In My Room

Not gonna lie. I loved my room as a teenager. It was one of my favorite places to be. My own veritable escape filled with music, magazines, and method to my madness!

My parents allowed me some creative freedom and, I swear, rearranging my room was almost an obsession! Okay, a little exaggerated, but at one point in less than a year I changed my room around 5 or 6 times. Even the inside of my cabinets, drawers, and closets were neat and tidy! Everything had its place. It's easy to do when really the only responsiblity I had at the time was school or, after graduation, a part-time job and helping around the house. Which was easy, by the way, because my penchant for fastidiousness is a direct result of the example lead by my mom and dad. Our home was juuuust about dustless and clutter-free. Often they'd get comments that their home was straight out of a Better Homes and Garden magazine. My parents are very firm and direct, but they never ruled with an iron-fist. They loved us in a very cheeseless fashion. I believe along with your shoes, you'd have to leave the mush at the door. Haha! *ahem* Moving on... I had my share of teen angst, but I never hated my parents. I was in no rush to move out for sure. Definitely not with the space I created for myself.

L-R from the center of my room.
The last photo (bottom right) is of the closet doors, which takes up
most of that wall. The rest of the wall is seen in the first photo (top left).
Yes, there's a 21 Jump Street poster framed in the top right pic.
In the same photo under the window are two "Family Trees of Rock"
posters. The trees are made up of band and artist names
throughout music history. That doohickey hung above the switch
in the first photo (top left) by the door is a remote control answering
machine made for the inside of a school locker. I wanted it for
my room so my fam can leave messages for me. Haha!

Though I wasn't alive in the 60's, I was very much a fan of the music of the 60's, especially The Monkees and the Beatles. Note the hand-crafted Monkees and Beatles signs you see on the wall in the center photos! Drew them babies on ply wood, cut 'em, sanded 'em, painted 'em. I also created those little 45's out of cardboard and paint (the records in the net, for the less "seasoned" peeps). Labor of love, I tell ya! You can see the larger images by clicking on the photo. Believe me. It's better that way. We had that TV for yeeeaaars and instead of throwing it out I asked if I could have it in my room.

You can see the trend here was red, black, and white. Things just sort of happened that way so when I asked to paint one wall, I chose grey. Nice muted color to tie it all together, I thought. My parents even allowed me to paint the graphics you see on the closet doors. Um. If you can't tell, the one on the left is "peace" and on the right is a palm tree. I know... random. In junior high, I built that tiny wooden shelf just below the window with the help of my dad.

At some point I acquired a futon from a friend, which I loved! It was cool to be that low to the floor without actually sleeping on the floor. At times I'd have it folded up into a couch, too. I repurposed one of those old milk crates as a really short night stand. I painted it black (it was blue) and placed a storage case for cassettes on top. Yes, I did say cassettes. On the opposite side I repurposed those bins, too, and used it as shelves. Cool thing is nothing could fall off.

Taken at two different times...I didn't

have two of the same Porsche posters.

The placement on my cork board was very deliberate. I'd display ticket stubs, favorite photos, images of things I wanted, drawings I'd done, that sort of thing. Almost like a "Vision Board". These days my more mature versions of my old cork board are shadowbox frames. Oh, and that liquor bottle was empty. I actually got it that way (no, really). I tend to be pretty sentimental so I'd keep odd things as mementos of people or events. Aaaaand obviously at the time these pics were taken I was a big Paula Abdul fan. Straight up.

Now I'm all grown up (debateable) in a home of my own with a family of my own and I still have those decorative, creative, uber right-brained tendencies. I don't have to have expensive things, but they will have their place. And I will put every bit of our home to use. Aesthetics with practicality and functionality are FTW! It's always a little tough to let go of many of the things I held on to in my teen years (or even now), but I've also always appreciated change. Apparently at least 5-6 times a year!

"In My Room"

The Beach Boys
1964

There's a world where I can go

and tell my secrets to

In my room...

In this world I lock out all my

worries and my fears

In my room...

Do my dreaming and my scheming,

lie awake and pray

Do my crying and my sighing,

laugh at yesterday

Now it's dark and I'm alone

but I won't be afraid

In my room...


♠