Black is Back

Sandy Rettschlag

3 years ago

bedroom My childhood room was nothing too dynamic in my opinion; One problem was that it was never just “my” room. I always had to share with a sibling. It started out with me sharing my room with my older sister. That was interesting as she never wanted me to touch any of her things, much less her clothes (I did do a lot of sneaking her sweaters though!) I’m sure that was one reason I spent a lot of time in Judy’s, my younger sibling’s room. We had a lot of fun in her room playing and goofing around. This was something that I was never allowed to do in “my” room. Because it seemed that I was in Judy’s room so much my mom (I really think my older sister, Kathy, requested this), changed our bedrooms. So I now shared with Judy and Kathy had her own room. (still didn’t stop me from sharing her sweaters!!!) We actually physically changed rooms. Judy and I shared the larger room and Kathy had the smaller room which had been Judy’s to start with.

This room was not too dramatic, but I suppose back then it was nice. Since I like to decorate I was always trying to change the furniture around. After a built-in bookshelf, desk, and vanity were installed this limited the possibilities of rearranging dramatically. The color was a soft pink with white furniture, white frilly curtains, and the usual girly things. Now that I was physically removed from my older sister’s room she got to do some fun things in her “own” area. Now, remember this was back then, and she actually painted her furniture BLACK. Her walls were a deeper pink. She actually had a black bedspread which my mom had to dye several times to get it dark enough. (Boy, compared to today’s options where the sky’s the limit) just think of the fun she could have had decorating a really fabulous space.

Well, I did spend a lot of time in our “my” room due to the fact that I was an adventurous child and was sent to my bedroom on many occasions. This was a total punishment because in my room there was no TV, computer games, or stereo (oh yea, when I shared with my older sister we actually had a stereo and would go to sleep listening to Barry Manilow and others while going to sleep). My room just had a bed, dressers, rugs, and curtains. My room was meant for sleeping!!! A real negative of sharing a room is the lack of closet space. Judy’s and my room had one rather small closet which needed to house both of our clothes. I don’t think any of my grandchildren’s clothes would fit in this small closet alone.

I have NEVER had a bedroom of my own. First, it was with Kathy, then Judy, and then I got married and actually shared it with my husband.

I actually love to decorate bedrooms and have had fun doing this with my two daughters and helping with grandchildren’s rooms. The sky’s the limit until you start getting their opinion on what they like!!! This really cramps my style.

That being said, I think my favorite controversial room that I decorated was what I call my “black” room. This was my oldest daughter, Lisa’s, room when she was home. Due to the lighting of the room and the location I always wanted to do it in black. She refused to let me do it, so, when she left for college, wah-lah, her room is now black!!