Photo: Courtesy of Subjects
Our teenage bedrooms are early canvases for who we are, who we want to be, or whom we might become. We’re a fan of the band on the poster, or the rebel who stole the street sign, or the kind of artsy girl who doodles all her friends. In New York, where space is precious and rooms are more likely to be shared, teenagers sometimes turn up their décor to set their side apart from a sister’s bed, a mom’s desk, or even the family dining set. We talked to teens across the city about how they use their rooms and why they look the way they do.
Cassius
16, 11th grade
Our apartment is a one-bedroom, and my parents sleep in the living room on a Murphy bed. I have a MIDI keyboard and some headphones and a little stand where I put my computer. I like to produce music and make beats. When I auditioned for La Guardia for technical theater, I had to create a soundscape to evoke the feeling of night. I used a bunch of ominous sounds and dark chords and added strange accents — almost like creating a score for a movie.
Daisy
16, 11th grade
My bedroom is eight-by-nine feet, and the ceilings are under five feet. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland and I’m this big Alice in this little space. My friends say it feels like a treehouse. I study drama, and I’ll usually sing and dance in the living room. But I feel like I can get my other homework done better in my little nest.
Kieran
13, eighth grade
Both my parents passed away when I was younger, and my mom chose Alice and Anna and their kid, Olympia, to be the family I lived with. Alice was one of the first people to hold me when I was a baby. She’s a minimalist, and I’m kind of the opposite. I like posters. I like collecting animal bones. I make 3-D kandi bracelets: Sometimes I’ll be stressed and I don’t want to talk to anybody and I’ll sit at my desk and I’ll play my music and I’ll just do beads. I covered my arms with them for a costume for my drag class at Brooklyn Arts Exchange after school.
Chloe
13, eighth grade
I feel like a true dancer whenever I have on that tutu from my ballet recital for Swan Lake. Whenever I have free time, I put on my pointe shoes and practice. In my room, I have a picture of Misty Copeland. I chose it because she’s a Black ballerina like me. And I have a picture of Beyoncé because she is my queen.
Frida
16, 11th grade
Around COVID, we spent so much time in our room. I felt so done with the stuffed animals and pink walls, which is why it’s kind of minimal. We needed an eye rest.
Bianca
13, ninth grade
We used to have bunny wallpaper and took that off, too. Our parents are very extravagant. They have a lot of paintings and things on the walls and little things from thrift stores. I like to play volleyball, and I wish I could practice in here. But when I do, sometimes the lights break.
Simon
16, 11th grade
We renovated the room while I was at camp in 2024. Blue has always been my favorite color, and it was my idea to include the basketball hoop. I have a lot of energy, and I like to play basketball in my room. My neighbors downstairs don’t really care, so I can pretty much do it whenever I want.
Truman
16, 12th grade
I’m a software engineer at my high school, so I study programming. I really love retro games, and I have lots of old Game Boys; one is from 1989. My biggest project right now is a medieval fantasy game for Game Boy. I made all the art myself in my own style. I also create my own artwork to make into charms and stickers, and I sell them with my mom.
Rocco
13, eighth grade
I share a room with my little sister. She’s 7. I have the top bunk. I’m into surfing, and at one point there was a surfboard behind my bed. We go a couple times every week during the summer. I’ve been surfing since I was like 8 at Beach 102 with Black Surfing Rockaway. I got into jazz this year. I play trumpet and drums and have a gig this week for a wedding.
Freddy
17, 12th grade
This used to be my sister’s room, but then we switched. When a newer friend comes over, they often want to look into my closet and see if there’s anything they want to trade for or buy off me. I used to be a lot more into fashion. I was a big fan of Margiela and a bunch of Japanese designers. Now I just like to look more normal, I guess.
The picture of dogs playing poker is from a night two years ago. Me and some of my friends went to a park in Brooklyn to just chill at some benches. I saw this kid across the park holding it, and I bought it off him. Then I was just carrying this thing on the train home. This one old lady asked me which dog I would be. I said, “This guy, this one in the corner.” He is kind of tucked away in the shadows, but I feel like he is definitely winning the game.
Nina
13, eighth grade
I’m not entirely sure when I started decorating my mirror, but it started with a sticker. I’ve struggled with body image and being able to look at myself in a mirror, and seeing reminders of all these people that care about me is really meaningful. I also put a quote from Looking for Alaska: “I go to seek a great perhaps.” I moved to New York when I was 9. I hated my parents for it. Now I’m grateful.
Shula
13, eighth grade
Our apartment has two bedrooms, and for a while me and my sister shared a room. She’s almost 17 now, and I moved into the living room last summer. It’s really small, but mostly I really like it. I listen to music a lot here. Apple Music says I spent 11,264 minutes in May listening. My record player has Bluetooth, so I can use it with my headphones while my family is here. But my mom likes my music; I’ve gotten her into it. We also like to watch Love Island with my sister.
Lucy
13, eighth grade
I’m a very big reader. I started reading in the window because my room can get stuffy. Outside the window there’s a fire escape, and you can kind of hear the middle school around the corner. I’ll take my bearded dragon out of his habitat and put him on the windowsill and every once in a while I’ll forget he’s there and he’ll wander around the house. I sometimes zone out. I put a hot-air balloon on the poster above my bed that describes me because it shows how my head’s sometimes in the sky.
Asha
14, ninth grade
I’m really into debate, and I have a bunch of awards. I also really enjoy writing. I journal almost every day about how my day’s been and if I had any big emotions. It just helps me, I guess, understand myself. And I’m also kind of hoping that if aliens ever take over Earth, they’ll decipher my journals and figure out who I am and who these humans are or whatever. I have a bunch of band posters on my wall — one for the Linda Lindas, for Pinkshift, and for Ado, who is from Japan. The embroidery of the peacock is by my great grandmother from Pakistan, who also made the dolls over my desk. My family is Muslim, and above the door there’s the Hand of Fatima, the blue hand with Arabic verses from the Quran.
Ruby
13, ninth grade
I play guitar every day. I have two electric guitars, Fenders. Me and my friend did “Say It Ain’t So,” by Weezer, for the talent show. After school, I work at a record shop that’s a couple blocks away. I check people out or look up prices or put the booklets into the jewel cases. I’m paid in CDs. At the store, I find a lot of music I would never find on Spotify. I also get more excited about listening to it. I like to lie on my bed and listen with my CD player over there. I love the rock music from the ’90s and the 2000s, like I was born at the wrong time. My teachers used to say I’m like a millennial.
Helena
19, college sophomore
I’ve had friends come into my room and say it’s “hoarding chic.” I put up every single student MetroCard that I got, a license plate I found. I stole the massive “No Smoking” sign off the front of an apartment building. The “Wet Paint” sign is from Vassar, where I go to college. My parents keep threatening to take back my room. My mom wants an office, and my dad jokes he’s going to put in a sauna.
Photographs by Courtesy of the subject
