Walk in Wardrobe Makeover with Elfa and Howards Storage World

Many people rate the kitchen as the most important room in the home. While I agree, there is at least one additional room in the home that will sell me a house.

The walk in robe.

Practically no one would have walked into our now home and thought that it was 'the one' ... it was smelly, dirty and quite frankly, disgusting, and made you feel like you needed to visit the doctor for a tetanus shot after every visit and inspection.

But we saw potential and location, location, location.

And so #thebourkebuild began.

The robe was practically an empty shell so I took that as an opportunity to seek out shelving options and contacted Howards Storage World to investigate what solutions they had available.

Once the carpet was stripped, existing shelving was removed and the floor was laid and the room was painted the room was ready.

I was connected with Kellie from the Maroochydore store {also a mother of twins} who visited the house, reviewed the space and took some measurements. We had a chat about the different shelving units/systems available and with Kellie's recommendation, we started to design the space using the Elfa products.

{from the HSW website}

Elfa is a durable, customisable shelving system that is flexible enough to be used in any room in the home or office. elfa products are designed and built in Sweden and are supported with a ten year warranty.

I chose a combination of mesh and wire baskets, some long and short hanging and some shelving to create a space where multiple items could be stored.

My dad and husband completed the installation and at times it was a little tricky but within a few hours my wardrobe was ready and waiting to be filled.

 I really love the space and find it really easy to keep tidy and organised. The only thing I would change is to use the mesh baskets for both sets of drawers as it looks smarter and less exposed. I've got to admit I was less than impressed with the size of the room when we bought the house after selling a house that had a very generous walk in robe but with Kellie's knowledge and design, I've got more than enough room to store my stuff and navigate the space. The Elfa solution is also future proof as the shelving and baskets can be moved around if my requirements change.

Check out Howard's Organisation Station site for heaps of ideas, makeovers and storage tips.

{I was offered a discount to purchase these products but was not paid for this blog post}

The Bourke Build | Location, Location, Location

When we moved to the Sunshine Coast over three years ago we bought a timber pole home in the 'on top' suburb of Buderim. We fell in love with the country style kitchen, beautiful timber floors, huge entertaining area with pool and for me, the huge walk in robe.

I was pregnant at the time and we didn't have months, even weeks to select a property to purchase so didn't really consider {as people who were not yet parents,} the appropriateness of the house and yard for a family.

Fast forward three years, pregnant again, and we're talking about moving somewhere flat, with a usable backyard and more practical home layout sometime in the future for the kids.

As in the two kids.

And then ... at thirteen weeks pregnant, BAM, twins.

The above mentioned property certainly wouldn't be suitable for three kids and was listed for sale in approximately two.point.five seconds.

And so, the search for a new, more appropriate home begun.

Hours spent trawling the web for houses with specific features in a reasonably large geographic area led us to visit as many open homes as we could one rainy Saturday morning.

Uninspired by what we had seen, we decided to take a chance on a property open for another ten minutes {with approximately ten minutes of travel time to get there} that only had photos of the outside and the floor plan on the web listing.

Did we assume it would be bad? Yes.

Was the location just about perfect for us? Yes

Excitement grew as we pulled up in the quiet cul-de-sac outside the home, eager at the prospect of finding a house in our dream location but also anticipating disappointment at yet another failed inspection.

This is just an example of what we stepped in to.

Surprisingly, we both agreed this was the best property we'd seen all morning.

We saw past the stained carpet, awful stench and damaged everything and instead visualised a fresh new home across the road from the river and within walking distance to the heart of Maroochydore and Cotton Tree. This was the life we imagined when we decided to move here.

A low offer, the sale of our current house and a massive renovation ahead were our only obstacles.

Or so we thought ...

Follow the renovation at #thebourkebuild on instagram