Your private room is your own territory where you can be yourself without feeling like you have to stick to the rules, step out of line, and put your feet up and relax. This is the place where you don't have to belong to anything - no social groups, no work groups, no nothing. You belong to you, and that is how it should be. Why not let your room reflect you? Your personality? Your tastes and moods? This is the one place where you can do what you like, experiment, be creative, open up and stamp your style. So step outside the boundaries of convention if you want, get up and get going. Here are a few ideas on personalizing your most private space - your bedroom. Making Your Room About YOU Here are a few ideas for adding your personal touch to your bedroom. Hope you find a few that you like and can implement. Welcoming Note How about welcoming people to your room with a message recorded in your own voice? Sounds cool huh! You can do just that. Let people know they are entering your territory. Make the message suitable. If you are a people person, welcome them warmly, if you have a great sense of humor record a funny message, if you do not want people to enter your personal space, then record a 'stay out of my space' message! You can even choose who you want to allow in your room! Set it up in a way that this message plays whenever anyone opens the door to your room. You can also put up hand made signs on the door as regards your 'policy' about who should enter when! Great way to start off! Theme for Your Bedroom Instead of just randomly starting off with decorating your room, sit and plan it out in your mind or on paper first. If you are interested in any particular area say sports, music, books, planes, nature, etc., plan your room to reflect your interests and hobbies. You can also have a random theme if you want! Choose a theme that you can implement. Nautical themes, country themes, music themes, sports themes, sea themes, military themes, jungle themes, color themes, cockpit themes, pirate themes, and animal themes work great! You can get any theme that you can think of. Let your imagination run wild. Choosing the Colors You do not have to stick to tried and tested color themes, or limit yourself to a few colors. Try bold and cheerful colors. Colors affect our mood, so pick a color that you like, one that makes you happy and cheerful, and color your room with that. Let one wall be offset, to break the monotony. Pick a contrasting color for the offset wall, and try out different textures and patterns on that wall to give a little personality. Mix and match and create combinations. Lighting it Right Lighting can do wonders to enhance the ambiance of any place. The correct lighting will make you feel like never leaving your room, whereas the wrong type, boring and bad lighting will make you never want to enter! It all depends on which areas you want to focus on. If you have wall paintings, highlight them by placing sconces next to them, or by hanging up lanterns, and stringing fairy lights. Try different shapes and sizes of quirky lampshades, try hidden lighting or torn lighting concepts to get some amazing effects. Besides, you do not have to stick to normal white lights. Mood lighting is another concept that will add character to your room. Try out new things, rather than the same ol' boring lights. Posters and Photographs This is your room, so let it be all about 'I, Me and Myself' without any apologies! Put up your photographs, the pictures you have clicked, ones with your family and friends that are close to your heart. Put up a collage of such pictures on a wall, and make it stand out by framing them in dark frames and putting them against a light background. Put up posters of all the places that you have visited and let your room tell of your adventurous and exciting self. Else put up posters of your idols, or favorite bike, car, musical instrument, and whatever else you can think of. Wall Paintings and Drapes Wall paintings are good, but if you have paintings that you have painted yourself, better still. Put them up, display your talent. Drapes and curtains that go with your theme and color scheme can add a lot to the ambiance of your room. Make your room different from the rest of the house, so that it will stand out, because that is the point of this exercise! Add shimmery curtains around your bed framing it, or simply create a visual partition to separate the study area and relaxing area, if you have both in the same room. Graffiti Wall This is one of my favorite ideas. On one wall in your room, have a considerable part of the wall painted in oil paint, so that if you scribble on it with crayons or markers the marks can be wiped off easily. Now use this area to write whatever is on your mind! Daily. Add your current favorite book, song, thought, emotion, etc., paint on it, and if you so wish have your friends scribble on it too. It's a lot of fun, and you can have new graffiti everyday. Just your space on your wall! Furniture and Bookshelves Get funky furniture for your room, but also keep in mid to stick to your theme if you have picked one. Wicker or wood furniture looks great, and you can add beanbags, small stools or squats, or throw pillows. The wicker furniture you can paint, if you are feeling extra creative! And if you think you can, then try your hand at designing the furniture you want and get it custom made specially for your room! Book shelves are an important part and they come in so many creative designs that you will be spoiled for choice. Floating bookshelves, or the ones that double up as a bed or table are great, and they also save a lot of space. Also, rugs - area rugs, shag rugs - whichever, work great in breaking up the room into areas without actually having any partitions. Get a beautiful and bright rug for your room, and see the difference it makes. An open wardrobe will look smashing, as long as it is kept tidy and dust free! Decorate It Decorate your room, hang up your favorite stuff, put up quilted wall hangings, dream catchers, wind chimes, and instead of keeping your CDs in boxes, put them in plastic covers and string them above your music system, stick up posters of the college you want to go to, a country you want to visit, the car that you want to buy, and express your wishes and desires. Think of as many decorating ideas for your bedroom as you can and let go. Let your room talk, without you having to say a word! Comfort, Style and Budget Whatever you do, comfort comes first. Make sure that the furniture you have picked is comfortable for you. Keep it stylish and minimalist. And before you go and blitzkrieg your room, decide the budget and of course, stick to it! Your room is the place where you are going to relax after a hard day, so make it warm, inviting and homely. And when people come to your room, all they should say is, "This is so... You!", because that is what we are aiming for! Have fun!