apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would so rock a Kirk Cameron poster right now, haha.

My teenage bedroom didn't change after I was 12, so I lived in a constant state of light purple walls, horse posters, horse show ribbons, and even more purple. Purple, ponies, and Rosie the Riveter. I like to think that I'm a little more grown up now...

in my old bedroom I had painted the walls a pale blue and then used a navy glaze which I "shmooshed" on with saran wrap.... and although my tastes have definitely changed since then, it looked fantastically cool and it was friend central for quite some time. Those were the days...

I painted a life size mural of an Iron Maiden album cover with Eddie rising from the grave on my wall. I liked the art. Didn't even know the music, and was otherwise a well-adjusted young lady. My mom thought it was funny and was proud of my talent so she would bring her friends up to see it. They all thought I was nuts- and my mom nuts-er for letting me do it. Eventually I repainted beige. Me and my mom regretted it. Uch. I hate beige.

I had a hammock strung diagonally across my room and the bed, and always some sort of creative project or two going on. You're right, there is a lot of freedom of expression and comfort in a teenager's bedroom.

Two words: cable television.

I used an opaque projector to paint Lichtenstein's Drowning Girl on my wall. My teenage heart knew I needed to dial down the class, so I surrounded it with chili lights and pictures of Everclear (the band). There was a mattress on the floor and glow-in-the dark stars... maybe a lava lamp? I'm not sure. I loved it.

I love the first point, to let your wall décor reflect what you love. The first time I read it thought, "Well, duh, everyone knows that," but then I stopped and thought about it. Too many people, myself included, have art on their walls that is lovely, well-proportioned, color-coordinated, and goes with the rest of the room, but is absolutely impersonal. Starting today, I'm going to look at each piece I have and consider how it reflects me, and if I really love it or not. Thanks for the inspiration!

i think i let that spirit live in my closet. i've always treated my closet like a room (and been lucky enough to have biggish closets). i paint them, tack up museum brochures, photos, magazine clippings. it's a bit more "mature", or perhaps organized is a better word, than my teenage bedroom, but it's my place to let all that just be.

This is what I miss most about my teenage room. It's hard when you live with another person in a small space, even if it's someone you love very much, to have the freedom of expression that you would if you were by yourself. If I had my way entirely, I would collect all sorts of pictures that inspire me in some way and stick them all over the walls. However, the wall decor must reflect "us", and not just me. So I miss the ability to decorate spontaneously.

I think that to this day my favorite bedroom of all time is the one I had from 8th grade through my first year of college (though I did not live at home during college). It had china blue walls and my mom painted the wood floors with pink and white stripes. My bed had a pretty floral quilt that we bought in one of our favorite places, Northeast Harbor, ME and I had a rug that my mom brought back from France that was white, red, green, blue, pink and yellow striped (much more cohesive than it sounds, trust me). I had a big bulletin board on the wall where I put up pictures of friends and party invitations, school play programs etc. I even had a light green antique desk (shabby chic but in the real way, not 'I painted something from Target and then chipped away the paint with a hammer') and a white wicker chair in the corner. It sounds very crazy and mismatched but when I think of home, I think of that room. I don't think I will ever be able to recreate it.

I had an entire wall devoted to Stevie Nicks. My teenage bedroom was my sanctuary. My parents let me do pretty much what I wanted to with the decor. Honestly, no other place makes me feel as good and comforted as that bedroom made me feel back then.

I had some transformations.. the one I remember well, was doing "NY skyline" - I sprayed black over yellowish (for windows) and dark blue (for sky) - it was really cool.
After awhile I painted three walls dirty navy blue (effect of my experiments with white paint and blue/black dye) and one on one wall I glued using the same paint pieces of newspapers. I must say, it was damn awesome :D
The newspapers get yellow pretty fast unfortunately.
I also had in one top corner attached three big branches... I still like decorating using branches and roots.

But for sure I am not as brave as I was 15 years ago! and it's not entirely bad ;-)

I had white Christmas lights strung across the low ceiling of my basement bedroom and orange, pink, or blue (depending on when I decided to change them) strung on the headboard of my antique bed and above my antique vanity. I loved the cozy ambiant glow...and would love to be able to re-create that feeling in a "grown up" way in my bedroom now as a married woman.

PhoebeArt - that looks VERY familiar!

http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h18/headrushfiction/house/?action=view&current=inside004.jpg

I painted my own text posters, and did a blow-up of the logo for the movie Pretty in Pink. Ah, the Eighties...

There is no way that room was designed by a teenager. I refuse to believe it. The table scape on the dresser? Ha ha ha ha. He whipped that up after study hall, did he?

I'm guessing the mom has a bit more input than is being admitted here. "got him to clean up a bit"? Oh AT, sometimes you just make me chuckle.

My teenager room consisted of jim morrison, beatles, bob marley, and pink floyd posters. I still have them and I still absolutly love them!

My teenage bedroom had a bunk bed frame for the bed--I used the upper part for hanging purses and jackets that were in rotation. The walls in one corner were for tacking up comic strips i had cut out of newspapers. The area above my bed and by my door were for movie and book quotes I had done in calligraphy. ("Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something." William Goldman, The Princess Bride.)

I also had an old chair (as someone mentioned above, it was genuine shabby) which I painted over with poster paints in wild colors. I think the seat was red, the outer posts yellow, the inner posts purple, and the legs blue. This was my nightstand. It looked pretty neat because the glossy white paint underneath gave the poster paints an interesting glow.

Instead of shades I would paint pictures on my windows and, now and again, remove them with a paint scraper to change them.

All in all, I would have to say my sense of style was to have a riot all over the walls. It looked like a portfolio full of papers and clipped comics had exploded.

i used to shuffle my bedroom furniture around all of the time into different configurations