What Your Bedroom Says About You
According to the United States Census Bureau, 140 million homes exist within the borders of America. The bedroom, the sacred chamber of a home, functions similarly to the heart of the human body. It pumps life into our households. We express ourselves, our habits, and our secrets in the bedroom. With an average of three bedrooms per household, roughly 46 million bedrooms uniquely represent the personality, customs, and styles of its inhabitants.
Picture the bedroom of the average 17-year-old, American girl. On the verge of womanhood, you might expect her to have posters, pictures of dear friends, and throw pillows scattered across her precious space. You might imagine a bay window, a messy desk, and scattered perfume bottles. Maybe she has a rug and a closet that could stand a good spring cleaning. The point is, we make assumptions about the spaces people create.
Naturally, we curate our space as a reflection of ourselves. While some appreciate bedroom design, others tend to instinctually disregard the physical representation of their rooms. Taking into account factors of age, privilege, and taste, our bedrooms transform as we grow older, gain experience, and transition into different versions of ourselves.
Take, for example, levels of cleanliness. Let’s say you are heading over to a crush’s house. When you finally enter their bedroom, a scene you’d probably imagined in your head before, it’s not what you expected. Before you, clothes litter an unswept floor – a representative mosaic of running late and indecisiveness. Empty cups line their nightstand, and the bed, although looking comfortable, is unmade and drooping sadly toward the ground. Depending on the type of person you are, you might turn around and never come back, or, you might take a deep breath, whispering to yourself, “thank god they’re just like me.”
Self-expression consists of preferences, memories, and experiences. Opinion and taste are subjective, ever-changing, and endless in possibility. Some people are natural collectors, their bedrooms reminiscent of ancient cabinets of curiosities, trinkets and wonders showcased as extensions of their personalities. Others crave simplicity, a set place for grounding and reflection, untouched by the chaos of our outside lives. Whether your bedroom is closed to the public or open for business, I think personal space is sacred.
If you were to twist the gold knob on my door and enter my bedroom, you’d see the current reflection of my life. This summer was transformative for my space, as I finally had to say goodbye to my childhood bedroom. Although I’m in my third year of college, I’ve clung to bits of a past version of myself, safely hibernating in the house of my youth. I had to sort through my entire room before loading up to come back to school. With every drawer cleaned out, I uncovered old memories and emotions. Dusty medals and old yearbooks threw me into unwarranted reflection, a brewing storm of conflicting feelings I didn’t know I had.
Now, my bedroom sits in uncharted territory. Although the same bed, furniture, and posters now fill my college house, I stare at my surroundings and find myself in a new situation. Together, these inanimate objects and I, sit in a period of waiting. We don’t know what’s next, where we will end up, or who will be the next person to judge this collective.
Our spaces are great representations of ourselves. No two bedrooms are the same, much like no two people are alike. Variations define who we are and aid us in creating connections. Whether you decorate or keep it simple, your bedroom is a sacred space. Treat it with love and grace, for
it is as unique as you. Be mindful of the spaces you visit, as it can help you get to know someone better. The absence of a blanket, the colorfulness of a wall, and even the objects left on a desk can reveal more than you might think.
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