The Convertible Room

When children leave home, parents have one of two reactions. One is "clear out the kids 'room, we're putting in a pool table and wet bar!" and the other is "don't touch the shrine - junior might want to come home at some point."

Not my kid's room (it wasn't this nice, frankly)

I had an interesting conundrum when my only child left home. I was living in a rental that I didn't really like so I had it in my head that I would be moving at some point. When you're not really attached to the space you live in, it's not likely that you'll start planning what to do with specific rooms.  I cleaned it (frankly, it needed a firehose,) and I packed/stored or got rid of a lot of things. But, otherwise, I didn't think much about it.

I'm not really the "shrine" sort of person, at least not in regards to my child's stuff, and I knew my kid wasn't coming home for at least 6 years so, when I moved 6 months later, I could do whatever I wanted. I made the "extra room" a guest room.

Not the actual daybed I had, but a reasonable facsimile

You know what happens with guest rooms? They sit. Empty. For months on end. A forlorn place with bits of furniture and nothing "personal" in them. Then, one day, someone decides to come visit and you have to clean out all the stuff you chucked in the room to get it out of the way. They're just giant black holes.

Lo and behold, six years hence, my kid came home. Imagine that! So, for 18 months, my guest room had a (sort of) guest in it. And, when he left for the second time, I vowed to make the room something useful.

I freakin' LOVE this bed. It's amazing.

Regardless of what I wanted the room to be, it had to be available as a guest room. So, step one was to purchase a good "roll away" bed. I settled on a queen sized EZ bed. This thing is an engineering marvel and, sometimes, I pull it out and set it up just to wonder at how cool it is.

Step two was to paint the room. I used some paint that was originally earmarked for the kitchen - a nice sunny yellow. It never made it onto the kitchen walls because I could never wrap my head around having to tear the kitchen apart in order to paint. The color is as pretty as I'd hoped and the room is now a bright, lovely place to be.

Step three was to decide what the purpose of the room would be and how to make it "convertible" to a guest room. I decided that the thing I needed most was a craft room. Somewhere where all my stuff could live and I could work comfortably. Making this a craft room also helps me take the first step toward my crafty resolution of sewing more. Killing two birds, as they say.

This table rocks!

So I bought a 6 foot folding "buffet" table for my primary work surface. This has a large area for cutting fabric or laying out projects, plus space for the sewing machine at the end. Then I bought a rolling cart to store things in. I may need another one, but this one seems to be acceptable for now. Finally, I bought a hanging closet organizer and used that to hold my yarn stash. I still need something to hold my jewelry supplies and, at some point, have to decide what to do with my knitting needles and other accessories but, for now, the room seems to be coming together nicely.

Best idea I've had in a while

Meh...not too sexy

 When it's all said and done, it shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes to break down the "craft room" and make it a "guest room." All the elements can be tucked away in the closet that holds the roll-away bed and linens now. And, hopefully, my guests won't mind looking at bright yellow walls.

- Alex