The Pink Room Experience

My first experience with decorating I was actually a recipient, not a creator. I was 12 years old living in a 2 bedroom duplex with my mother and brother. My grandparents lived downstairs, and we lived upstairs since I was 5 years old. It was time to have my own room. My grandfather was a carpenter and built the addition onto the house. The den was going to be my brother's new room and I would get the bedroom.  Little did I know my grandfather and mother had already devised a plan of action.
My mother had purchased a bedroom suite of furniture, white with gold trim and antique pulls. While I was at school my grandfather painted my room, pink. A perfect shade of blush pink, my favorite color. They had put the furniture together previously and he placed it in my room. My grandmother waited for us to come home from school and brought us into her home for snacks. She was buying time to let my grandfather finish the room and my mother to come home from work. 
We didn't know the terminology then, but it was time for the reveal. I don't remember my reaction or what I said. I think I was in shock. I was completely surprised by the makeover. The pink color was perfect. The window that was boarded up was now fixed and letting in the sunlight. It almost made a sound when it reflected against the white vanity. 
This was done for me. The room reflected me. It was everything I wanted but didn't know I needed. With my 13th birthday quickly approaching, the refuge of my own space would prove to be a consent necessity. A space I could go to just be--me. Though Hurricane Katrina took away the physical room it will never take away that memory. I made sure my daughter had a similar moment. 
When I decorate a room the reward is the feeling someone gets when they walk into that room. To be the one that can create that feeling for someone, that is what drives me. If you have a space that isn't your refuge, a place to be you, I want to design that feeling for you.  ​Everyone should have a pink room experience.
                                                                                                                               ~gina t graham

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