Forget the magic, the talking cat and obviously the fact that Sabrina Spellman (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) could casually turn her teachers into pineapples, change her clothes with one point of a finger or disappear into another dimension.

If you were a 90s girl watching Sabrina climb the stairs to her cosy attic room, surrounded by books, candles, posters and mysterious objects, there was a good chance you looked around your own bedroom and thought, I need this.

Sabrina’s bedroom had everything a teenage bedroom was supposed to have before social media arrived to tell us what a bedroom was supposed to look like. It wasn’t minimalist, perfectly coordinated or designed for Instagram. It was personal, slightly quirky and full of things that looked as though they might have an interesting story behind them. There were books everywhere, cosy blankets and just enough witchy atmosphere to make you wonder whether the Spellman family had raided an antique shop.

While most teenagers were arguing with their parents about staying out late, Sabrina had Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda, a talking black cat called Salem and a house full of magical secrets. Even the chores probably felt more exciting when there was magic.

What made Sabrina’s bedroom so appealing was that it felt like a reflection of her personality. It wasn’t just a room decorated in one fashionable style; it looked collected over time but still very normal 90s teenager. Today, when so many bedrooms online seem designed around the same carefully chosen colour palette, there is something refreshing about a room that looks as though an actual teenager lives there.

That’s why the Sabrina the Teenage Witch aesthetic still feels nostalgic. It represents a version of teenage girlhood that was cosy and a little bit weird. You could like books, music, hang out with friends after school, wear ridiculous 90s outfits, have a crush and watch horror films.

While sadly most of us never did manage to acquire Sabrina’s magical powers, there is still something comforting about remembering a time when the ultimate bedroom goal wasn’t perfection.

It was personality, a little clutter and, ideally, a black cat sitting on the bed.

Written by Siân Alison