Sebastian’s Room Makeover

Last summer when Sebastian decided to upgrade his room (and his mom agreed to gift the project!) the family contacted me. I hadn’t worked with a 21 year old before so I wasn’t sure how it would flow, but Sebastian was eager to get started when I arrived and we dug in - sorting through the floor first, clearing some paths and getting rid of garbage. We soon had mounds of clothes, a miscellaneous bin… and access to his closet.

The closet - so many projects in one: relocating books to the bookcase, creating bins for sports equipment, hanging clothes and then sorting shoes. Shoes tend to be a quicker category, because we usually know whether we wear them or not, and in this case, Sebastian easily started making a bag of give-aways. After a few moments, however, I noticed one ratty pair tossed to the side.

“Umm”…I asked, “are these to throw away?” I saw him pause. 

“Well…” 

“You really like these don’t you? Tell me about them.” 

“They were my first skating shoes. I wore them all the time.” 

“Do you want to hang them up and look at them?”

Another pause… “Yeah, kind of… actually, sure!”

I handed him a shoe and as I demonstrated, we each rather energetically ripped out a blackened innersole.  I then held the pair up in a few spots around the room, and we landed on the empty space above his bed. The thumb tacks I had didn’t prove long enough, so we grabbed a hammer and nails.

Over the next few hours we made other changes to create a more “Sebastian” room: disposing of empty beer bottles and curating a more selective “collection” for display, hanging Sebastian’s original artwork and displaying Lego models on a shelf, and setting up an art section for easy access to materials. Sebastian’s room turned out great - more organized, streamlined, and simple, but my favorite thing about Sebastian’s room will always be the pair of black and white checked Vans nailed into the wall over his bed.