# Is your old room a shrine? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549 "2014-02-28T21:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/1 "2014-02-28T21:58:56Z")
When you left your childhood home (assuming you have) and headed out into the wide world to seek your fortune, did your folks keep your bedroom exactly as you left it? Did they repurpose it? Did they move and not tell you?? I joined the Navy, and I’m pretty sure that as soon as they got home after taking me to the airport for boot camp, my sisters starting moving furniture around so that the sister I shared the room with took over the smaller bedroom for herself and the other 2 sisters moved into the slightly larger one that I used to share. When I’d go back to visit, I was consigned to the fold-out couch in the basement. Right after our daughter left for college, we moved 800 miles away (yes, we told her… 😛 ) so there was no room to enshrine for her. We do have her childhood bedroom furniture, only because she wanted something newer and we wanted \*anything \*for our guest room, so we bought her some new pieces and took her old stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/2 "2014-02-28T22:01:51Z")
My parents were divorced when I was 10. While I was in basic training they BOTH moved. Luckily they both gave me the new address or I might have taken it personally 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/3 "2014-02-28T22:05:10Z")
Nope, it’s the guest room/office. My brother’s old room is the sewing/crafts room. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/4 "2014-02-28T22:07:29Z")
My parents moved, so it’s somebody else’s room now. I did take (and still have and use) some of the furniture out of it. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/5 "2014-02-28T22:10:14Z")
Nope. They made it into a (second) guest room. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/6 "2014-02-28T22:11:45Z")
I shared a room with my brother so it very quickly became his room. When my sister moved in with her fiance, my mom turned her room into a guest room and so now, that’s where I stay when I visit. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/7 "2014-02-28T22:38:13Z")
I happen to have been in my childhood room just a couple of weeks ago, after 20 years away, and took pictures, because it’s as I left it : [[Album] My bedroom, 20 years later ![](https://i.imgur.com/eM2vlos.jpeg?fb "My bedroom, 20 years later") ](https://imgur.com/a/g8qvB#0) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/8 "2014-02-28T22:48:08Z")
The Shrine Effect seems pretty rare in real life (on tv the character’s room is always a shrine, unless there’s a joke about how it isn’t). I only know of one personally - her room looks exactly the same as it did in her teens, and she’s 50 now. Her brother’s room as well. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/9 "2014-02-28T22:57:23Z")
Not at all… when I left for college, my little brother jumped at the chance to move into a bigger room, and unceremoniously moved all my crap into his little tiny room, and stole all the spare change I had sitting around in the bargain. Now my parents have moved into a different house, so none of the rooms in that house were ever mine or my brother’s anyway, since we were both adults by that point. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/10 "2014-02-28T23:08:04Z")
I’m an only child and I left home 10 years ago. My parents left my old room as I left it for many years, but gradually, changes crept in. My mom moved her computer in there, then some stuff for storage. And then she was dusting and noticed some weathering of items, and with my blessing, they tossed them out. But that spurred a cleaning, which led to more things being trashed and moved. They just dumped my old bed last year (it was falling apart). Only about half the room is how I left it now. ---
**Author:** ![bubba001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f17d59/32.png) [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/11 "2014-02-28T23:19:09Z")
Nope. One brother moved in almost immediately. Then my parents sold that place a couple years later. I really couldn’t go home again! ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/12 "2014-02-28T23:38:58Z")
My folks sold the house and moved out of the country. But my mother’s room still has all her stuff. Year books, furniture (including a now 60 year old mattress), her old hair brush, a couple of dolls and her wedding dress. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/13 "2014-02-28T23:42:32Z")
Not long after I left for college my mother took my younger brother and moved to another state without letting me know. So, no. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/14 "2014-02-28T23:44:14Z")
Mine was given to my brother by Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/15 "2014-02-28T23:49:36Z")
I guess they figured I wasn’t coming back. The gave away everything of mine, train set, cars, etc. When I returned there were a couple vinyl albums and my diary. I am sure they read it. Oops! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/16 "2014-03-01T00:12:58Z")
No it became a guest room and my brother’s is now a playroom (for his kids). ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/17 "2014-03-01T00:19:57Z")
Yeah, hell no. Undoubtedly the moment I moved out, my mother decided it was for other things. But in her defense, I took most of my stuff with me. How else could I furnish a garage apartment without it? ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/18 "2014-03-01T00:28:43Z")
It became my youngest brother’s room. He hung a few posters over mine and moved some stuff around, but otherwise it looks like I left it(I told the parents they could do what they wanted with it). It’s definitely creepy, and I felt so bad for the brother living in my girly crazy room. ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/19 "2014-03-01T01:18:08Z")
My parents kept mine the way it was until they were convinced that I wouldn’t move back in with them. So, it was the way I’d left it for about a year. I moved in with my sister and that finally motivated them to turn it into an entertainment room/den. It’s where the massage chair and computers are. One of my exes’ stepfather turned his room into a storage room and his brother’s room into a guest bedroom while he was out of town for a weekend. It was a not-so-subtle way of telling him to get out of the house, but my ex didn’t get the hint until we started dating and I asked him why he was sleeping in the living room. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549/20 "2014-03-01T01:18:55Z")
Ha! No. I’m pretty sure my mother started repainting before my car was fully packed with my belongings. And she transformed my bedroom into…a bedroom. Just with different paint, wallpaper, bed and bedding. We have never had the same taste in interior design. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-old-room-a-shrine/682549.md?page=2)