In 2011, The New York Times declared middle school lockers “the latest frontier in nesting.” Four years later, that trend seems to have remained in girls’ lockers.
Looking to exercise their creativity and create a little place in school completely of their own, plain metal lockers in schools throughout the country now feature rugs, wallpaper, mirrors, shelves, chandeliers, picture frames, makeup holders and pencil holders.
While some spend more than $100 on locker decorations, a quick Google search turns up bloggers with advice on how to decorate on a budget along with a variety of affordable options on sites such as eBay.
Tiffany Ivanovsky of MyLitter.com shows how to make a $17 locker look like a locker that cost $107 simply by buying most items at a dollar store. She claims her daughter and her daughter’s friends couldn’t tell the difference.
Another blogger, Laina Turner, noted how important locker decoration is.
“A plain locker in not acceptable today, and you know how much pressure there is in school to follow the trends,” she wrote on lainaturner.com. “Locker decorating with the middle school set is a top priority with the girls, not the boys.”
There’s even an entire shopping website dedicated to the art of locker decoration, lockerlookz.com. On the site, users can design their own locker with wallpaper, storage, flowers, rugs, lighting, mirrors, dry-erase boards, gem magnets and photo frames or shop for pieces individually.
The website’s mission statement says it all about why the trend has caught on: “to provide and deliver a creative environment with fun products that enable students to positively express their personality in educational and social settings.”
