Mom Before Mom: My Childhood Bedroom

Growing up, we lived in the same house from the time I was about 18 months old until I was 18 years old and my parents left Providence for Smithfield. It was a three-story home, and we lived on the first floor. My bedroom was the one in the middle, right across the hallway from where the kitchen ended and the hallway began, diagonally across from the bathroom. 

As I got older, I was known for wanting to rearrange my bedroom furniture, driving my parents a bit crazy sometimes. The layout that I most recall is pictured below, which I think was probably elementary and middle school. At some point I also had the bed under the window, because I thought that was cool, but that was later in high school, just before we moved. 

I had a beautiful bedroom set, but eventually convinced my parents to let me get rid of my headboard because I wanted to be shabby chic and cool. My desk had a Brother word processor on it that used those lovely, nearly extinct 3.5″ floppy disks. It was at that desk that I learned how to type, with my mother’s old Gregg’s Typing Manual propped up next to me, learning to type with the proper fingers on the proper keys. That typing manual was an invaluable tool, and it created a very strong basis for my current lightning typing skills. Thanks mom/grandma!

Outside my window there as a huge tree that stood taller than the house, full and gorgeous and providing perfect shade for my room, which, as the middle room in the house, got quite warm in the summer. Unfortunately, Hurricane Gloria decided to take my favorite tree down in 1985. I will never forget that day, seeing this giant root ball from the tree right outside my window. How that tree didn’t fall on anyone’s house or garage I will never know. It fell perfectly between our house and the neighbor’s damaging the fence and a few shingles on the garage roof, that was it. And it made for a fabulous playhouse for a few days until it was cut into pieces. 

But I digress.

I am a child of the late 80s and early 90s, being born in 1977. The walls of my bedroom were a white/gray paneling, and I had a drop ceiling. The ceiling was awesome for hanging things – I could hang light items by a paper clip, simply bending it around the metal support pieces. Oh, and it was also a great place to hide things up and away from little brothers. My walls were decorated with various posters and items over the years — Michael Jackson, New Kids on the Block, ripped out pages from various teen magazines of the time. 

I remember that the floor was carpeted, but the color is escaping me. I couldn’t wait to get out of that room when my parents moved, mainly to escape the paneling that I couldn’t put any nails through to hang things! I remember having my very 1980s boom box under the window of my room, playing my Madonna, Bryan Adams, and Tiffany tapes. And I recall having  an actual record player in my room, and listening to my parents’ Bruce Springsteen Live: 1975-1985 albums, Born in the U.S.A., Billy Ocean, and more. 

When we moved into the new house in Smithfield, and before we painted, I moved into a smurf-blue room. I then realized that white paneling wasn’t so bad after all. But the upgrade to a full size bed was worth the blue room (it was painted eventually, don’t worry). 

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This post is part of a wonderful series created and hosted by Carla at All of Me…Now, to encourage us to write about our lives before we were “just mom.” Join in, and link up on Saturdays, or just find more great stories of wonderful women and who they were before they were mothers.

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