<p>welll- it is in the basement- and it is small- I tried to get her to take her stuff- but she had less room after she graduated from college than she did in her dorm.
She didn’t want anything and what is worse, everytime she comes up she leaves a jacket, or a pair of jeans or shoes!
She has little enough that she * needs them* so then I have to send them to her.
( I think if she wasn’t still using the day pack I used 18 years ago when I was going to school, she would have room and wouldn’t forget so much stuff- I don’t know why she still uses it- it isn’t torn or anything, but she got luggage for graduation- BTW The Northface- very good brand )</p>
<p>Now that she is in a larger house, and has her own bathroom, I am hoping I can " share" some furniture I have been saving for that purpose!</p>
<p>I don’t dare touch S2’s room, or the cat would have a fit. In fact we call it “Frank’s room” as often as we call it S2’s room. He is S2’s cat, and spends most of his time there. Although he does consent to sleep with D if she is home, and S2 is not.</p>
<p>Our cats are gone now, but there is a cat neighbor who comes over & I often find him sleeping on her bed.</p>
<p>( note- get rid of that awful futon and those pressboard bookcases-)</p>
<p>First D went off to college two hours away a couple years ago. She comes back every few weeks but never clears out anything. The room doubles as a guest room infrequently and an office for bill paying. </p>
<p>The second D just went off two weeks ago and hasn’t been back yet. Her room is much cleaner. The downstairs bathroom towels are always in place and the makeup clutter is now just my own. </p>
<p>The cats sometimes claim the bed and love to sprawl across stretched out to the max. Sometimes the dust bunnies threaten. </p>
<p>Often I find myself restless (or is it my hubby’s snoring) and find my way into one of their rooms in the early morning. It does help with the loneliness a bit for now.</p>
<p>Both my kid’s rooms are closet-sized, and much of their dorm stuff is piled on top of the loft beds. There is barely room to turn around. I will be encouraging them to clean out their rooms before they return to school (or in DD’s case, head off to a foreign country), but have no plans to convert them. I think it is important for them to always have a place to return to…</p>
<p>They’ve discussed their only redecorating plans (getting a smaller desk…my queen-sized hand-me-down bed takes up a lot of the space in my room and I won’t need the extra desk space anymore) with me and gotten my approval, and I doubt that they’ll change anything else without talking to me first.</p>
<p>I have a cousin that is having trouble standing on her own two feet, and my dad suggested she move into my room when I leave. My mom FLIPPED and goes, “D needs her room when she comes home! She is NOT sleeping on the couch!” It was great.</p>
<p>When I went away to college, I loved it, but it didn’t feel like home. Since I graduated, I’ve kind of been floating between apartments in various states, and still nothing really feels like “home” to me, which has been kind of unsettling, but I’ve gotten more used to it over time. When I first went away to college, though, my parents’ house was still very much “home”. I can understand your daughter feeling upset by the idea of losing that sense of having somewhere that she definitely belongs, and that is completely her own.</p>
<p>My parents have just recently turned my old room into a guest room with a desk for my dad and my mum’s sewing table. The room had stayed mine until I bought my own place. They didn’t want to change it until I’d established my own home somewhere else and was ready to let go of my childhood home. I appreciated that. But once they were sure I wasn’t coming back, they were really pleased to have the extra space!</p>
<p>Both our college sons have 12 month leases. DH had turned one room into an office (it was originally a dining room, closed off to make a 4th BR) and the other room had a queen sized bed. This didn’t work when both boys were home from school, so we completely redid the room, making it a pleasant guest room with two comfortable twin beds, and a big sewing table for me. It’s worked out great. When the boys are both home they hang out in there talking and playing games on their laptops, etc. When we have company we have a nice room for them, and the rest of the time I have a nice room to work in.</p>
<p>DS#1 is trying to get an internship with a local company. If that happens he’ll be moving into the new guest room for a semester.</p>
<p>Now that S has graduated & gotten a job, he is REALLY gone and his room is really a guest room now. As well as H’s office sometimes (the laptop/wireless arrangement makes for very flexible office space. Sometimes the “office” is in front of the TV. )</p>
<p>Not only did I clean it (VERY thoroughly) … I also painted it with the paint she bought & never got around to putting on the walls herself. She LOVED it!</p>
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