What to do with my brother's room?

My brother is away in the military, and I overheard my mom accepted that he has "gone", grown up, moved on.

So here is where I come in. His bedroom is now "dead space" in the house, and I am in need of a good project. What do we do with this extra space?

I really want to do something BIG. Something that adds to the house, something warm and inviting, calm and serene, a room people want to go into. I am picturing painting. Taking the door/closet doors off. A fireplace. A cozy library. A comfy chair. Plants and fish. A waterfall. A special place. Feng shui....but WHAT!?

This is a big first for my parents for my brother to "leave the nest" (and then to accept it is an important step). Me, well it's different, but I feel it is my duty to take that space and make it grand. I am the perfect person to take something old and make it new and grand. I don't want this room to either A) stay a bedroom because we do not need a guest bedroom or B) become a storage room.

Here is where I need your help. I don't need much. A phrase, a description. A centerpiece. Maybe a theme. An idea! What do I do with this spare room? The possibilities are endless. But I do need a goal in mind and some ideas to take to Pinterest and search my heart out and formulate a plan for this room!.

Here's a basic description of my brother's room to help get an idea of what we have to work with. My brother's room is facing the west. The sun shines into a large rectangular window in the evening. I can't say how big the room is, oh, say, an average size square. The carpets are tan. There is a narrow rectangular closet with white closet sliding doors. Sorry, but that's the best I can describe it.

Edit: Here is what is currently in his bedroom: A full size bed, three hand-me-down dressers (two smallish two-drawer and one larger three-drawer), a large desk and a bookcase.

You could turn it into an office, with a desk and a few bookshelves with various things on them. A fish tank in there wouldn't be too out of place either.

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[UPDATED: 4/30/2017]

LIFE IS TOO SHORT, TOO VALUABLE AND TOO PRECIOUS A THING TO WASTE!!

Thank you for your input but I want to go even bigger than that! My family has no need for an office.

However, we value R&R and put relaxation as our top priority when we aren't working or running errands.

I'm thinking of something along the lines of a secret getaway or library.

I've always wanted a bath tub full of fish...

Oh!! I know! If you're looking to make a room to relax and get away from it all, why not make a room designed in the art of Feng Shui? Feng Shui is the art of arranging furniture in a room or house to allow the energy, which is called Chi, flow evenly and unobstructed throughout. You could have a water fountain in one corner, maybe bookshelves with all sorts of books you find interesting, and a cozy corner to read in. Add some live house plants, and maybe a white noise machine or just find a playlist of calm soothing music somewhere online, and play it.

Oh! You could leave the center of the room as a space in which to do yoga! It's great for relaxing and finding your center. It's also good for toning, firming and strengthening the body.

This is exciting!!

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[UPDATED: 4/30/2017]

LIFE IS TOO SHORT, TOO VALUABLE AND TOO PRECIOUS A THING TO WASTE!!

Yes, I am all about feng shui!

I think I'll hit up feng shui on Pinterest.

The thing about Pinterest is that it's so picture perfect and fake. It's so hard to find an original idea on Pinterest!

Ehhh...feng shui was a little dizzy to what I was thinking.

I'm searching secret getaway rooms and I'm liking what I'm seeing...but how the hell could I pull that off?

http://pin.it/aOhKYIJ

http://pin.it/eHEM6jW

http://pin.it/NyUbj3s

I feel like Craigslist gives me better inspiration =/

The problem is that I have to be super resourceful and do a ton of free craigslist finds because my parents will not likely pay me to do a complete room makeover.

This is what I had in mind so far:

I want the three main walls plus the closet wall painted green, and the left hand side wall to be painted brown or black with painted grey "bricks" to outline where my parents fireplace will be (they have an electric fireplace in their room), and I would like to install a mantel to place candles. Along the top of the wall I'd like to install shelves to place fake plants and knick knacks. I would like a chair in the corner and a loveseat across from it. I would like a small dresser or drawer to place a single-cup coffee and tea pot. I would also like a small water fountain to go in the opposite corner as well as a fish pond for the closet. Personally, I would love to get a bath tub fish pond because I've had a life long adoration of the idea of fish swimming in a tub.

That's what I got so far.

What do your parents think about your idea for a relaxation room? I hope they are as excited as you are

Hmm. A bathtub turned into a fish pond? Well, I know a lot about keeping fish, and have seen that done before, but in an outdoor setting. I've never heard of keeping a bathtub converted into a fish pond inside a closet before. I'd like to see how you are planning it all out. Like, how do you plan on moving a bathtub in there, and what kind of decorations and whatnot do you plan on using. That sort of thing.

I'd plan the whole room out, every last detail and then presenting your idea to your parents, like a blueprint of sorts, and seeing what they think. Maybe if you're calculating costs and labor down to something reasonable, they will help out a bit.

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[UPDATED: 4/30/2017]

LIFE IS TOO SHORT, TOO VALUABLE AND TOO PRECIOUS A THING TO WASTE!!

I think you need to decide what in nature this room represents. There are many elements and parts of nature. It is of course OK to mix, but I feel the mixes somehow need to be natural if representing the outdoors.

If you feel your room represents water, what kind? The sea with shells and sand, or maybe a rainforest river, with a lot of wood and green? Or something else?

Part from your "insane" fish idea, it needent cost a lot of money to fix up. If it is a place for relaxation, try to keep it quite open and decorate along walls instead of in the middle. In the middle you can put yourself if you wish, like suggested yoga, also you can have a small, portable table to put there for tea ceremonies and such, and sit around on the floor. Even though you have a carpet it might be nice to have something soft to sit on to represent the center of the room.

But also arrange so one can sit nearer a wall if that is wanted also.

Color is the easiest way of changing a room, so think hard to find the ideal color. It seems like you already did, use clues from nature what then goes with it.

I'd make absolutely certain that he's not coming back home before changing anything!

If not sure, and without his okay, I'd leave it exactly like he left it.

The reason I say this is because that room just may be the only semblance of normality he has
to help him readjust to civilian life should he decide to return home after his military service.

Sincerely,
Pfrog!

Try hydroponics for small spaces or aquaponics. That could be fun & keeps the space green & useful. Even a wall garden!
Have fun!

That's more of a crazy idea than something that could actually happen. My parents won't even let me have an aquarium! They will only allow me to have betta.

Where is your brother supposed to stay between deployments? What do your parents think about this plan? Sounds rather impulsive.

No, it's just an idea at this point. My parents are still deciding what they want to do with his room. It is ultimately their decision because it's their house, but if they decide they want to change it, I will be in charge of making it happen.

Okay, this answers my first question about what your parents think about the idea.

My second question/comment relates to what Nammu and Pfrog said, what about your brother? He will be coming home on leave periodically. Where is he supposed to stay?

Am also going to post a personal experience. When I left for college my parents converted "my" room. My game plan had been to go home for breaks and holidays. Those plans went out the window. I ended up sleeping on the sofa if I stayed at their house. It hurt. I don't think they meant to hurt me, but I felt like they'd booted me out.