A Newly Decorated Teenage Room in a Global Pandemic

Visual by Juliana Denrich

           A few poems and polaroids taped onto my wall. A display of my favorite books beside my bed. A pile of Dungeons and Dragons dice in a shadowbox. A handmade sign that read “make men wear shirts” that all my teachers and classmates could see during our online lectures. All these items were new additions to my room in March when quarantine first hit. Back then, in a naïve bliss, I assumed that I’d be stuck in my room for a few months at the most. So, I wanted a space that would brighten my mood. And the new additions did just this. For a few months. 

            By summer, I got bored of my room, and I desperately wanted to change it up. However, investing my time, energy, and money into a room makeover with only one year left before I would head off to college didn’t seem like the best decision. I thought I’d be back at school in-person in the fall. I would spend my time out of the house with friends, not my room. I could bear room décor that I was less than in love with for a little while longer, as long as I didn’t have to stare at it all day. 

            Here’s where the big twist comes in: online learning for the first six weeks (or more) of the school year. It turned out that I’d be spending much more time in my room than I anticipated. That meant a lot more time in a room that I didn’t think fit my personality anymore. As much as I wanted to live in la la land and pretend that I would return to a pre-Covid lifestyle when the school year started, I had to accept my frustrating fate of a senior year filled with zoom meetings that depended on good Wi-Fi. To get back into the swing of things, I needed to change up my room. 

            The polaroids, poems, and posters came down. A vinyl record display stand, a couple Pop Funko figurines, some camp mementoes, and a hanging tote bag emblazoned with the word “wordslut” on it filled the void left behind. I ordered some prints off Etsy to fill my walls: a neon sketch of roller skates, a vintage photograph of women roller skating to work, and a poster declaring support for the oxford comma. 

            My new décor felt more like me. Every corner of my room now shouted my love for Harley Quinn or alternative music or skating or my friends. It’s a room that I wouldn’t mind staying in for a while (which is good because I will have to stay in it for a long stretch into the foreseeable future). 

            By changing up my room, I let myself accept the fact that my adolescent years will look different than the teen movies advertised. My senior year will seem off. My 18th birthday won’t cumulate in a big celebration. My freshman year of college has no shape yet. So, instead of my room remaining as a space stuck in time, still hanging onto childhood while I become an adult, like most childhood bedrooms are, I adjusted it to my changing future. If I have to stay in my childhood bedroom for longer than other generations, I don’t want the space to remind me of what I’ve lost. If I spend time grieving everything that will change or that I will miss out on due to the pandemic, I’ll stay sad forever. My new room is a rainbow in a hurricane. A laugh in a crowd of tears. Or perhaps the most fitting metaphor is just reality: a newly decorated teenage room in the midst of a global pandemic. 

            Here are my tried and true tips for redecorating your room:

            1. Get lost in an Etsy wormhole. Fill that search bar with your favorite hobbies, colors, flowers, aesthetics. Then, enjoy scrolling past beautiful posters, tapestries, throw pillows, or whatever makes your heart content. 

            2. Collage. Take out old ticket stubs from movies (remember when we used to go to the movie theatre?), postcards, sketches, and photos you printed out and fill your walls with them. Use items that make you smile or you have wonderful memories associated with to ensure your room supplies that good vibes you so greatly deserve. 

            3. Create décor out of everyday items. You can hang up tote-bags, vinyl records, or jewelry to create one of a kind wall art. Arranging your favorite books by size or color can become a statement piece on your desk. You don’t need to go out and buy new items to change up your room. 

            4. Don’t be afraid to change it up. If after a few weeks, you realize that you aren’t as in love with the new changes as you’d thought you’d be, let yourself transform your room again. The pandemic’s end is not yet in sight, so you may be stuck in your room a lot longer. But look on the bright side: more chances to channel your inner interior designer.