Teen Boy Closet Makeover

A few years back, I participated in an 8-week One Room Challenge where you makeover one room in your home and created this modern mountain bedroom (pictured below) for my son. He loves his room, but I never really did anything to his closet. Since he is about to be a teenager in less than a year (gasp), I couldn’t think of a better time to tackle this project. Let’s get into this closet makeover…

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This was pretty much the state of the closet at the time. I took before pictures because I knew that one day I wanted to come back and give him a closet that was just as cool as his mountain room.

I started by taking everything out of the closet and removing the shelves and rods. The old shelves will be saved and re-used later because they’re already cut to size. After everything was cleared out, I painted all the walls and the ceiling in Tricorn Black. A bold choice for sure but stick with me I promise it’ll be worth it in the end.

The shelves that were previously removed got reinstalled and moved higher up. Gotta love free material. Next, I added the vertical panels with a ledge in between for added stability and storage. A tall dresser will go in the middle of the vertical panels. This whole closet is essentially designed around two mid-century modern dressers from Facebook Marketplace that I refinished. I will save that process for another post.

A face frame got added and then, you guessed it, more black paint. The tall dresser also got moved into its spot.

This random door goes into the safe room (tornado shelter) and it got a coat of paint. I also added new door trim and baseboards in the entire closet before painting them black as well.

For the closet rods, I bought some wood dowels, cut them to size, and stained them. You just can’t beat the contrast of stained wood against black, it’s so good. The rods are attached with ceiling-mount brackets from Amazon. I added a rod up high for shirts and down low for pants.

Now, it’s time to move to the other side of the closet. This side was way less involved than the first one. I moved the other long dresser into its spot after painting the bottom half of the wall black. Wallpaper is going on this side, so a piece of trim was added above the dresser in preparation for that.

I found this peel-and-stick wallpaper on LoveVs.Design and fell in love with it. This print is “Aztec Diamonds” in the colors shell/black. It’s such a great backdrop for a gallery wall. The old light was removed and replaced it with a new fun light fixture. It’s from Amazon and was super affordable.

All that’s left now is to show you the reveal!

Did I win you over on the black? If not, that’s ok. To each his own. A step I didn’t show is how I converted the doorway into just a pass through so this closet is like an extension of his room. There is no door. That means he has to keep it clean, right?

All art prints are digital downloads from Etsy. For the gallery wall, I chose prints with a Southwest vibe and paired them with thrifted mirrors. My son did choose the one chess-themed print which looks kind of retro. And, of course, no teenage boy closet would be complete without an inspirational quote from Michael Scott. We’re big Office fans around here.

Who ever heard of a lamp in a closet? Outrageous. The goal for this closet was to be cozy and nothing says cozy more than a lamp. Also loving the cool pattern that the new light fixture makes on the ceiling. I found these motion-activated lights on Amazon that attach with magnets, so they got stuck above the closet rods for even more light. Those c ollapsible storage boxes are also from Amazon and come in a set. No shortage of storage in this closet. He has more storage than he has clothes at this point.