Lucia Thomas | Staff Illustrator

Growing up, my dad and I would often go to random open houses on the weekends. Surely, no one considered the 9-year-old in floral leggings and three headbands to be a prospective buyer (nor the dad loudly making comments about the landscaping we should copy in our yard, for that matter). But our nosy duo lived for this. To be able to peek inside a stranger’s home and see the museum of their life? It was a gold mine!

Homes are a tangible reflection of the people who live inside. When friends (or the friendly neighborhood 9-year-old) come by, your home reveals what you like and how you see yourself. More than that, it’s an ode to all things you. Being at home means getting to be in a rejuvenating space specifically personalized for you by you. The objects, walls, furniture, smell — all of it lives and breathes who you are.

Even before we sign the lifelong mortgage or settle into our forever home, we should treat our rooms along the way with this same emotional investment. We deserve a space to come home to where we can sink into the couch (or lofted twin XL bed), look at the walls, and immediately feel ourselves. This hunch of mine is backed up by an army of research findings. 

According to the 2023 American Time Use Survey, we spend a lot of time at home. On average, we sleep there for more than eight hours. Then, we cook and clean for a little less than three hours. Then, we just hang out for close to four hours (you know, the part of the day where you initiate the doom scroll marathon or the weekly TV binge or the friend debrief). While not necessarily all of these activities are at our house, they’re usually at someone’s. Meaning, we spend more than half a day at home. 

If you look to your left, you’ll see a cluster of behavioral scientists and psychologists, both past and present, waving a big poster that says “Home is where the heart is” in all caps. Social psychologists have even coined a term, “Place Attachment Theory,” that summarizes this phenomenon. The more we personalize a space, the more emotionally stable we feel. As trivial as it may seem, putting up our posters, choosing a duvet in our favorite color, and tossing a throw pillow here and there leads to a slew of positive emotional outcomes, including a stronger sense of belonging, increased comfort, and simply feeling more connected. 

Personalizing our spaces also helps us express ourselves without bounds. At home, we can do whatever and be whoever we want. Social psychologist Mark Snyder has studied how channeling our likes, preferences, values, and traits into our homes helps us improve our self-esteem and grasp of who we are. 

Like most students, I came to college with massive duffels containing my identity at home. On move-in day, I taped up who I was on the wall, using putty to attach photos of my high school friends, posters of my favorite paintings, and a bulletin board of keepsakes to my dorm’s interior. As an extremely nostalgic person, I’ve held onto every single one of these original flaps of paper. Even saying that sounds reductive. These colorful images and illustrations are way more than paper; they’re the most tangible extension of myself. 

When I was first adjusting to college, coming home to a room that was so clearly mine put me at ease. Seeing versions of myself from baby photos to homecoming pictures on the wall reminded me of the growth I had already been through and the potential of what was to come. The comfort of this room, however new, helped me nurse the blues of homesickness and gain a sense of belonging early on.

Now as a senior, this pile of tchotchkes has erupted. Over the past four years, I’ve saved everything from little notes passed in class to birthday cards mailed from my hometown friends to a shrine to Lebron James that one of my favorite professors crafted for me (we don’t have enough time to get into this one). 

Without fail, whenever a friend or neighbor enters my home for the first time, they comment on the decor. They point out the scale of everything taped up to my wall, the adorable clay magnets my roommate hand-painted, and the sheer colorfulness of everything. I’m not sharing these compliments to toot my own interior designer horn (but if you’re clapping, I won’t stop you). The truth is anyone can do this. 

We all have the keepsakes we look back on. Maybe they’re in a dusty corner or scrunched in the background of a drawer. They deserve some airtime! This is me challenging you to throw them on a wall and let them see the light of day. If you’ve tossed them out or lost them in time, you can still recreate their essence. I’ve used my WashU printing credit more than once to print out everything from drawings of my favorite cartoon characters to cutouts of celebrity alumni from LaGuardia High School (another one of my interests we don’t have time to delve into).

In my writing class this semester, one of the first things we did was to make a collage of things that help us feel confident. I listed quotes from my favorite books, drew stick figure recreations of my closest friends, and printed out generational family photos. Hastily gluing and cutting away filled me with a sense of contentment and comfort in the midst of a hectic school day.

When I got home, I realized the poster-sized collage was a microcosm of my whole house. Both were exhibits in the museum of things I care about. What a treat to bask in the joy of creating and resting in that exhibit all while sharing it with the visitors of my life. Maybe one day, I’ll open my doors to the rest of the world so they too can sneak a peek. I wonder if any 9-year-olds are allegedly looking to buy.