Steps to Get Your House Ready for an Empty Nest

The long-awaited time is nearly here: when you can start truly dreaming of a child-free house and getting your house ready for an empty nest.

With Junior about to head out for a future outside of the parental home, you and your spouse can finally start thinking about all those long-delayed plans and making your now untenanted living space into what you’ve long imagined it could be.

Before you start going wild picking new curtains for the reading nook or trying to figure out how to fit a pool table through the doors in an attempt to make the basement into the rec room you’ve always wanted, however, you’ll want to focus on some of the more practical needs your house faces as you start life without children in the home at all hours.

Your home will serve different roles now in your life and you’ll need to make sure it’s best prepared to fulfill those needs with the proper modifications.

As empty nesters, you and your spouse may spend less time at home during certain times of the year as you take time to travel or visit distant family. There will be less traffic in and out of the home as the absence of busy teenagers makes itself felt. These and other tells can make your empty house a tempting target for opportunistic thieves.

But if you start preparing the house before you’re officially empty nesters, you’ll have much of those problems well in hand by the time that day actually arrives.

• First, if you haven’t already done so, it’s time to get a home security system. Arming your home with an alarm can scare away many would-be burglars and the 24/7 monitoring that comes with plans like those offered by BlueAccess offers police protection that can often keep away many other more brash thieves.
• Putting up security lights can keep the home looking occupied, particularly motion sensitive fixtures that can flood even the darkest corners of your property with light should home intruders creep near.
• A video doorbell can give you great peace of mind. It can allow you to see who’s at the door even when you’re away, and make it easy to distinguish friendly delivery men from suspicious characters. You can also lock doors and windows from afar with such devices.
• Other home automation tools, like a smart thermostat and integrated light switches, can also help you regulate energy use and ensure lights are only on when you want them to be. This can give you great peace of mind when you’re on that long vacation you’ve always wanted to take.

Getting ready to be an empty nester doesn’t have to mean upending your routines.

Becoming an empty nester will require changes in your lives, but they need not be bad ones. With proper preparation from BlueAccess and its DIY security kits, you can make your home safe and secure even as you give it the look you always wanted now that the playroom is empty at long last.