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A budget-friendly bedroom walk-in wardrobe glow up

Flatpack custom wardrobe design in a bedroom with in built lighting
This Brisbane couple used their D.I.Y. know-how to transform a flatpack into a custom wardrobe design, saving themselves thousands of dollars in the process.

The transformation

Home owners: Claire and Derek O’Connell

Location: Brisbane, Queensland

The project: Wardrobe makeover 

The budget: $5000

Claire’s top tip for renovators: You can create a beautiful home on a budget with a few small tweaks like painting the wall behind the wardrobe and using strip lighting to make the wardrobe stand out.

Claire and Derek O’Connell are no strangers to D.I.Y. Over the past decade, they’ve renovated houses on three continents – the UK, the US and Australia – but this is the first time they’ve taken on a home to live in. “We were always renovating to sell so our design approach was very different,” Claire says. “This is the first time we actually get to renovate our own home.”

Their dream home is a hundred-year-old Queenslander with plenty of potential. “We love character houses and we love retaining as much of that character as possible,” Claire says. “I have champagne taste but we have a beer budget so we’re doing a lot of it ourselves.”

So far, the renovation has included adding an extension and remodelled the main bedroom, kids bedrooms and the living areas, giving special attention to bringing Claire’s dream walk-in wardrobe to life.  “Our inspiration was the beautiful wardrobes that you see on TV shows and in magazines,” she says. 

The wardrobe design

The wardrobe space was originally earmarked to hold both the wardrobe and an ensuite bathroom. “The more we thought about it though, we realised that we were designing this for us for a really long time,” Claire says. “We ended up making the bathroom smaller because that was less important to us – we don’t need to hang out in the bathroom. Then we designed the wardrobe to be multi-functional.”

Claire, who is known as Renowayoflife in the Bunnings Workshop community, needed a walk-in wardrobe refresh that could accommodate kids and pets, while still having ample space for putting on make-up and dressing. “We wanted it to feel really comfortable, almost like a mum cave area where I can get ready in the morning.”

Person standing on a ladder with a paint brush and a heart painted on the wall

Cost-effective wardrobe installation

Claire and Derek mapped out the area themselves but things quickly ground to a halt when installation quotes rolled in. “We were getting quotes for around $25,000 and $30,000,” says Claire, who then started looking for budget-friendly alternatives.

“We were lucky that the measurements worked and we could buy off-the-shelf Flexi Storage flat-packs for the entire wardrobe,” Claire says. She then set to work elevating the area with some clever design techniques. “I think the melamine piece that goes on the back of the flat-pack really is a telltale sign that you’ve used a flat-pack, so I never use that piece. I take it off so the wardrobe is open to the wall behind. The key is you have to secure it straight to the wall.”

Two people pushing wardrobe shelving into place

Claire’s other tip is to make the wall behind the wardrobe a focal point. “I painted the wall black because, while light colours are a feature, black recedes and I really wanted to make it feel like there’s no end."

The wardrobe is designed in an L-shape with hanging sections and shelving units to keep folded clothes, bags and shoes. Because the ceilings are high, they bought an extra vertical unit and placed it longways across the top of the wardrobe to add even more bedroom storage.

Tall standing mirror against wall in a bedroom across from the wardrobe seen in the reflection

Clever use of lighting design

Flooding the space with light was a priority for Claire. “We wanted a place that felt open. The room has a beautiful character window, which brings in a lot of natural light,” she says. “But we really wanted the glow to come back into the wardrobe, too, so we used strip lighting and drilled holes in each of the cabinets so the light strip could go right to the end of each.”

Claire and Derek built-in a similar light feature at the wall-ceiling junction. “We added a piece of wood around the perimeter of the ceiling and then added the coving to that,” she says. “That creates a gap between the coving and the ceiling – the strip lighting goes behind it and glows back onto the ceiling.”

All of these features have combined to make the wardrobe a special place in the house. “We’ve been living with it now for a few months and I love it,” she says. “Honestly, it’s probably one of my favourite rooms in the house.”

Flatpack custom wardrobe design in a bedroom with in built lighting

More from Claire and Workshop

To see more projects like Claire’s stunning walk-in wardrobe and her clever D.I.Y. walk-in pantry, visit the Bunnings Workshop community.

Health & Safety

Asbestos, lead-based paints and copper chromium arsenic (CCA) treated timber are health hazards you need to look out for when renovating older homes. These substances can easily be disturbed when renovating and exposure to them can cause a range of life-threatening diseases and conditions including cancer. For information on the dangers of asbestos, lead-based paint and CCA treated timber and tips for dealing with these materials contact your local council's Environmental Health Officer or visit our Health & Safety page.

When following our advice in our D.I.Y. videos, make sure you use all equipment, including PPE, safely by following the manufacturer’s instructions. Check that the equipment is suitable for the task and that PPE fits properly. If you are unsure, hire an expert to do the job or talk to a Bunnings Team Member.