SAVORING THE
EMPTY
NEST
Many people make
changes after the kids
leave home, from where
they live to the way
they live
BY LINDA R. BENSON
12
HOME
0
k, so you start going
through a rundown on the
latest update on "the
kids": the oldest one got
married five years ago and set up
a private practice in Phoenix
they are expecting a child momen-
tarily; the second one, moved too,
he's living in New York, has his
own apartment near SoHo and is
very busy getting established in an
ad agency; and Number 3, well,
he's starting on his fourth major,
spent a year studying abroad and
is now travelling through the Far
East. Don't see too much of him
either.
So the kids are all over the four
corners of the world, and you?
Well, there is the family
homestead, maybe as much as
3,000 square feet of it.
The empty nest? Four
bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths frozen into a
sentimental time warp? Not at all,
for many couples are coming up
with some innovative and highly
personal solutions to establish new
residences or adapting to meet
their changing life circumstances.
"Not everyone in the Detroit
suburbs is rushing out and trading
their big homes for new condos
once the kids leave," says Susan
Winton-Feinberg, President of
Walter Herz Interiors. Winton-
Feinberg points out several
reasons, both economic and
social. "Right now desirable con-
dos are very expensive and a
number of women customers that
I've talked to feel loyal to their
roots, whether it is their prized
garden, their friends, or their
neighborhood. A number of my
clients look at re-decorating and
renovating their present home
once the kids leave as a second
shot at doing things exactly the
way they want them."
In planning re-modeling pro-
jects for these clients, Ms.
Feinberg tries to aim for more
elegance, a little more pomp-and-
circumstance — and more fantasy.
The most common re-do requests
are for converting unused bed-
rooms into dressing rooms,
that include dry saunas and steam
along with the requisite biking,
rowing and Nautilus ma-
chines. In another variation of
cise rooms of 1000 square feet
that include dry saunas, and
steam along with the requisite bik-
rowing and nautilus
ing,
machines. In another variation of
this theme, Feinberg has re-
positioned the master bedroom to
the downstairs of traditional two-
story homes. "This way couples
can feel like they are living in a
ranch house," she says.
Entertainment areas are next on
the list of priorities for couples who
choose to stay in their existing
homes, and existing square
footage and space figures almost