For most of middle school, the walls of my room were a stark white, with little decoration. This was because, well, it wasn’t actually my room — I shared it with my two sisters. It was crowded, and although I didn’t hate it, I couldn’t personalize the place where I spent the most time. 

However, just before the pandemic, our house was remodeled and I finally got my own room. The walls were painted a light lavender, my favorite color, but other than that, they were bare — the complete opposite of my personality. 

I realized that I needed to make my room feel more like it was mine by displaying decor that showed my interests. The first step was deciding on a color theme. I wanted everything to be tied together no matter how different each piece of decor was. 

If you haven’t noticed from my bright teal water bottle and rainbow tie-dye backpack, I like my possessions to have splashes of vibrant colors. So I decided on a pastel rainbow palette for my room decor — colorful but not garish. I wanted an environment that satisfied my color taste but wasn’t too distracting. 

I began the decoration process by putting up pieces of art. One was a piece of an elephant standing in a rainbow watercolor sea that I painted in middle school, which I hung in one corner, where I could see it from my desk. It was perfect. I also placed a painting with a light pink and purple landscape that I recently did on a bookshelf. 

For another wall, I envisioned my name spread across the lavender canvas, and I decided to DIY it. I spent a recent morning drawing, decorating and tracing my name in one long string of cursive using cardstock. Each letter was a different pastel color with a unique pattern, like clouds, flowers or leaves. 

I kept the wall above my bed simple, decorating it with a string of periwinkle fairy lights that added a simple but illuminating accent. For bedding, I chose a lavender flower-patterned comforter, which matched my theme perfectly. 

I saved my favorite wall for last: my BTS wall! Over the pandemic, I became part of the BTS ARMY, and I knew I had to add a touch 一 or more 一 of that to my room. I started simple, sticking up the pastel blue, pink and purple toned BTS logo. I must’ve been destined to be a BTS fan — how else could the logo colors fit my theme so perfectly? 

I then proceeded to order a set of 12 BTS posters off Amazon. What? It was a great deal; each poster was less than a dollar, and the quality was great! I decided to only put a few posters up at a time and rotate them out every month or so, to keep things varied and interesting. They didn’t all fit the color theme of my room, but honestly, a dash of black or gray here and there doesn’t bother me too much. 

There you have it: a complete breakdown of my room decor, all centered around a simple pastel theme. I love how each thing represents my interests and is customized to my taste. Decorating my room allowed me to express my creativity in a space of my own, and feel like my room is, well, mine.