<p>My youngest daughter has just started medical school. My oldest daughter is gone and married. So I have 2 empty rooms. The smallest was my youngest daughter’s 1st room before my oldest moved away. Then the largest room was hers after the 1st daughter moved away. The smaller room is filled with my BowFlex and then all the awards, trophies, stuffed animals, games, etc that my youngest accumulated. The largest room has bookshelves still with her many books, stuffed things, personal things that she has never gone through and told me to get rid of. I seriously doubt I will see hide nor hair of her til Christmas, or much at all for a time. Everytime I go work out on my bowflex, I am swamped with the memories of her being a child and teenager and I get this missing of her that I need to put behind me, because I am so proud and happy of where she is today and I need to move on. So what should I do with all this stuff? I don’t want to keep her room as some sort of shrine to her childhood. I’m thinking put the awards in a trunk along with one or 2 most cherished things and give away the rest. Redecorate the rooms. I’ve long since moved out my eldest child’s stuff but she didn’t have as much and what she did she took with her. What did you all do?</p>
<p>make a room to workout in, or a room for a pool table and stuff, have your own bar in there, storage room… movie theater…</p>
<p>move all her stuff into one room and make a study/exercise room for yourself out of the other.</p>
<p>My parents re-claimed bedrooms as the kids left (one guest room, one TV room, one darkroom), and moved our things to the attic. I’m embarrassed to say how many years it took after the youngest had left home, but they did finally get us to take our stuff. </p>
<p>I totally get that you might be hesitant to get rid of anything, so if you have the space you might store it (out of sight–when you’re ready) and let her make the decision about what to keep when she’s older. (I can believe you might get less sentimental about some of this stuff when the grandkids come along. 
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<p>Install lights and grow orchids. </p>
<p>Display your collection of law enforcement cadaver dog team embroidered patches.</p>
<p>Floor to ceiling shelves and a recliner/reading lamp…a library. Fox hunting prints on the walls and hunter green rug, maybe with an Oriental over it.</p>
<p>I can’t give anything away after watching Toy Story 3…I know its fiction…but you know…Woody was just plain bitter. I just packed the stuff up, labeled it and put in the attic. I seperated toys from books, etc and maybe a grandchild someday will love those animals just as much. I still have three at home so maybe I will rethink this later down the road.</p>
<p>Take in a foreign student for a year. It fills up the room, gives you company and perhaps some joy.</p>
<p>I think it is nice to have a guest room or two in case you have unexpected company.</p>
<p>It is nice to have at least one of rooms a guest room (maybe with the exercise equipment) & perhaps the other can become an office or craft/hobby room with a nice couch or futon that could double as a bed in case both kids happen to visit at the same time or visit & bring a friend.</p>
<p>DD starts med school next week, although she has really been gone for the past four years. Sh’e taking her bedroom set from home to her new apartment, we’re moving our old set into her room as a guest room, and we’re getting a new set! She loves it because she still has a great place to stay when she comes home, she gets a nice memory of home in her new room, and she doesnt have to feel guilty about us spending more money on her (instead we are spending it on ourselves ). DS is in the Marine Corps and is only home between deployments. When he left, we made a den out of his room, with a sleeper sofa, a tv on his old dresser, a storage ottoman as a coffee table, and all his wonderful Marine Corps awards, photos, etc. He loves his room, too, and I love that it doesnt just look like an empty bedroom. When he’s home he can lay on the couch and watch movies and fold out the bed at night. All the old sports trophies, ribbons, knickknacks, kids books, stuffed animals, etc., went into boxes and into storage. When they are finally settled, they can claim said boxes.</p>
<p>We have extra bedrooms also…kids both cleaned out their rooms themselves after finishing college. One room is a guest room (we got rid of the twin bed set and got a nice double). The second room is still DDs because it is likely that she will spend some time here after her Peace Corps service is complete. But it’s also a guest room for the time being…if needed.</p>
<p>We didn’t need an office…had another bedroom that is that already.</p>
<p>I would box it all up and let her deal with it later. Clean and decorate the rooms for the use you want them to have now.</p>