eau d¡¯bedroom dancing
posted by HearHere at 1:29 PM on September 15 [4 favorites]

Oh how I wish I had photos of my bedroom in high school. Before we moved into the house I spent my high school years in, my stepdad got permission from the landlord to paint me and my sister's bedrooms whatever colour we wanted. I opted for a rich teal; my sister opted for something that was more reddish-pink, IIRC. It didn't matter because those walls were covered in magazine pages, CD inserts, poetry typed on the behemoth typewriter my mom gave me, Mardi Gras beads, photos of friends, and on one wall two gigantic band posters bought at the only cool record store in Greenville SC (RIP Manifest): one of the stick man from Pearl Jam, the other one was The Cure. As the years went on, more shit was added. Oh god, I loved my room so much. It was shelter, it was retreat, it was everything.

From Lost Souls by Billy Martin (formerly PZB), a novel that was a core part of my teenage identity, he describes our teenage protagonist's room as: "All the objects here, all the pencil drawings on the walls and pictures cut out of obscure music magazines and secret lists in notebooks, wove a web of power around him."
posted by Kitteh at 1:32 PM on September 15 [5 favorites]

Yeah I worked really hard on my sick ass bedroom as a teen. I had a lot of weird stuff up - honestly I'm super curious what my folks did with some of my posters...I had this Residents poster or one very much like it in a prominent place, and I'd be interested in having it back. But I also had my own photography and a lot of random ephemera I found and liked...I feel like my kids have little impulse to decorate in the same way. I wonder if they just aren't that age yet, or if one's room just doesn't occupy the same space in the self expression teenage landscape as it used to.
posted by potrzebie at 2:32 PM on September 15 [2 favorites]

The New Yorker also did a piece about Salinger's photos earlier this summer.
posted by gwint at 5:11 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

When I ran out of room for posters and flyers on the walls, I started putting them on the ceiling. These are so great.
posted by migurski at 8:57 PM on September 15 [3 favorites]

I really enjoy seeing and remembering the lack of mass-produced furniture/decor. It's so sparse-looking compared to today.
posted by unknowncommand at 3:06 AM on September 16 [3 favorites]

Man, I loved my teen room. It was an apartment, so I wasn't allowed to paint the walls... so of course, I used oil paints to make paintings on the walls. (That's totally different, right?) Knock of Nagel copies in Payne's Grey by Yours Truly. I had a stereo and a massive LP and singles collection, Japanese posters for western bands, and instead of a bed, a couch. It felt so cool, and so personal, and I've never had a room since then that made me feel like it was mine.
posted by headspace at 9:40 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Oh wow, I had this book as a kid (probably still do) and I loved looking through it!
posted by trillian at 6:22 PM on September 17

You are not currently logged in. Log in or create a new account to post comments.