Underclassmen share how they creatively decorate their rooms in interest houses and residence halls.

Nikki Antenucci

Year: Sophomore

Major: Psychology

Nikki Antenucci has made a new home in the Delta Gamma Section of Prentiss. Her room is like a living scrapbook with photos, letters and quotes covering every wall. Antenucci explains, “My room has a lot of pictures in it, I guess I was just trying to get something homey and familiar–a lot of faces of the people I love.”

For Antenucci the dorm is a sanctuary; a place to relax and feel at home, and the photos play an important role in this. “I like to have a lot of memories of people that I care about and who care about me,” she said. Antenucci gets her inspiration from her friends and “a little bit of Pinterest,” she said with a laugh. Regardless of where the inspiration hails from, Antenucci concludes by stating, “It’s important to make it your own space, just make sure it’s relevant and meaning to you.”

Shane Randle

Year: Sophomore

Major: Environmental Studies: Biology

Located at the very front of Tamarac, Shane Randle’s room is a testament to creativity. An eclectic mix of posters, photos and drawings decorate the walls of the spacious and well-lit room. “There’s nothing specific I’m going for, I guess I just want a kind of homey feel and empty walls don’t make me feel at home,” she said.

Randle’s room has a distinctly unique feeling, and this is partially due to the objects that decorate her walls: posters from climbing competitions, photos taken by friends, paintings bought on a street in Mexico. She points to one galaxy poster in particular and says, “A friend gave me this poster, and it said that normal quote, ‘Shoot for the moon, if you miss you’ll land among the stars,’ and I was looking at it and I didn’t really like the quote, but I couldn’t cut it off, so my friend was like ‘I know what to do, give me a sharpie!’ And I was like, ‘Ok.’ And it became ‘Shoot the moon, I miss you and the stars.'”

Everything in her room has a similarly personal flair. “I would say my room is a very good reflection of my self,” she said. Randall ended with some advice: “Don’t go for anything specific, just find what you like, what makes you happy, what makes you smile.”

Frankie Gerraty

Year: First

Major: Biology-Environmental Studies

Taking up residence in the Pit in Jewett, First-Year Frankie Gerraty uses the use of light and art to make his dorm room cozy. “The dorm lighting in Jewett is pretty harsh, so finding external sources of soft lighting is really important in making a cozy room,” Gerraty said.

By hanging up dark print photos and his own drawings, the room takes on an artistic feel. Each picture acts as a token to a memory, keeping the room stylish, but also personal. “I have a bunch of darkroom prints of my friends and the adventures that I go on hanging in my room, so, in that sense, each photo has a story and memories behind it,” Gerraty said.

While Gerraty may post his pictures on his wall, he says that one of the most important decorations is the memories that are made inside the room. “The most important things in making our room feel like home are the friends that come over and have fun times in our space. Having good memories in a room is essential to making it feel like home,” Gerraty said.

Margaret Miller-Bartley

Year: Sophomore

Major: Biology-Environmental Studies

Sophomore Margaret Miller-Bartley makes living in The Coop (also known as the Community Service House) homey by posting pictures all over the walls commemorating different aspects of her experiences. About the smattering of colorful memories, Miller-Bartley said, “A lot of them are pictures of places I’ve been to, but there’s also a solid contingent of old family photos mixed in with photos from the past few years of my life.”

Knowing how to make what was once an unfamiliar room feel like home has become a specialty for Miller-Bartley since going to boarding school. “I went to boarding school for high school, so it’s pretty easy for a dorm room to feel like home to me. I think the room I ended up with this year is pretty homey all on its own without any of my decorations up, since it’s in an Interest House and since the walls are mostly windows,” Miller-Bartley said.

What adds to Miller-Bartley’s cozy-room feel is the sentimentality that the pictures bring to the room. “Since most of the decorations are photos they’re pretty sentimental. A lot of them are from a road trip I took this summer from my home in New Hampshire to school, and like I said there are also a lot of my family, so they mean a lot to me.”

Sabina Rogers

Year: First-year

Major: Bio-Chem, Economics and Film & Media Studies

First-year Sabina Rogers keeps her room in Jewett’s Two West section feeling cozy with her eclectic style. Drawing inspiration from her mother, Rogers has a myriad of peculiar objects that make her dorm home. “A lot of my inspiration comes from my mother’s style. We’ve moved a lot over the years, but all of the places we’ve lived in have had the same kind of feel to them…very cozy, warm colors, an eclectic mix of random things. In one corner there’s a porcelain baby Jesus sitting atop a bird’s nest we found outside our apartment one year. In another corner a stained carpet from a pot of French press last winter,” Rogers said.

Along with her collection of mini peanut butters from the dining hall, Rogers values her poetry books that display her wide range of interests. “Apart from the photos, my poetry books probably hold the most meaning to me. I read a poem every night from at least three of my books, and have done so for quite a long time. They also act as a great conversation starter because they show I have interests outside of my rigorous Bio-Chem, Economics and FMS triple major,” Rogers said. While all of her objects reflect on the style of her mother’s living room, Rogers said that the key to a having a cozy room is keeping the room not-to-clean.

“I think the key to making things ‘homey’ is to not be too clean. Organization is good, but when everything has a place or is completely tucked away, a room becomes a bit too much like a catalogue. You want a room to be lived in. Sometimes I leave a jar out with tea in it for a few weeks just for the aesthetic. Not really, but you get the point,” Rogers said.