One of our most personal places to be are our bedrooms. This is where we go to rest and recover from our days at work, school or SOCIAL INTERACTIONS; a location where we hopefully feel safe enough to go to sleep and let our guards down as we rest our brains. It is a place where we keep our personal belongings and go to relax. This is why our rooms should be personalized and special to us. We should be able alter our rooms in ways that expresses our personality and let us feel like they are our own personal space. Unfortunately, this is not a luxury that many military brats are able to indulge in.
Military bases often do not allow any alterations to housing on base, and sometimes it seems pointless to try and make a personalized room when you know you are just going to have to pack up and leave in a little while anyway. However, having a place in which you can appreciate and express yourself is important. As a military brat, you don't really get much say in your life. You are tossed from place to place with constant changes that are far beyond your control. You should at least get some say in interior decorating.
I am a hypocrite. I don't believe I have ever really decorated my room before I moved to good old Maine. This is kind of a long term duty station (where my parents may retire) so my parents actually bought a house off-base. Now I've got a room I get decorate and enjoy for two years before I head off to college. Due to my lack of practice with making my room not be super boring, I didn't realize how much you can alter a room without making permanent changes. Here are some cool, fun ways that you can change up your room!
Lights
Rooms usually come with a ceiling light, or you can purchase a lamp to light your room. One fun way to change up your room is to get a light bulb a with unique color or type of light you enjoy. Stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, as well as online retailers, typically sell light bulbs in different colors that can easily be switched out. Another way to decorate with lights is fairy lights, LED lights, or other small lights like lava lamps. These lights can be purchased in cold and warm tones and sometimes different colors. Small table lamps, like lava lamps, are available in a plethora of styles and colors which lends creative privilege to the decorator.
Paint
Most bases will not you paint the walls in your house, although some do on one condition: you must repaint the room back to its original color prior to leaving the base. This whole process can be tiresome and costly. So if painting is something you can do and are interested in doing, consider painting a single wall. This wall can act as a "highlight" or feature wall. Bear in mind that lighter colors will be easier to paint over when the time comes to paint them back to their original color.
Posters/Pictures
Posters are another inexpensive, non-destructive way of decorating, and you can find so many different kinds. There are inspirational posters, posters of different locations around the world, posters of movies, novels, and TV shows, and posters of buildings, cars, and boats. Photos are also great to put up on your walls. Some people prefer polaroid pictures over normal printouts. Another option for photos to be printed on are canvas or aluminum (although these are more expensive options). Photos of old hometowns, friends, and far away family are great things to have as pictures up on your wall. Another option is wall stickers - there is a wide variety of stickers that are made specifically to put on the walls of a room without causing damage to the paint on the walls when the stickers are peeled off.
Rugs
Rugs are great because they are easy to move and won't be broken in the move like other furniture. Additionally, the house you move into may be chilly and have cold bedroom floors, so this will allow for a warmer floor. The color of the rug could also be paired with your bed sheets, so that it always matches even when you move houses.
These are just a few room decor suggestions to help make your new room feel like home. Good luck with your decorating!
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