’s parents moved house when he left for university and cleared out all his stuff . Ds was appalled .

My parents did this! They downsized, so although there was still a bedroom if I needed it, but it was their box room and all my stuff was in the loft.

We expect DD1 to head off to university next year all being well; she's offered to swap rooms with her little sister (6 years younger) as she has by far the larger bedroom but DD2 likes the room she's got. Might use DD1 room to WFH when she's away, though.

I thought it was pretty much unheard of for universities in the UK to have rooms that are not single occupancy.

When DD was looking around unis last year we were suprised how many now have shared rooms. Some seemed to have a long tradition of doing so (old colleges/halls with big rooms) and others were in historic cities where the university is struggling to provide enough accommodation and is building shared rooms.

I just used ds’s room for extra storage, stuff that could be easily moved if he came home. I didn’t touch any of his stuff and didn’t have anyone sleep in his bed. Even though he was happy for me to repurpose it at his suggestion. It didn’t feel right.
Even after he moved out last year ( cleared all of his personal stuff) I kept his room unused just Incase his move didn’t work out.

When he came home for Christmas. He said that it was the first time his room felt like it was no longer his and it was then I knew he’d settled into his new place.
But wasn’t until March we actually repurposed it!

Even when eldest ds moved out I kept his room ‘open’ for about a year in case he needed to move back home. And when Dd moves out I’ll probably keep it as is for anyone that needs a bed!

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme

MrsSkylerWhite it's just a misnomer for accommodation block corridors of seperate, individual single rooms (even ensuites more like hotels than real dorms) - not boarding school/ hospital ward style big rooms with multiple beds...“

Ah, ok, thank you.

@pointythings

I thought it was pretty much unheard of for universities in the UK to have rooms that are not single occupancy.

About 50% of the rooms in my block were shared, this was in a newly renovated halls about 10 years ago so I can’t imagine that’s changed since.

That was on an out of town campus, all the blocks were the same. It’s very common for unis to offer shared rather rooms, especially to first years.