We parents carefully prepare our home environments for our babies and young children: we block the electrical outlets from tiny exploring fingers, install safety gates and locks, pad sharp corners, remove fragile objects, and supply step stools in bathrooms and kitchens to help small people reach the sink or the toothbrush. We may choose color schemes or artwork with kids in mind or buy small-scale tables and chairs where budding artists and writers can work in comfort. We do these things to help our children to become independent in their necessary exploration of their environment and self-care.
The same is true of our growing preteens and teenagers and their friends. Discovering their individuality is important, but so is forging friendships and finding their social identity. The popularity of online social sites such as Facebook and MySpace notwithstanding, teens still love to congregate in real space and time. They love to be in groups to laugh, watch movies, play games, listen to music, have serious and silly conversations – and of course, share food.
I’ve heard many a parent assert, “We really want our home to be the place where our kids’ friends want to come and hang out.” What does it take to create a teen-worthy environment that offers a haven from mall culture, drunk drivers, and unsupervised parties?
What it doesn’t necessarily take are hot tickets like the latest big screen HDTV home theater system, a hot tub off the backyard deck, or a regulation-size sport court. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those amenities. It’s just that most kids will appreciate it even if you offer a lot less, and so will your household budget, especially if you go with a “use what you have” decorating philosophy.
Paint and lighting
A few years ago, we upgraded our basement from musty black hole to only slightly dusty, pretty wholesome hangout. When I say “we” I mean that my husband and I hired professionals to wall off the laundry room and a storage area, install a staircase and railing that met the building code, and paint the basement floor and ceiling. For some families, however, this would have been a doable do-it-yourself project. The biggest impact came from installing halogen spotlights in a couple of areas and painting the walls white and the floor a neutral tan. (Your “green-minded” teen might appreciate low-VOC paint that eliminates many of the volatile, toxic chemical compounds released into the environment. Benjamin Moore offers many low-VOC color choices.) We threw down an old carpet section (also tan) with bound edges, courtesy of my in-laws, and voil, our shell.
Comfy seating in forgiving fabric
We put our serviceable 27-inch television, along with a VCR and DVD player, in our new space. We added a neighbor’s cast-off armchair (upholstered in brown velour), our own shabby-and-not-chic-but-comfy chair, also in a nondescript dark neutral, and bought a loveseat in a pebbly brown and white. Add: a foosball table, some bookshelves and lamps, floor pillows, and wall art courtesy of our very own resident artists (the kids) and Ikea discounts. You can also frame beautiful wallpaper remnants or hand-printed paper in plain frames for quick impact. For a splurge, check out the wallpaper murals at UrbanOutfitters.com; for $140 you can buy a kit with a beach scene, forest, city skyline, or map of the world.
Food glorious food
And lots of it. I don’t need to describe what kind of food teens like – most of it is junk food, but it’s better than beer. We often have on hand pop or lemonade, big bags of chips, baby carrots and dip, apples, ice cream, cookie dough, tortillas and cheese for quesadillas, and the makings for brownies or bars. I don’t care (much) if kids spill pop or grind potato chips into the furniture described above.
Helping your teens create an “our space” might be a fun family endeavor. You don’t even need a basement – if you have a porch, a bedroom, or a little-used guest room, consider a coat of paint, some garage sale bargains, and maybe some earplugs for when the kids descend.
Kris Berggren shares her space in Minneapolis with three kids, ages 11, 14, and 16, a husband, a dog, and a cat.
