The Star Wars Room

The smallest bedroom in our house is our Star Wars room. The walls and ceiling are painted black. White, yellow, and blue Christmas lights cover the ceiling and the upper half of the walls to simulate far away stars. The main light in the room was a 30" diameter Death Star. The bed was a TIE Fighter - here's a picture of my wife holding the foot board:


Miniature TIE Fighters and Star Destroyers hung from the ceiling.

We designed it to be Brian's room. He's as much of a Star Wars fan as I am, but Brian moved into a larger bedroom when it became available a few years ago. Julie moved into the Star Wars room when she moved back in with us but she and her boyfriend have been in their own apartment for a year.

The Star Wars room has been empty since then. It's become the place the kids store their stuff after they move out.

My wife and I have been repainting it this week. Yes, a blind man with a paint brush is every bit as goofy as you imagine. Some of the paint even ended up where it was supposed to be! Since the room started black I couldn't see anything when we began but we've got a coat of white primer on the walls and ceiling so now I can barely see anything - a big step up from not seeing at all. The black power outlets and light switches will be replaced with new off-white ones we bought as soon as the final coat of paint is dry and a new light fixture just like all the other ones in the house is on the kitchen counter waiting to be installed.

Moving is always bittersweet but painting the Star Wars room hurts. It was a shrine to my childhood and a bonding point for Brian and I. It had personality in a way that a suburban bedroom just lacks. The kids helped my wife and I paint little stars and planets on the black walls. We didn't just buy the room along with the house, we customized every single bit of it. It felt ours in a way that can't be bought and can only be earned.

And we're stealing all of its personality, replacing it with sterile whiteness and inoffensive, boring, cookie cutter sameness. Because that's what home buyers expect.

Yeah, I get it. Star Wars is Brian's and my thing. A Death Star light fixture isn't a selling point in 2022, and even if a family of Star Wars fanatics bought this place it still would be our creativity and our paint brushes that built the room and the TIE Fighter bed frame. I understand it has to go because it subtracts from the home's value.

But it added value to the home for Brian and I.

Ben and my wife picked the colors for the kitchen cabinets and the hardwood flooring. They chose the appliances, the bathroom tile, the countertops, and the light fixtures. I was happy to let them make those choices - nobody's ever accused me of being color coordinated before. But when it came to Brian's bedroom I made the decisions.

The room was as much my gift to Brian as it was a shrine to my childhood.

I'm going to miss it.

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