What Should We Do With All the Extra Space Now That the Kids Are Gone?
Start with the option that best fits your finances, timing, and how you want to live. For empty nesters not ready to sell, repurposing suddenly available space offers a middle path between an unchanged home and a full downsizing move.
Home office conversion
With remote and hybrid work increasingly common, converting a former kid's bedroom into a dedicated home office is one of the most popular repurposing choices, typically costing $2,000-8,000 depending on furnishings and any electrical or built-in work.
Guest suite for visiting family
Setting up a former bedroom as a proper guest suite, sometimes with an attached or nearby bathroom upgraded for guest comfort, supports extended visits from adult children and grandchildren without those visitors feeling like they're intruding on the kids' old, unchanged rooms.
Renting out a room
Some empty nesters choose to rent out an extra bedroom, either long-term or through short-term rental platforms, generating supplemental income, though this requires comfort with having a tenant or guest regularly present in the home.
Insurance and liability considerations when renting a room
Homeowners insurance policies don't automatically cover rental activity, and renting out even a single room, whether long-term or through a short-term platform, typically requires notifying the insurer and potentially adding a rider or switching to a policy that covers this use, a step easy to overlook until a claim reveals the gap in coverage.