Home Alone (Finally!)

After the kids have left the nest it’s time to spruce up the house, or maybe even buy a new one.

REVIEWED BY BARBARA BALLINGER

The House to Ourselves: Reinventing Home Once the Kids Are Grown
By Todd Lawson and Tom Connor (Taunton Press, 2004)

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Not all empty nesters are interested in folding their tents—or houses and condos—and scaling back because they're now the only ones living in what was once a bustling family residence. Some owners actually want more square footage in their existing home, or want to trade up to a bigger home in a resort town. There are even some who want multiple empty-nest homes in different settings. This book focuses on the many variations of the empty-nest genre. Examples include compounds where multiple generations can gather, a simple new farmhouse-style home on 10 acres of Indiana farmland for a couple who used to live in Chicago, and a 1960s Southern California Colonial-style house, whose empty-nester owners decided to give it a major makeover after living in it for 25 years. The revamp included a soaring clock tower and two-story modern conservatory overlooking the owners’ beloved garden.