Annika Gho

Combining my wall prints and Polaroids above my bed replaced the boring ambience of my room.

If I were to try to describe my bedroom in one word, it would be  “basic.” My smallish 12 x 10 space offers off-white walls, drawers and windows. And let’s just say it wouldn’t win any awards for interior design or creativity. 

Tired of my blank, ordinary room, I recently set out on a mission to transform it into something much more comfortable. After all, bedrooms are more than for sleep and work; one’s environment can also greatly impact one’s mood and productivity. 

Writing on the website Medicinal-Media, Psychologist Dr. Joel Frank explained how the three most powerful interior design aspects are color choice, light temperature and space plan, and they can have a profound effect on one’s mental health.

Here are the two main problems I needed to fix to make my environment Pinterest-worthy. 

No. 1: I needed a clearer distinction between my relaxation area and my workspace. My queen bed, right beside my desk, always tempted me to neglect my APUSH textbook readings and take a nap instead. 

No. 2: My room didn’t have a consistent aesthetic and contained mismatched items like a wooden bulletin board and a cinema light box on the same wall. 

In my head, I envisioned Boho minimalist vibes, with patterned rugs, twine, wooden decor and plants overflowing from clay pots. Boho minimalism is all about being organic, with earthy tones and natural lighting. 

To fix the mismatched-ness of the space, I took advantage of various objects from minimalism, modern and farmhouse aesthetics by dividing them into distinct areas in my room. In my workspace, I added bright colors from my periwinkle journal, wood-like browns of my desk and refreshing green succulents to visually stimulate my brain.

In contrast, my relaxing corner and my bed side of the room became a primarily black and cream palette. My posters and wall prints have a black frame, while my bed frame is a farmhouse styled cream color. 

When scrolling through Pinterest, my feed had suggested fake ivy, candles and string lights for a typical teen girl bedroom, but I decided to include my own DIY twist. I hate the idea of having a jungle of leaves hanging from my ceiling, so I opted for succulents and potted plants. Thankfully, I had a wide array of options, proudly sponsored by my mother’s ongoing plant obsession. I also tried using string lights, but their rainbow colors resulted in a Christmas-like vibe — definitely not what I was going for. Instead, I moved the Polaroids of my friends and family onto my walls to fill the empty space above. 

Wall prints also helped elevate the style and ambiance of my room. I repurposed misprinted music sheets from my stack of scratch paper and printed out cute posters with motivational quotes from Pinterest, such as “What if it does work out?” or “It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.”

Now that I have a room that is fully optimized for comfort (and studying), I can attest that redesigning your room is worth it. By adding simple decor and finding a coherent theme, my room actually now looks exciting for once. Maybe my room isn’t a front-page feature on Architectural Digest, but it is now a balanced environment where I can be disciplined in my studies while also enjoying myself.