A teen dream wardrobe makeover

The teenage bedroom: a dumping ground for your child’s growing stash of clothes, makeup, books and random treasures they’ve collected over the years.

It’s frequently the messiest room in the house and a point of contention with parents, not least because parents believe it’s hard for their teenager to concentrate on study when their surroundings are in a state of disarray.

And they’re not wrong. Researchers have found that physical clutter overloads your senses, making you feel stressed and impairing your ability to think creatively.

Rachel Fischer’s daughter Sophie started high school this year and wanted to mark her school transition with a bedroom transformation.

“She wanted a bedroom makeover to move from a kid’s room to a teen’s room,” says Fischer. “Sophie is quite untidy by nature but I do think if everything’s in a mess, your mind’s in a mess too.”

Slide below to see Sophie’s wardrobe makeover:

After

Before

The mother-daughter duo decided on a DIY makeover of the old 1960s wardrobe where the shelves were piled with an array of shoeboxes housing knick-knacks and the chest of drawers wasn’t large enough to contain Sophie’s winter woollies.

“She wanted to feel more organised, so we did a big clean-out, then we went shopping for new storage options.”

Fischer went to her local Bunnings and ordered a Multistore storage unit with five drawers and two shelves to be home-delivered, before hunting for other storage solutions.

A favourite find were the Storage Clever Cubes, light-weight fabric boxes with chrome ring-pull handles for easy access.

“Sophie loves these,” says Fischer. “They’re a good solution for things that you don’t need to get to every single day and they allow you to compartmentalise your stuff instead of having everything stuck at the back of your cupboard.”

They also picked up a Hanging Organiser for Sophie’s hair ties and shoes and a Wooden Shoe Rack to store more shoes and a sports bag.

“Sophie thought it was fun to go in and choose from all the storage items on offer, she got a kick out of doing that,” Fischer says. “We set aside a day to get organised, putting the shoe rack and storage unit together and restocking the cupboard.”

Fischer says by including Sophie in the project she not only gained a sense of achievement, but seemed more inclined to take ownership of keeping her bedroom organised.

“Before there was stuff everywhere, and she was just shoving things in the drawers,” she says. “Since the makeover she’s folding things properly and she’s got a place for everything. It was a quick, easy and affordable solution.”

For all your wardrobe solutions, head to www.bunnings.com.au