Interiors stylist Anna Tobin suggests ways to give an old room a new purpose.

When your children fly the nest you find that you suddenly have more rooms to call your own. Here interiors stylist Anna Tobin suggests ways to give an old room a new purpose.

In-house gym

Who needs a personal trainer when you can have your very own gym? Call the children, tell them to remove all their junk; clear the room and give it a fresh coat of paint and consider installing sound-proof rubber mat flooring. Then install an exercise bike, a rowing machine, a yoga mat and a TV upon which to run a few instructional videos. Second-hand exercise machines are pretty easy to come by, so this needn’t be an expensive project.

Walk-in wardrobe

At last, you have the space for your very own walk-in wardrobe. You can do it the expensive way, by knocking through a doorway into your adjacent bedroom to create a lovely master-suite and then getting a specialist wardrobe company in to fit. Or, if you’re on a budget, simply clear the space, paint it and fill it with a selection of racks, shelves and drawers to create a customised dressing space.

En-suite

Treat yourself to an en-suite bathroom, so that you no longer have to cross that cold hallway in the middle of the night. Providing your main bathroom is close by, this job shouldn’t be too expensive and if you’re converting a large bedroom you might have room to create a walk-in wardrobe or lounge area between the two rooms too.

Guest bedroom

Turf out that student loft bed and in its place create a bedroom that you will be proud to invite friends to stay in. If there is room for a sofa or armchair too and a desk, you can use it as an extra living room and study when it’s unoccupied.

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