How to Make Your Room Emo

Paint your walls with caution. Though dark colors like black, purple and red are popular emo shades, they make a small space appear smaller, are difficult to paint over and verge on the point of overdoing the aesthetic. Instead, paint one accent wall, or hang a large vintage textile over the wall for color and texture.

Personalize your wall by painting a portion of it with blackboard paint, allowing you to write songs or poems on your wall to erase or keep. Opportunity to express emotion is key in making any room emo.

Visit thrift stores, resale shops and flea markets. Buy cheap furniture that can be painted (as an alternative to painting your walls), like a wicker chair that can be spray painted purple, or stock up on vintage vinyl albums to display. Search for items that express your interests, like broken guitars or antique lamps that can be used in multimedia art projects, or repaired and restored.

Hang keepsakes from indie shows, like posters of favorite bands. For emo literature fans, hang prints of Edgar Allen Poe, Sylvia Plath or Mary Shelley. Designate one wall for photos and cover it with pictures of friends, music magazine clippings or pop art. Emo gamers may want to add old Zelda posters or other sci-fi elements like a retro Dr. Who poster.

Create a theme to build your emo room around. Decorate your room with a Poe-inspired "raven" theme by hanging blackbird prints, painting "nevermore" above the door frame, or transferring a scan of the text to textile software to print fabric bearing blown-up words of the poem.

Pay homage to a brand, like Vans, by repeating the colors of your favorite pair throughout the room, or by devoting space to a mural-like display of photos of Van-shod feet. Sew a pillow from the uppers of old Vans, or paint the logo vertically on your closet door.