My bunnies have free roam of my whole apartment except for the office and bedroom whenever I am home and awake (or napping on the couch). I was lucky and they both caught on to the litter box thing pretty quickly and aside from the initial territorial poops, never really had any accidents. There was one incident with a pillow that was left on the floor, but I think that was to punish me for something Noelle disapproved of (not sure what though!).
Anyways… If they are having trouble remembering to go back to their cage to use the box, you’ll definitely want to introduce them to a small area first and maybe put out an extra litter pan with some soiled litter in it (so they can identify it as theirs by smell). You can still expect some stray poops as territory marking to begin with, but hopefully they’ll get the point to pee in at least one box. Then once they have the hang of that, slowly increase the area (and maybe add another box if you think it’s necessary). Eventually you should be able to cut back on the number of litter boxes and they’ll consistently go in the one in their cage. Of course, you’ll first want to bunny proof any new areas the bunnies will have access to. So cover wires with cord protectors, block off any areas you don’t want them to get into, make sure there aren’t any poisonous plants within reach, that type of thing. Another option is to put down some old towels in the new areas if you have some extras when you’re first starting out so that if there is a pee accident, it’s easier to clean up.

Mine have never chewed on walls or furniture, but every bunny is different so you’ll just have to keep a close eye at first and see how it goes. I keep a spray bottle with water handy for any troublesome behaviour I see. At this point I just have to squeeze the handle far enough that it makes a creaky noise without any water actually coming out and the rabbits quickly desist and take cover! The main thing is to be around to supervise when they are out to see any areas you may have overlooked in your bunny proofing and to keep them out of trouble. They can’t dig up your whole carpet without you noticing if you’re there to watch! And then over time you’ll know how long they can be trusted. Like I said, I’ll nap in the same room with them out, or go take a shower and get ready for the day and they’re fine on their own.

Hopefully that’s enough to get started! And you can always post back with more questions or issues that come up along the way! I’m sure others will chime in soon with more advice too.

i agree with BunnyMuffin, start in a smaller space. You can attach an additional xpen to limit the space, or make a fence out of NIC grids. Once they are consistently going back into the pen, or using the extra litterbox, you can try to expand a bit further. Some buns will always mark here and there with poop, which is not as big of a deal as marking with pee. But I’d try to limit the space first and see how it goes. Bunny-proofing is a necessary thing for peace of mind when they are out. My house is completely bun-proofed (with the exception of my son’s room). I can leave them out all day, even without being home and they are fine. It did take a long time and some trial and error to make sure everything really was safe. I’d figure out what rooms/areas your ideal bunny space would consist of, and start on those rooms first.

With mine I have litterboxes in their cage and one outside their cage.  I used to have 3 outside of Cottons house.  That way there is always a litterbox nearby with hay in it to remind them where to go.

Mainly pay attention to where they are going  wee and place a litterbox there.   They usually tell you hey Mum I want a box here n here and oh yeah here too. 

Also the space thing start out slowly.

Only real problem I have with chewing is the wires and under the couch. I have an expen surrounding my comp and tv area and nic cubes barracading the bottom of the couch off.  Works quite well.

As others pointed out FIRST gotta get the litter habits under control -oooor maybe you like vaccuming? hehe They others offered good suggestions there so I won’t repeat

-on if they are going to destroy walls and furniture? Well they could! Factors and things to consider;
what do they destroy normally -is it stuff left on the ground -or the house itself? Can it be bunny proofed without caging you and your belongings up and letting the bunnies have the house as hutch? i.e. is it reasonable or do you have demon-bunnies who will destroy the house in a few hours?

-Even if they are little angels like my buns pretend to be, sometimes you will come home and find something they ‘out of the blue’ decided to sample/eat/destroy. Can you handle that or are your belongings very valuable/sentimental? Bunny proofing is on going-they are thinking and one day may decide that nice rug is tasty when they previously didn’t touch it for years.

Try letting them out and leaving for a few hours on a trial! Or go for a nap. If they think you aren’t around they will behave as they would if you weren’t around. And you can see where your bunny proofing is lacking-or maybe that you have super-chill-sleep-under-the-coffee-table bunnies who aren’t a problem.

Basically it’s a lot of trial and error. But I find it works great for my buns, as they don’t eat baseboards or carpet, we don’t have plants, and my boyfriends learned his lesson about not properly covering his prescious game wires
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It’s like raising teenagers, that’s what i told my mom anyway (I am a single, 28 year old woman so it’s what I assume raising teenager’s is like). You let them go out with their frineds after school and be home by dinner, then let them stay out till dinner, then go to a party with parents there….you get my point. A little bit at a time, to see how they do and then you add on the extra space. They should have to earn the space. Bunny proof, cover your wires with plastic tubing, spray some perfume on bunny’s favorite spots to pull at carpeting and put some bunny friend toys out there and see how they do!

I have a free-range bun and while things are pretty bunny-proofed I occasionally find that she’s sampled something (like my snow boots).  Grr.

But I figure it this way – I’m the one with the big brain and the opposable thumbs.  If she gets at something, well I was the one who left it where she could get at it. 

I’ve just resolved never to spend more than $25 on a purse ever again.

I’d love to have my rabbits be free range as well, but I can’t even get them to be 100% poo trained in their xpens. To me, the pens are the min size a bunny needs during non-out time so I don’t want to make their space any smaller. Plus Cheeky has gotten into the habbit of chewing on his poops which makes a big crumbly mess in the xpen area alone. Guppy suffers from occassional bouts of poopy bum so I have to let him out on supervised time, lest I start finding stinky cecals all over the place. Cheeky is very clean though, when he’s out in the basement his habits are immaculate, he can go for hrs at a time and always remember to go back to his box to poo. Guppy on the other hand I think gets too excited and will leave poos, he’s especially fond of running over to Cheeky’s xpen and leaving poos right around there. Both my buns are ravenous chewers as well, and I can’t bunny proof all the paneling that I’ve got everywhere, the nic cubes would cost me a fortune!

I found it’s a bit easier once they are full grown and speutered. They are more concerned with migrating around my place to sleep in different areas then looking for things to destroy!