As a teen, I could decorate my room for hours upon end. All you had to do was give me scissors, tape, a stack of magazines (preferably YM, Teen People, or Seventeen), cue up Z100, and I was set. It started with a couple of ads––Kate Moss for Calvin Klein, Versace decadence, and Steve Madden circa those slinky platform sandals. Soon, it got to the point where you'd never suspect that, underneath it all, there was dainty floral wallpaper tastefully chosen by my mother's decorator. Frantic for white space, I tackled my bedroom furniture, window sills, and ceiling, plastering them with more images, postcards, and stickers. Even the ceiling fixture looked entirely unacceptable without Mardi Gras beads and other junk dangling from its curved brass arms.
It's safe to say that, number one, my taste has since evolved; number two, a ton of teenagers think of their personal space as their own world in the same way. So when the OC team heard about two teens, EMMA ORLOW and former OCTV intern Emily Cohn, and their Do Not Enter Diaries project that tells the stories of adolescents through their bedrooms, we were over the moon. Here, the two besties interview each other about their spaces, being a teen in the digital age, and more.
Emily Cohn: How has the Internet shaped the way you have found aesthetic inspiration?
Emma Orlow: Finding inspiration is not unlike stumbling upon something in a magazine editorial that resonates with you, or taking note of someone’s outfit when you’re walking down the street. The difference, for me, is that with a quick click on the Internet, I can serendipitously come across communities of people who share my same interests in things like Portlandia or feminism, which many people at school would not care to talk about. It sounds counterintuitive, but a lot of content on the Internet is also very natural. So when it comes to bringing that inspiration back into my own bedroom, I prefer the more D.I.Y. side of it.
EC: Is there anything in your room now (or in the past) that you are embarrassed by?
EO: Since middle school, when I began to make decorating my room a hobby, I haven't really changed anything in my space—I’ve only added to the kaleidoscope of color that fills my little world. Sure, there are stuffed animals strewn around but I can’t remove them from the space because they are just as much hallmarks of my teenage experience as the things in my room that catalog where I'm at currently. The only thing that embarrassed me when I was younger was the cream-colored walls, but I’ve since had my way with them, covering them entirely with collages.
EC: What do you think your teenage bedroom will look like in 20 years?
EO: Hopefully exactly the same as it looks when I graduate high school.
EC: If the Internet broke down and you were locked in your room for 24 hours, what would you do?
EO: Use my imagination, write a memoir, draw, and read In Search of J.D. Salinger by Ian Hamilton, which I have been meaning to do for a while now anyway. But I do these types of things in my room even when the Internet isn't broken.
EC: What do you think the teen bedrooms of the future will look like?
EO: Bedroooms? Teenagers of the future will just live in their computers. Just kidding. I think that in general, over the last couple of decades, teenagers' bedrooms visually h
It's safe to say that, number one, my taste has since evolved; number two, a ton of teenagers think of their personal space as their own world in the same way. So when the OC team heard about two teens, EMMA ORLOW and former OCTV intern Emily Cohn, and their Do Not Enter Diaries project that tells the stories of adolescents through their bedrooms, we were over the moon. Here, the two besties interview each other about their spaces, being a teen in the digital age, and more.
Emily Cohn: How has the Internet shaped the way you have found aesthetic inspiration?
Emma Orlow: Finding inspiration is not unlike stumbling upon something in a magazine editorial that resonates with you, or taking note of someone’s outfit when you’re walking down the street. The difference, for me, is that with a quick click on the Internet, I can serendipitously come across communities of people who share my same interests in things like Portlandia or feminism, which many people at school would not care to talk about. It sounds counterintuitive, but a lot of content on the Internet is also very natural. So when it comes to bringing that inspiration back into my own bedroom, I prefer the more D.I.Y. side of it.
EC: Is there anything in your room now (or in the past) that you are embarrassed by?
EO: Since middle school, when I began to make decorating my room a hobby, I haven't really changed anything in my space—I’ve only added to the kaleidoscope of color that fills my little world. Sure, there are stuffed animals strewn around but I can’t remove them from the space because they are just as much hallmarks of my teenage experience as the things in my room that catalog where I'm at currently. The only thing that embarrassed me when I was younger was the cream-colored walls, but I’ve since had my way with them, covering them entirely with collages.
EC: What do you think your teenage bedroom will look like in 20 years?
EO: Hopefully exactly the same as it looks when I graduate high school.
EC: If the Internet broke down and you were locked in your room for 24 hours, what would you do?
EO: Use my imagination, write a memoir, draw, and read In Search of J.D. Salinger by Ian Hamilton, which I have been meaning to do for a while now anyway. But I do these types of things in my room even when the Internet isn't broken.
EC: What do you think the teen bedrooms of the future will look like?
EO: Bedroooms? Teenagers of the future will just live in their computers. Just kidding. I think that in general, over the last couple of decades, teenagers' bedrooms visually h