A girl's bedroom is extremely important to her growing up. A girl's bedroom has to be the epitome of cool, the best hangout ever, and be an extension of herself. I remember watching TV shows and movies growing up and always paying close attention to the bedrooms (Ferris Bueller, Princess Mia, and Drake and Josh's bedrooms were amongst my favorites). I wanted to know how big the character's room was, the color scheme, what posters were on the wall, everything. I wanted a cool TV bedroom. Chances are, the room was the epitome of cool, the best hangout ever, and simply an extension of that character.
My room was not cool. The walls of my room are bright yellow then halfway through my adolescence I changed the color scheme of my bedroom to hot pink and black. Sadly, the walls did not change from the horrendous yellow. My favorite color is purple so there are also some hues of purple around too. There's a couch from my dad's bachelor days and I consider a record player a vital piece of furniture. Yikes.
This winter break I decided to do a quick and dirty redecorating of my bedroom. I come home each break and get rid of more and more shit (usually just clothes), but this break was different. I opened every dresser, desk, and jewelry case drawer and got rid of things that had been sitting there since before I started high school. I stripped the walls of magazine clippings, threw away notebooks that had both scribbled math and love notes on the same page. I got rid of books I hadn't read in ages (bye, "Twilight") and CDs of artists I no longer care about (keeping the Jonas Brothers CDs though). I got rid of ugly picture frames and weird mementos from when I was a baby.
Not only does my room sport four different colors, it's also exceptionally cluttered for a room so large. In my room I have packed a double bed, nightstand, dresser, a couch older than me, an antique desk, two bookcases, a jewelry case, and a bin for records. There's always shoes everywhere, stains on the carpet from said shoes, and there's even a burn mark on the carpet where I accidentally started a fire. My room is also blatantly stereotypical with colored Christmas lights around the mirror, pictures of rockstars, and multiple "Harry Potter" posters. How old am I? Yikes.
While doing my quick and dirty redecorating I played the game "Would I Bring This to an Apartment Once I Moved Out?" Would I really bring this picture of Julian Casablancas wearing a "Ghostbusters" shirt from 2003? It doesn't matter if I have the same shirt, trash. A young adult novel about growing up, trash. A t-shirt from middle school which has the name of every asshole I graduated with, trash. I stuffed my scrapbooks and stuffed animals into my closet and finally bought frames for the artwork my friends have painted and drawn for me over the years and my room started to look like a 20-something lived there.
There are still a few childish keepsakes that survived the cleaning binge like my Iron Man bobble head and Captain Jack Sparrow snow globe and I'm okay with that. There is no reason for me to redecorate the bedroom I have in my parents' home at the age of 20. I believe this is what people call their "childhood bedroom." Should I have left my room the way it was? Should I have left the tacky zebra print comforter and terrible young adult novels where they were? In another 20 years am I going to remember I was once a "Twilight" fan? I really just moved around my possessions that were left behind to different shelves, got rid of a lot, and put things I want to keep in the closet. It's too late for me to have my dream bedroom from when I was growing up and the most I can do at this point is to try to adult-tify the space that's no longer really mine.
A bedroom, like a person, evolves. I donated my "Twilight" books because I don't like "Twilight" anymore. I kept my vintage typewriter and framed poster of "Harry Potter" because I consider those some of my prized possessions and something I will likely keep forever. I also have an impressive collection of cameras and music that isn't going anywhere. It's because I evolved as a person. Cameras and typewriters and music are a part of my room because a girl's bedroom is just an extension of herself.