What do do with a spare room?

[Still Brewn]

I think I finally figure out what to do with one of our spare rooms now that all the kids have all finally moved out. It is freshly refinished and seems like wasted space so I might as well put it to use for now. I still have a few details to finish up but that won't happen until it gets cold outside again.

 

[Still Brewn]

There .... The space is no longer useless!

 

[Miller4]

We are about to have our second boy. I’d love to have an empty space right about now! After dried you could put a cribbage board there and have a dedicated showdown spot.

 

[Still Brewn]

Love it! Don't know how to play though. The owner of an art gallery I go and hang out at has been wanting to teach me but I haven't had any time to sit with him. We have a better space in the process of being designed and built for games near the bar and wine cellar I just have to find the time to work on it, along with the bar and wine cellar. Hopefully I can get all of that finished up this winter.

 

[bracconiere]

god bless, jimmy carter.... i love hearing about homebrewer's problems!

i was born a month before he legalized homebrewing, feel like he handed me a mash tun and brew kettle as a birthday present....

 

[Still Brewn]

That and we have our second grandchild on the way and since they live 1200 miles away we probably should fix it up for a child to stay in during vacations. I thought about making a walk-in closet for the wife but we have another spare room closer to ours that I will probably do that to

 

[Beernik]

Nice!

We just bought a house with a spare room. My wife set it up as a bedroom for her mother for when she visits. She’s trying to convince her mom to retire and move in with us.

 

[Still Brewn]

Nice!

We just bought a house with a spare room. My wife set it up as a bedroom for her mother for when she visits. She’s trying to convince her mom to retire and move in with us.

Ugh! I could not handle it if my MIL moved in. Non stop talking and must be the center of attention at all times. Thank goodness that she has moved other relatives in with her and won't need a place to live.

 

[Still Brewn]

god bless, jimmy carter.... i love hearing about homebrewer's problems!

i was born a month before he legalized homebrewing, feel like he handed me a mash tun and brew kettle as a birthday present....

It is a rather nice problem to have after feeling crowded every place I've ever lived in my life. Pretty much the only reason we decided not to sell the home and buy a smaller place. We don't want to have to feel that way again and with the spare bedrooms we can have family/friends stay with us when they come to town. With the new furnace that is 98% efficient it costs less than half what we were paying to heat all the extra space.

 

[bracconiere]

With the new furnace that is 98% efficient it costs less than half what we were paying to heat all the extra space.

nice

 

[Beernik]

Ugh! I could not handle it if my MIL moved in. Non stop talking and must be the center of attention at all times. Thank goodness that she has moved other relatives in with her and won't need a place to live.

My wife’s family is great. Most of the “family drama” is in my extended family and I cut those people from my life decades ago.

 

[Still Brewn]

Second batch of hops drying. I will have one more after this.

We did finally put a bed in the room temporarily because of visiting family last weekend, this weekend and next month.

 

[mongoose33]

Second batch of hops drying. I will have one more after this.
View attachment 640824

We did finally put a bed in the room temporarily because of visiting family last weekend, this weekend and next month.

You need something like a Murphy bed that you can pull down from the wall, so you can use the room for other things when people aren't visiting.

 

[Still Brewn]

You need something like a Murphy bed that you can pull down from the wall, so you can use the room for other things when people aren't visiting.

We thought about that but we have several other spare rooms and a basement that are not being used, the wine cellar needs a complete refurbishment and plans for the bar/entertainment/library are being made with plumbing and hvac already installed. One of the spare rooms is being made..... will be made into swmbo's walk in closet. Then this room in the pics will be made into the master with a headboard that covers the entire wall. It is smaller than the current master but a master bath and the walk in closet will be part of the room leaving more room after the drawers etc are moved out.

 

[smurfjuice]

Whats it like to have the kids move out?? ...

 

[Still Brewn]

Whats it like to have the kids move out?? ...

It took a few years (27) for them to get out on their own. Unlike when we were young and eager to be on our own kids now days are in no hurry to start paying for their own lives. The freedom is amazing, the money savings is even better and in less than a year pretty much all debts will be paid off and then it is time to do some traveling. I have never been to the northeast or the southwest other than California. The wife has only visited a half a dozen states and lived 3. I've lived in almost a dozen, in fact the 13 years we have lived in our current house is twice as long as I have ever lived in one place.

 

[smurfjuice]

Eldest is out, junior not so much. he is 23. i told him one time that i wanted to see the look on his face when we planted the for sale sign on the front yard ...

 

[Still Brewn]

Eldest is out, junior not so much. he is 23. i told him one time that i wanted to see the look on his face when we planted the for sale sign on the front yard ...

We actually considered selling and moving to a smaller place because they didn't want to move out. They have always been told that as long as you are in school you can stay with us. We finally decided that is was easier to just make it uncomfortable for them to be around us. For example and this works pretty good.... grab a drink for the wife and switch the channel while they are in the middle of watching something. We turned on you tube to music we danced to while we were dating. Turn up the music videos and dance with the wife on the coffee table until the sun was coming up. Be sure to use plenty of pda and a lot graba$$. If this doesn't seem to be working, which in our case with one of them it did not, after a night of dancing with the love of your life be sure to leave undergarments in obvious places, like the couch they were sitting on when the gave up and went to their rooms. This whole thing works spectacularly well when they decide to have friends visit and the pda is an added bonus, you get to make out with your spouse. If they complain about being tired the next day remind them that it is your house and that you have taken care of kids for x amount of years (in our case 27) and that this is your time to enjoy each other. Stick to your guns repeat as often as you can and enjoy your spouse. It worked for us without being mean about it and having to say "get out". Now we regularly turn on the you tube and dance with each other even when no one is around.

 

[Still Brewn]

The music does have to be loud enough for them to hear while they are trying to sleep. It also helps if there are not tv's in every room of your house. I had to move the WiFi antenna so it didn't reach all of the house anymore and removed tv's from rooms so I could "paint". It is especially helpful if they have to work the next day. We didn't start out with nights that they had to work the next day, we had to graduate to that.

 

[Still Brewn]

One other thing I forgot to add. Start remodeling project. Preferably of the kitchen. If you can afford it tear up the kitchen enough that it is impossible to do anything. We actually had our refrigerator in the dinning room and the stove disconnected. The wife and I were going out or ordering in for several months and it took serious commitment to slow the project down enough that we finally got a firm move out date from one of them. The step before a remodel is to cut off the free food train.... We started only buying food we liked or that we had time to make ourselves and no leftovers. Only cook enough for you and the spouse and be sure to finish your meal before they arrive home for the evening that way you don't have to feel guilty about eating in front of them. Discontinue buying snacks or quick easy things like sandwich food. If they start buying ramen to eat and cook it in the microwave put the microwave in storage or get rid of it. It is very important to cut off the gravy train and the whole time you are going through the steps to get a child free house ask them on a regular basis what their plans are for the future. Help them set some goals and be sure to bring it up often enough that it starts to annoy them. Most importantly start charging them rent, this is your very first step to freedom. Start off low, just enough to cover one of the bills they are incurring at your house, let them know that it will be increasing in x amount of time. Steadily increase the rent until they notice. In our case we were first saving the money to help them move out but after a year we gave up and decided to go and buy each other or the house something noticeable and made sure to do it right after they paid rent so they would see where their money was going.

 

[Still Brewn]

well I got the last flush of hop cones picked yesterday. I forgot about them so many were all brown (about half) and went directly into the compost? Anyone have an opinion on if I kept too many brown ones?

Or should I just pitch them?

 

[Still Brewn]

Well since I didn't get a reply I picked out a few more brown ones and ended up with about a 2/3rds of an ounce. I didn't bother vaccum sealing them because I will use them next week when I brew.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Turn it into a walk in cool room. Man, I need one of these.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Looks like you've already found a good use for the space, otherwise AirBnB it for some beer money.

 

[Sauls]

Found this screen in my
Rental basement. Seems like a great fit!

 

[Still Brewn]

Turn it into a walk in cool room. Man, I need one of these.

2nd floor so not so cool and with a wall of windows facing south not cool in the winter anymore.

Looks like you've already found a good use for the space, otherwise AirBnB it for some beer money.

I thought about Airbnb, problem is that I don't like people in my house..... and to get to that room you have to walk by mine. The room does make a nice place to wrap/store gifts etc when no one is visiting and can't beat a spare room where I can dry hops. The room still needs a lot of work but that has to wait until the weather turns to crap (snow/ice/freezingtemps).