As a teenager, I spend most of the time in my bedroom, especially since quarantine. Surprisingly, I’m not mad about it. I’ve found that adorning my room with fun items and filling it with things that make me happy have an overall effect on my mood. After all, you do practically everything in your room, so might as well make it fun and pretty. Below are five tips on how to turn a boring bedroom into a fun, personal space that you’ll never want to leave.
1. Adorn it with things that you actually like
I often see people decorate their rooms based on what is trending. For example, everyone has vibey and colorful led lights right now. But make your room your own, unique vibe! Essentially, there’s no blueprint to decorating your room even if interior designers say otherwise. If you think your collection of postcards is cool, then it’s cool! Display it on your desk loud and proud.
For me, I’ve always been obsessed with Halloween, so I make sure that there are spooky notes in my room year-round. I have what I call my little witch corner where I have set up a white mirror and have laid special items on the floor: a cat lamp, a tiny red witch book of spells that my best friend got me, a skeleton man along with a skeleton hand, and a cheetah trunk.
2. Get inspiration from people you think are cool
A lot of my room inspiration comes from Pinterest. It’s fun to see how other girls decorate their room and take tips from there, whether that’s how they arranged photos on their wall or what type of bedding they have.
I also find that looking at coming of age movies and the teenage bedrooms in those is a good way to pull inspiration for your bedroom. One of my absolute favorites is Lady Bird. Scribbled names of boys she’s had crushes on, a homemade class president campaign poster, and a “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone” sign grace her walls. Not that I have any crushes’ names to write on my wall right now, but I will keep that in mind the next time I do.
Think of your favorite movies or television shows and try to take inspiration from the bedrooms. I took a twist on writing on the wall and painted a little sign of my own to go on my bathroom door.
3. Don’t be afraid of pattern
I watch a lot of Million Dollar Listings L.A. on Bravo and one of the realtors Josh Flagg, oftentimes describes L.A. homes as “white boxes.” I find that many times, people take this minimalism a step too far and decorate their rooms white everything to the point where it actually looks like a white box. To that, I say don’t be afraid of pattern and color. I have to admit, I do wear black every day, but when it comes to my room environment, pops of color and pattern balances it out.
Cheetah print!!! I know it’s a trend now, but my mom has decorated with and worn leopard and cheetah since I was little. At this point, it’s more like a basic in our home and wardrobe. I have a perfect cheetah upholstery chair from Pier 1 that I’ve had for about 10 years. It sits at my desk vanity and pairs perfectly with my new cheetah luggage box also from Pier 1.
Old lady florals! Lately, I’ve been obsessed with cottage core and I love a good classic wallpaper floral. I got the perfect floral quilt on Amazon to cover my new queen-sized bed. If I could have this pattern and make it my wallpaper for my room, I would! It makes me feel like I live in a little cottage where I make pies and pick wildflowers from my garden.
4. Keep it practical
I’m an avid reader of fashion magazines and I have so many that I found the best place to put them is on a bookshelf (I got mine from Ikea). My bookshelf is against an empty corner wall and, I have to say, it adds some character to my bedroom. Along with my Vogue magazines, I have some fun little knick-knacks that include, such as a gold skull, a snowglobe with a picture of me and my friends in it, a lavender diffuser, and an Eiffel tower piggy bank.
I’m sure you’ve heard somewhere that mirrors make a room appear bigger and I think they do. I added a big antique-looking mirror to my desk and now it looks more like a vanity, which is something I’ve always wanted. With the mirror, I think the desk doubles as a place to take zoom calls and a place to do my makeup – although I like to sit in front of my witch corner and do my makeup also.
On the left side of my desk sits my favorite perfume of all time, Flowerbomb by Viktor and Rolf, along with a small trinket tray with even more designer perfumes on it (I’m obsessed with perfume). I have a bouquet of pink roses and a picture of my cat in a gold frame to keep my perfumes company.
On the right side of my desk is my small prayer sanctuary. It keeps me sane. There lies some Jesus candles, a guardian angel candle, an angel jewelry holder that my grandma got for me from the cathedral, and prayer cards with my favorite women including Our Lady of Guadalupe and Blessed Mary Angela. Occasionally, I’ll light those candles and say a prayer of gratitude.
5. Wall art never hurts
In almost every teenager or young adult’s room, you’ll easily find photos of favorite bands, models, album covers, movies, and shows. I made a mood board if you will with a wooden corkboard that I bought from Micheal’s and some printed-out photos that I found from Pinterest. Essentially, make it YOU, your vibe, your mood, your favorites and constantly change it up or add to it as you please!
I chose to keep my wall art to a minimum and added a focal point framed painting above my desk of a classy lady! My family used to have the painting in our powder room and it’s been around for over a decade.
What are you waiting for? Add whatever your little heart desires to your bedroom to make it yours. Get to decorating and thank you for reading!