As you enter the
room, you are presented with a grotto. Fairy lights cast shadows across the
various band posters and frozen smiles captured in photographs cover the walls.
It would appear a full suitcase decided to take it’s own life here some days ago,
spattering it’s contents across every surface. A stack of papers followed suit
shortly after. Half-drunk cups of tea and a hint of incense create a strange
sweet aroma. This is my home, my personality embodied in a two by four meter
room.
Although we
sentimentalize our childhood environments, as adults many question the
significance of having a space to call our own, or the wider importance of
architecture. Skepticism of interior design is common; what really is the
significance of curtain colour or sofa size? It doesn’t help that there are
hugely negative connotations attached with valuing appearances and aesthetic,
because we associate these qualities with vanity and superficiality.
Personally, an increasing fear that I will adopt an entirely materialist
paradigm drives me to spend my money on experiences rather than objects, but I
still struggle to cleanse my environment of impractical sentimental hindrances
and find myself going into credit card debt for the sake of Liz Willoughby-Martin
prints.
Ancient Greek
Philosopher Epictetus asks; ‘If you really understand what governs the
universe, how can you yearn for bits of stone and pretty rock?’ It seems an
inappropriate subject to broach with his distraught best friend, whose house
has just burnt down, but the question holds value all the same. To survive all
you really need is warmth, food, sunlight, and a comfortable enough pile of
leaves to get your recommended eight hours a night. Countless religious figures
have cleansed themselves of distractions and possessions in order to achieve
some higher appreciation of life. So why do we hold onto so much crap? If peace
is found in simplicity, why I do sleep better after a cup of tea and an episode
of Friends in a room lit by candles?
Maybe this
desirable sense of peace is found through a practical employment of space,
rather than a personal. One of my greatest frustrations is beautiful but
impractical furniture. Easily-jammed draws and a bora-ridden rack fail to
contain my clothing, my desk is too small and I only have one bloody power
socket. How am I ever to charge my laptop, phone, ipod, and kindle while
listening to my record player and radio simultaneously?! These small
inconveniences make my life a little trickier than they could be, but I don’t
think that that’s why I dislike them. I think I dislike them because the excess
clothes strewn around the room and the visible power chords make my personal
space feel chaotic when it should act as a refuge, a place of peace.
Perhaps we should
simply rejoice in the fact that happy coincidences reconcile the practical with
the beautiful sometimes. The house has windows to let in light, but also to
allow us to look out over the valley while we eat our breakfast. The ceilings
have lighting fixtures to hold light bulbs, but these also present a wonderful
opportunity for a tasseled lampshade, or somewhere to hang streamers on
someone’s birthday. The doors help muffle the sounds of flat mates making 3am
toasties, but also provide a sense of undisturbed serenity and privacy. The
locks on those doors keep out thieves, but more often are employed to simply
allow us to choose to spend time alone when we need it.
So how do we
create a space we love being in within the confines of a student flat
environment? Ninth wave online, in their article ‘Life, Space and the Energy of
your Mind,’ (not even kidding,) recommend four steps for creating the space you
want to reflect who you are;
1) Live with what you love,
2) Make sure
everything around you is safe and comfortable,
3) Express yourself creatively
and
4) Organize everything,
which translates into keeping your space clear,
safe, clean, comfortable, and personal, all of which I can get behind. If
you’re looking for a one step solution, just head down to Japan city, get some
lanterns and some plywood animals, which you can express your creativity by
assembling, but will also brighten up your space! #craftnight
What your room
says about you to others is of course also a concern, we’ve all had our parents
accidentally see the nude calendar in the lounge, or had to laugh off a stack
of cups by the bed. To counter this issue I return to the words of misc. Health
teacher circa 2009, ‘If someone doesn’t like you for who you are then they
might not be someone you want to have sex with anyway,’ so you probably needn’t
worry about what other people think of your bedroom, you’re the one who has to
spend time in it, and even then you might be mostly unconscious.
Having a personal space
that we feel we belong in is a lot more important than a logical critique would
suggest therefore, and is relatively easy to achieve. I will adamantly rejoice
in my messy bedroom, and I will love the things that seem silly to hold on to.
I would ask you to review your space, and how you use it, and endeavor to
create a place where you feel entirely yourself, and not the person your
parents or employer or partner want you to be. This reads as an awfully
philosophical way to justify how rarely I tidy my room, but seriously, pin
ticket stubs to your walls, hang posters and photos and dream catchers, keep
your teddy bears and childhood books and postcards, because your room reflects
who you are, and, as the environmental equivalent of a vacant facial
expression, there is nothing more dull than an empty space.
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