Designing my chamber

Someone once asked me if I would rather live in a city, coastal town, mountain range, countryside or cabin in the woods. My answer to that question is this: all of them, at once, simultaneously… somehow.

During the summer, I want my room to be blue and white, with hints of yellow and shell paraphernalia all over. When fall comes, I am drawn to earth tones: shades of brown, green and orange. And so on. Sometimes, I crave the sleek aesthetic of a minimalist room. Other times, I yearn for an almost claustrophobic maximalist room, full of random trinkets and posters that cover every inch of the walls. Of course, I can’t completely remake my room every time a new season turns or when my mood changes.

My favorite part of visiting someone’s house for the first time is seeing their bedroom because it’s often very personalized — like a preview into who they are and what they like. For a long time, I was very curious how people curated their rooms in a way that felt so perfectly catered to them without unraveling into complete disarray.

My room at home is an accumulation of my teenage years, and I will probably never change it again. It honestly feels wrong to do so. In any case, I haven’t had to decorate a room from scratch since I was about twelve, and for that my parents did most of the heavy lifting. I just added 30+ posters of Harry Styles and other favorite singers or movies, as well as some other random decor items that I’d gathered over the years. So as you can imagine, coming to college and having to figure out how to decorate my room from square one was very difficult.

Some of my friends choose to just leave their rooms kind of simple, putting up a few lights and maybe a poster or two, and that’s it. I figured since I’m going to be here for a while, I might as well personalize it as much as I can and try to make it feel homey.

One thing about me is I love adding a pop of color to everything. If I am wearing a simple outfit like jeans and a white top, I’ll always add a colorful statement piece, whether it’s my shoes or a fun hair clip. Likewise, I tried to take the same approach with my dorm room, incorporating as much color as I could without it becoming discordant.

Aside from the posters and bedding, which add a lot to the color by themselves, I decided to experiment a little bit with some random decor items.

The first piece is a light green shell container I bought during a trip to Aruba. I grew up in a relatively coastal town, and summer has been my favorite season, so I like to bring a bit of the beach with me wherever I go. I put some of my chunkier beaded necklaces in this container, but if you know me, I love shopping, so it quickly overflowed. This was actually unintentional, but I felt that letting the necklaces spill out a little bit would give it a more natural flair.

The second piece was a five-dollar heart-shaped tray I bought from Marshalls. I have a lot more space in my room this year, so the tray no longer served a purpose, but I still wanted to incorporate it. I had a small blue turtle from a beach town I visited, and I thought it would look cool if I placed that on the tray and made it “swim” through my star-shaped hair clips.

I also have a wide range of interests and random hobbies, so I found a way to fuse those into my room as well. I printed out a bunch of small posters of my favorite movies, musical artists and best friends, as well as pretty pictures from my Pinterest boards and photographs I took myself. Every photo on my walls has a specific meaning to me, and I find it comforting to just stop and stare at them once in a while. Plus, I absolutely hate empty walls, so I filled the space as much as I could.

Alongside the photos, I added one of my small paintings, some flowers, books, my guitar and some fall decorations. I always make sure to have warm or colorful lighting so my main sources of light come from my fairy lights, lamp and orange leaf lights.The bleak overhead light feels stark and cold, so I never turn it on. During the day, sunlight fills my room, and at night, lamps and string lights create a warm and comfortable vibe.

My room offers a small glimpse into who I am and what I like. I’m a very nostalgic and creative person, and everything in my room either serves as a reminder of what I care about, pieces from past experiences or random crafts I came up with on a slow day. My room is my safe haven. A piece of me.

Giuliana is a sophomore majoring in Film and Media Studies with a minor in Marketing and Communications from Long Island, N.Y.