It's tricky for sure! When I moved into my current home in 2012 there was no daycare space. I did it out of the master bedroom space for the first 12 months and the small dining room, 8x11 was my main bedroom on the ground floor. We ended up relocating the laundry room from next to the DR to the basement. We then knocked the wall down and made it into one room. Now it is a main floor family room, currently used as a daycare room. We did all the work ourselves so we haven't claimed a renovation as such, but DIY supplies related to this project. I understand that the CRA could say that this increases the value of our home but Id argue not as we lost a main floor dining room and laundry room to gain a family room. Additionally, we didn't pay any labor charges, and just claimed the individual items like drywall, compound, timber, trim, paint, light fixtures etc. It was also an absolute necessity for me to be able to do daycare and it is an exclusive space.