In, William Finn’s song “Making a home” from the musical Falsettos, the female lead sings, “Books abound to show we read.” I’ve always laughed at this line because of Stephanie J. Block’s fabulous and Tony nominated portrayal of the character, Trina. But on the other hand, it speaks a truth about how the objects that are displayed and hidden in our room can convey our personalities and how we live. “We’re concerned with setting a tone,” she sings. What tone do I define my room by? What things do I choose to show and hide? How can I define myself on this blog without describing my room, the place I spend the most time in and get to make completely my own?
Recently, after binging the entirety of The Great Interior Design Challenge in my vacant homebody state, and spending a near six hours window shopping at Ikea, I had the brilliant idea of redecorating my room pop into my head. Of course, I didn’t have the budget for that, so all I ended up doing was moving around the furniture and objects I already had and buying cheap versions of what I needed, like shelves. But in the midst of doing so, I was able to sort through years worth of junk by using the KonMari method and kept the things that were important to me, said thank you and let go of the things that I don’t need, and displayed the items that spark joy.
The thing I always fidget with when I redecorate my room is my walls. I’ve had the same furniture set since I was a kid and there’s only so many arrangements I can put them in. But wall space, has always changed with every space that we moved to. I like to collect different papers and hang them on my walls. They usually match with whatever interest I have at the time.
An interest that has never faded is my obsession with souvenirs. I love buying them for family and friends, and I especially love when people remember to buy me something from their trips. It started with a snow globe magnet I got when I visited Scotland, and it has now escalated to figurines, stuffed toys, magnets, postcards and most recently a pin collection. I like postcards, but if there’s a program or a map, I’d take that too. Usually my luggage coming from a trip is filled with paper. For example, on display is a plant passport I got from the National Botanical Gardens in Washington. It’s something to keep kids busy but I thought it was pretty and grabbed it.
I also like to keep important ticket stubs in my Circle in the Square Theatre cup, even though they may be considered trash to other people. These objects are a great talking piece and remembrance of the fun I had on these trips.
If you guessed that a Playbill collection would be somewhere on this post, then you’re right, and know me so well by now! Playbills are programs that contain information about the theatre performance you’re watching. Each Playbill, even for the same show, changes all of the time, as you get new designs, signatures, and information inside. I used to have a whole wall dedicated to these Playbills, but their arrangement doesn’t spark the same joy as they once did. I’m trying to figure out how to better display them for another time where I get antsy and result to decorating. If you have any suggestions leave them in the comments!
For now, I have select Playbills scattered throughout my room like on the hanger on the left, the shelf in the 1st photo, and the wall photo later on this post. The rest are in a drawer. They’re on rotation of which ones spark joy at the current moment. Also, now that Taylor Swift’s Lover is out, I was able to score these posters from her deluxe album. I think the symmetry they bring with the polaroids and playbills look better than what was up there before.
Of course, like Trina, I have many books in my room. This isn’t my whole collection, just the ones I choose to display in my room because they’re cool. In all honesty, does anyone actually only display books they have actively read and like? I’m still trying to get better at not doing that.
Most of these books were bought in my last trip. Yes, I almost went over the luggage weight limit just to bring back a hardcover costume design textbook because it looked interesting. The only book here that I’ve actually finished reading is Lucy Worsley’s If Walls Could Talk. I’ve recommended this to every person I know! It’s a fascinating history book about the objects in a home, from toilets to beds, and how they came into popularity over time. The costume history book and Other People’s Love Letters are just there because they combine my favorite things, theatre, romance, and history. The others, like the Tagalog version of Harry Potter, have been started but not finished. It’s just not their time yet. Or maybe they’re destined to just be decoration.
My fashion sense is also something that really defines me. It’s something that I take great care of because for the longest time, that was my number one redeeming quality. There have been days where, if I can’t put together an outfit that I feel confident in, I just won’t leave the house. Over the past couple years, I’ve been overstuffing my closet with thrifted finds and fast fashion pieces. During the break, I got to do the full KonMari method of laying out all my clothes and putting aside those that didn’t spark joy or pieces that I didn’t see myself wearing in the future. Once that was over, I rearranged the way I hung up the clothes in my closet. I divided them into long dresses/jumpsuits, short dresses/rompers, shirts without sleeves, shirts with sleeves, and jackets. Similarly, I also divided the type of bottoms I have into their own drawers. Because while fashion is something important to me, I found that my old way of putting clothes up without order made it hard to put together outfits. Now I can see everything I have more clearly, and it feels like I have more stuff to work with than when this closet was 35% fuller with clothes.
One of my favorite things about rearranging my closet is now I have space to display two toys. The first is a Barbie doll. I bought it for my 8th birthday, when my uncle took me to Toys ‘R Us because it was the first doll I saw that was Asian. I didn’t play with it because it was too special, and I’m too old to play with Barbies now, but I don’t want to part with it yet. Ever since I moved, it’s just been on the floor, but now she and Baymax, a stuffed animal character from my favorite Disney movie, have their own designated spot to spark joy in me every time I open my closet.
My vanity is where I spend most of my time in my room, outside of laying in bed. This is where I get ready, where I sit and journal, and where I watch T.V.. It’s a multipurpose space that’s never going to be clean enough to ever post. Besides makeup, brushes, pens, and jewelry, I used to have a space there called my “spark joy corner.”
On the other hand, the space above my wall above my vanity is something I’ve wanted to fill for the longest time because it’s the most empty wall in my room. So to clear space on my desk, I hung up what was in my spark joy corner. Here I have some letters sent to me by friends and artists I admire. My favorite thing on here is a personalized playbill from Damon Daunno that my best friend got me. While cleaning my closet, I also found this portrait of me that was made when I was young. I think they imagined what I would look like when I was older. It barely looks like me but I still treasure it.
Whenever I feel sad or need encouragement, I look at these kind words and images sent to me to remind me that I’m important, wanted, and most of all, loved.
The furniture and things in my room are things that I’ve collected since I was a child. It’s amazing to see the ways I have decorated and incorporated the same pieces in my room throughout the years, through every stage of my life. My room reflects the interests I currently have. To me, the tone I try to achieve in my room is love. The things I love and things from people that love me.
Do you see any of the things in my room that I’ve talked about before on this blog?
Defining Angelika 