Sven and Nicole pose inside their bedroom in Atlanta for Barbara Peacock's "American Bedroom" series. The portrait, which is the cover of Peacock's upcoming book, is a throwback to the famous painting "American Gothic.”

What our bedrooms say about us

Photographs by Barbara Peacock
Story by Kyle Almond, CNN
Published August 25, 2023

The average person spends about a third of their lives in their bedroom. It’s not just a private place, but a sacred place, according to photographer Barbara Peacock.

“It exemplifies our being,” she says in her upcoming book “American Bedroom.” “It is a place to rest, to love, to comfort, to be, to give life, to restore, to recover, to grieve, to lay sick and to die.”

She got the idea one morning when she woke up and saw her husband bathed in gorgeous morning light. It almost looked like a Renaissance painting — except for his snore mask.

The dichotomy made Peacock chuckle.

“I just started thinking about what we have on our beds, tables, what our rooms look like. How we have them set up, what’s in there that’s precious to us,” she said.

Eric, a musician and songwriter, plays the guitar for his wife, Amy, in their bedroom in Nashville, Tennessee. “She asked for my faith. All I had to offer was a song," he wrote in his statement for the book. "For her that was a kingdom.”

Cai and Claire are close friends of Peacock's who live in Bliss, Idaho. Cai had just had top surgery, and Peacock said she wanted to show their "beautiful connection in beautiful light." In the book, they wrote: “Together home is always growing, always being redefined — dismantled and rebuilt. We see each other, we make space for each other, and here we are always safe inside.”

Children also were a big part of Peacock's series. Abigail was 4 years old when this photo was taken at her home in Beaver Crossing, Nebraska. “I’ve got my favorite blanket and kitty sheets," she told Peacock. "They make me feel happy. I don’t get mad. I’m always going to be nice.” Peacock also photographed Abigail’s brothers.

What does your bedroom say about you? What can you learn from someone by looking into their bedroom? What stories does it tell?

Peacock’s project is part photo book, part anthropological study. Since 2016 she has traveled to every region of the country, looking for a cross-section of people from all walks of life.

She started simple, photographing friends in New England, before branching out. She would often post something on Facebook or Craigslist, explaining her project and asking for volunteers in whatever area she was visiting. She would also meet people organically, visiting mom-and-pop shops, diners, beauty parlors, hardware stores, gas stations.

It wasn’t always easy to convince people to open their bedrooms to a stranger.

“It would be so much easier if my whole thing was, like, can I take pictures of people on their porch across the United States?” Peacock said with a laugh. “It was hard. … I had tons of people that said no. But I’m a pretty friendly person.”

Many parents can probably identify with this photo of the Oyeniran family in Lexington, Kentucky. “Our life is in a stage where beauty and chaos are in perfect sync, and we are exploring the perimeters.” said Femi, seen on the right with his wife, Brittany, and two daughters, Sophia and Olivia.

The Matthews family — Stephanie, Travis and their two children, Zion and Skyann — pose in their bus as they camp in Saratoga Springs, Utah. “Endless possibilities and adventure!" Stephanie says in the book. "We sold our home and just about everything we owned three years ago. Little did we know what awaited us on the open road ... freedom unlike anything we had ever had while on a quest to find a new place and community to call home.”

While many people respectfully declined the opportunity, there were many who were excited to take part. Peacock was amazed by just how open some people were.

“I get (to the home), and I don’t know these people from Adam and I’m like, what do you guys sleep in? ‘Oh, we sleep in the nude.’ And they’re just nude in a nanosecond,” she said.

Peacock would visit in the mornings and stay usually about an hour or an hour and a half, taking various portraits and trying to reflect what life is like for each of her subjects. Maybe the shot would be someone dressing in the morning. Maybe it would be a bunch of their children jumping on their bed.

She’d tell people in advance not to tidy up or go out of their way to change what their bedroom looks like for the shoot.

“Some people would be like, ‘Oh, OK,’ and they’re totally cool with that,” Peacock said. “Other people are like, ‘No effing way dude, I’m cleaning my room.’ But that’s who they are, so that’s OK.”

Nito is seen in his bedroom in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Much of what you see isn't just some showcase of fun, colorful things I've acquired. Everything contains a story attached to my friends and life experiences," he says. "So, despite its cluttered look, having easy access to those cherished memories is quite calming and helps me feel close to those people and experiences.”

Each portrait in the book comes alongside a statement by the subject. For some, it’s a simple sentence or two. For others, it could be something more poetic or poignant.

Peacock recalled visiting an 88-year-old man in Maine named Pepere. His wife had just gone to a nursing home.

“When I wake in the morning, I try to be quiet so I don’t wake her,” he told Peacock. “Then I remember she is no longer here.”

This was early in her project, and she said a chill went up her spine when she heard that.

“I realized there was so much power in what these people had to say. And it was no longer really about maybe just my vision. That I was more a conduit to tell their story,” she said.

Pepere sits on his bed in Jay, Maine. He was 88 years old at the time and he was still getting used to his wife no longer being there with him. She had moved into a nursing home, Peacock said.

“With the world moving ever so fast, these apples of my eye remind me to slow down and see the beauty in all things," Jamie Seh-Nielsen said of her daughters in Victor, Idaho. "They are the light.” The girls, from left, are Opal Sparrow, Pepper James, Mazy Clover and Pearl Meadow.

“While my physical parts feel safe among my living space, rested against a pillow, my heart yearns for my home, my community, our land,” said Mek, a Native who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. A tattoo of her grandmother can be seen on her leg.

After each shoot, Peacock would spend more time with their subjects, maybe having an iced tea or a coffee. In Detroit, she met people who were hungry, so she would take them to the grocery store to buy some groceries as a thank you.

She met one woman in Atlanta who was a bit lonely and just wanted to talk. Peacock was happy to spend an extra three hours with her, giving her company. Peacock also became pen pals with Orville, a man who didn’t have a phone or a computer.

“I learned that there are so many lonely people and so many underappreciated people and unseen people,” Peacock said. “And this was a chance for those people to be in the limelight and to tell their story.”

Peacock said she has photographed about 400 people for her project over the past seven years. The book is broken down into five sections that touch on each region that she visited: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the West and the Southwest.

“I'm sick and tired of talking to myself. I'm sick and tired of listening to myself,” said Orville, a man from Sherwood, Tennessee. Peacock said when she visited him, he didn’t want her to leave. “He didn't have a phone,” Peacock said. “He didn't have a computer. So I said, ‘Hey, you want to be pen pals?’ He's like, ‘Sure!’ So we wrote a couple letters and I sent him a photo.”

“We live at the foot of an abandoned mine full of uranium," said Samantha, whose children can be seen here at their home on a Navajo reservation in Cameron, Arizona. "The cleanup could take generations. We figure we each have 30 to 40 good years.”

Peacock has met so many different people over the past seven years, with all sorts of bedrooms. Some don’t even have an actual room, as they sleep outside.

But one of her biggest takeaways from her project is that no matter how different our sleeping arrangements may look, we are all more alike than we may think.

“If we just slow down a little bit and really saw each other, we’re all basically the same,” she said. “We all want the same things. … It all boils down to love and family. That’s what everybody wants. And human connection.”

She said she was honored by those who allowed her to tell their stories.

“Every human being is important and has a story to tell,” she said. “And if we listen, we can realize that while we’re all different in so many ways, our connection is much closer than we can imagine.”

“I sleep in the grass beneath the trees and sky and by the ocean for six years now," said Jerimiah, who lives on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. "My body and soul are clean. When I go I leave no trace.”

The upcoming book “American Bedroom” is being published by Kehrer Verlag and can now be pre-ordered.