Palatine teen fighting leukemia gets her bedroom makeover

For the first 10 seconds after Feyza Yazar opened the door to her new bedroom, she was at a loss for words. Her old room, with its hot pink walls and overlarge bed, was gone, and in its place was a bright, stylish room that looked like it came straight out of a magazine.

The makeover, complete with a new bed, vanity, desk and closet, was designed, donated and built by a group of Chicago-area Coldwell Banker employees through a nonprofit called Special Spaces.

Feyza gave some input into what she wanted the room to look like - including selecting the shade of light aqua that now covers the walls and many decorations - but she said it exceeded her hopes.

"It's better than I imagined it would be, honestly," Feyza said. "I don't know how to describe it. I guess just happiness, a lot of happiness, and it's so bright and I love it. That's all I can say."

The nonprofit organization creates "dream" bedrooms for children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Feyza, 16, was recently diagnosed with leukemia and is undergoing chemotherapy and treatment.

Sitting on her new day bed next to her brother, Mehmet, Feyza said that before Tuesday there wasn't enough space in her room to have friends over.

"It's much more friendly toward having a lot more people in my room instead of just sitting downstairs, because I want to hang out in my room more," she said.

Those people may include her big brother.

"I'm happy for her. It's a great room," Mehmet, 21, said. "I think it is the best room in the house now."

The room was assembled Tuesday by a team of 12 volunteers from Coldwell Banker who painted over the once-pink walls, removed a broken ceiling fan, installed shelves, laid out decorations, hung decorative picture frames and assembled three pieces of furniture - one without the help of an instructions sheet - all before Feyza, her brother and their mother, Hatun, came home at 4:30 p.m.

As Feyza took her first steps into her new room, the volunteers crowded around the hallway and looked on with wide smiles, almost as excited as she was.

"The best part is the reveal," said Ronna Streiff, a volunteer from Vernon Hills. "It makes everything worthwhile."

Amy Eiduke, the director of the local Special Spaces chapter, said the group focuses on bedrooms because it is the most personal space for the children and teens they help.

"We want it to be about them," said Eiduke, who is also works for Coldwell Banker. "What they dream of."

For Feyza, that meant a bright, neat room that by the end of the day most of the volunteers said they'd love to have themselves.

"It looks like it's out of a magazine," said Chris Brasier, a volunteer from Long Grove. "I think we all want this room."

The group from Coldwell Banker does around four bedrooms per year in the Chicago area.

The organization's Facebook page is "Special Spaces Chicagoland." For more information about the Coldwell Banker Charitable Foundation, visit www.givehousing.com, and to learn more about Special Spaces, visit www.specialspaceschicagoland.org.