Roommates masterfully prank friend, turn his bedroom into utility closet

[Man’s bedroom is turned into utility closet by roommates/Reddit/Sal_Marin]

Sometimes you return from a trip to find everything exactly as you left it. Other times, you come home to find your bedroom has been turned into a utility closet. Literally.

That’s what happened to Reddit user Sal_Marin, whose roommates decided it would be a funny to construct an extremely realistic utility closet around the doorway to his bedroom.

[Man’s bedroom is turned into utility closet by roommates/Reddit/Sal_Marin]

Sal_Marin posted photos of the result to Reddit, and it is, in a word, convincing. The bedroom door opens into a what appears to be a janitor’s closet, complete with a glaring bare lightbulb and dangling string. There’s also a stack of empty egg cartons in the corner, and the apparently drywalled walls have been hung with black and white magazine clippings, the kind an old school janitor might hang.

All together a top-notch prank, and one that says had poor Sal_Marin completely flummoxed. In a comment, he describes his reaction:

“Totally fazed. I was jet-lagged as all get out. I stared at the slightly ajar door, absolutely stunned and immobilized. My girlfriend had to push open the door to reveal the magic.”

[Man’s bedroom is turned into utility closet by roommates/Reddit/Sal_Marin]

How did this magical prank come into being? Sal_Marin explains that he lives in a house full of mechanics — bike mechanics in Minneapolis, judging by another Reddit post — and they’ve got many of the items on hand to produce a mock closet just to freak out a friend.

The roomies weren’t the only ones who got a kick out of the stunt. Sal_Marin explains:

“Funny enough, the facilities maintenance worker was doing some kitchen work at the same time and was STOKED by this. He even bought more drywall compound to help!”

[Here’s how they did it/Reddit/Sal_Marin]

The prank has also proved popular online: the photos were only posted 12 hours ago and have already been viewed close to a million times.

So will there be retribution for these hijinks? All signs point to yes, or as Sal_Marin puts it:

“This is the first serve in what I imagine will be a few volleys.”