Photography by Scott Barrow
June 2006
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By Linda Carman Photography by Scott Barrow June 2006 |
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Dormitory rooms present their student occupants with a blank canvas: four walls and a window or windows of varying sizes. Starting with these, students use a palette of decor - posters, India print bedspreads, and handcrafts - to create a colorful, cozy nest. Or, they arrange totems and signposts of their interests to please themselves and announce their enthusiasms to visitors. For some, minimalism is the avenue to serenity, an uncluttered retreat almost monastic in feeling. And for others, their dorm rooms are, by default, a common room/living room for welcoming and entertaining guests, with comfortable chairs and sofas for TV watching and conviviality. Visits to half a dozen rooms, and conversations with their occupants, reveal all these approaches, with variations. |
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alk into sophomore Nancy Haff's room in Mission and you are greeted with a large poster of a flamenco dancer, a vivid icon of Spain, and a country she has visited and hopes to eventually study. A flock of brightly colored tropical birds - the wooden variety forming a mobile - were acquired in Nicaragua where she spent winter study. A poster is surrounded by color photographs of Venice, its watery languor a counterpoint to the wintry gray New England views framed by the immense window. On the sill are three flourishing spider plants, two of them foundlings that she has watered back to health. Colored lanterns hang from the ceiling, and a string of tiny lights frames the window and winds around the room.  Haff, whose hometown is Concord, confirms her fondness for plants and bright colors. Her irregularly shaped room, she said, feels "huge" compared to her quarters in the first year quad last year, and she likes its offbeat shape. "A square would be boring," she said. "I like having my own place. It's really nice," she said. "One thing I looked forward to was shaping my own space. I enjoy decorating," Under her bed are plastic bins for storage, as tidy as lockers aboard ship. I like to keep the room as clean as possible," she said. A closer look reveals a solar rainbow maker," a gift from her mother, a framed screen displaying an extensive collection of dangly earrings, and a container labeled "Blonde Moments," which she finds a source of amusement. |
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 n the third floor of Wood, senior Sydney Streets and her two suitemates made a foray together to Pier 1 for colorful, exotic wall hangings and pillows to decorate their common room. "We wanted it to look like an opium den. A welcoming place to come back to," Streets said. "We were able to put our own twist on the room." Her own room is decorated with a large, colorful India print bedspread on the wall, and movie posters surrounding her desk."I got the bigger room, so I could separate it into two sections, one for sleep and one for work. I do a fair amount of work here," said Streets, a history major from Brooklyn, N.Y., concentrating in American history from 1865 to the present. "That's probably why I'm so into pop culture," she said. For Streets, decor is an ongoing endeavor. The India print was a relatively recent purchase from a store on Spring Street. The exotic theme could just as well be Bedouin chieftain tent as opium den, and it adds color and a whiff of metaphorical incense to the 1907 imposing brick house, like others in the Main Street row, a former fraternity house, built in neo-Georgian style with Tudor style paneling in the immense downstairs rooms.  Streets and her suitemates use their common room to entertain friends, often watching cable television or DVDs. The walls are hung with russet striped curtains, lanterns hang from the ceiling and silk pillows in rich jewel tones now bolster a decrepit futon. While Streets enjoyed the camaraderie that developed last year among juniors in Greylock quad, she prefers her current space, with its dormer window, and says the personal stamp in decorating it has another result - she keeps it neater. |
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n marked contrast to the opulent colors and wall hangings in Streets' room in Wood is sophomore Keenan Williams' Spartan room on the first floor of Morgan East. The white walls are unadorned, and clutter is banished. "I guess overall I've always believed cleanliness is next to godliness," Williams said. "In general, it's supposed to be open and inviting." While generally monochromatic, the room has recently been livened up with a quilt in subtle, somber colors, but with a tiny bit of warm color in a patterned border.  He finds the pristine expanse lends tranquility. "It will probably stay like this," said Williams, a double major in biology and political economy on the pre-med track, hoping to specialize in pediatrics, dermatology, or plastic surgery. While he doesn't really think the room is Zen-like, he does find it serene. "That's probably the reason there's nothing on the walls," he said. The door, however, is another matter altogether. Williams, who calls Little Rock home, describes himself as "extremely pro-Arkansas." His door displays a photograph of the Clinton presidential library, a Little Rock landmark. Williams clearly enjoys being a bit of a political provocateur. After seeing a film he describes as strongly anti Wal-Mart, he set about boosting the Arkansas-based retail giant. "The film did the opposite for me, so I put up pro-Wal-Mart signs," he said with a hint of a smile. "It's meant to be slightly controversial. People in my entry like to guess what I am politically, but I keep them guessing," he said. Williams hopes for a future political career, following the example of Senate leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who is a doctor. |
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or a striking contrast, senior Jen Linnan's room on the third floor of Fitch is decorated with an India print on one wall, and with a display of fabric handbags, made by her mother and, in the case of the patchwork handbags, designed by Linnan. She uses decoration to create a comfort zone and to express her interests, both involving the extensive use of textiles. "It's a small room, but I put a lot on the walls," she said. An unusual display features small insects made from tiny beads, the handwork of her sister.  Paintings on the wall are from art class in a previous year. Linnan, from Bucks County, Penn., is completing a double major in English and chemistry. A knitter, Linnan acknowledges a fondness for fabrics. "I suppose the decor includes a lot of crafts," she said. "I like having a lot of color," she said, adding, "I do most of my work in my room. "I like things that are colorful and warm and tactile," she said. Just inside her door is a macramé wall hanging with a history. "My mother made it when she was in college. "I take things I like," she said. "Everything on the walls has some kind of meaning, almost like a showcase." When she isn't working, she can contemplate one of the better views from her window, which looks out over the quad and to the surrounding hills. |
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 n the second floor of Dodd, Eze Ukaonu's large room doubles as a common room, a space for friends to socialize rather than as strictly private space. That added function was the incentive for Ukaonu to decorate rather than display personal mementoes. With an eye for both color and dramatic effect, Ukaonu festooned the ceiling with blue fabric swags, which stretch down the wall to the fireplace mantel, framing a print of strongly drawn figures, also in blues. More blue comes from the India print covering one wall. Ukaonu's bed is covered with a blue bedspread, another blue element contrasting with the unadorned white walls."I wanted a sense of simplicity, so in terms of other wall art I kept it simple." He decided on the swags, he said, "adding an element to the ceiling to break up the monotony. Blue is my favorite color." And, he said, "I was going for a common room type of feel," with the decor and furnishings, which include an armchair and sofa. When the bed is used as seating, about six can comfortable settle in to watch television. "This is more of a common room than a bedroom," he said. The room reflects conscious design decisions. "I thought about it at the beginning of the year," he said. "Then I set it up." While the walls are clear, his door has a photograph of his little brother and three small cousins. Ukaonu, also from Little Rock, Arkansas, is a double major in political science and religion, who is contemplating a career in entertainment law. "From year to year you have to do something different because of the layout of the rooms," he said. "Last year my room was long and narrow, so I had posters to keep your eye occupied so you wouldn't realize how small and narrow the room was. |
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or sophomore Paige Boddie, as for Nancy Haff, the shape of the rooms in Mission presents a challenge. "I knew Mission was famous for its strange angles, so I had to figure out what I was going to do." But on the plus side, the room in Dennett, part of Mission, was so much bigger than her room last year that it had more possibilities. The irregular shape, in fact, has six unequal sides. "For this room I stuffed everything on one wall," Boddie said. "It's hard because I like bare space, and this is really cluttered."  Boddie studies in her room, but wanted harmonious surroundings so it would be more than a strictly utilitarian study space. "I love pretty colors. My favorite color is pink," said Boddie, an art history major with a concentration in leadership studies. Her quilted bedspread is a strong deep pink, and over the bed she has hung a purple India print wall hanging." "I wanted it to look uniform. I have enough craziness going on, and I like harmony in my surroundings." She also has an eye for whimsy, in the form of her "princess lamp," with a crown on the shade, and the shade surrounded by feathers. A pink feather boa is also part of the decor. "It's just important for the room to be functional, and so I can have someone in to watch a movie," said Boddie, who is from Washington, D.C., and is applying to study in Italy next year. But movie watching is done on her computer screen. "I dont think I could fit a TV in here," she said. |
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or junior Nathan Friend, his dorm room is not just a place to sleep, but also a place to think, to work, and "to enjoy myself." He said, "I'm not big on clutter, so I keep things fairly organized, but I like to think my room still has some flavor." He has posters of Cannon Beach, Oregon, which he says is one of the most beautiful places in the country, and where he's spent many Thanksgivings with my family. There is also a smattering of photos of his friends and family back home that helps to keep the room warm and comfortable.  Now abroad in Italy, he remembers his Williams dorm room, saying "I hope my room was an inviting place for others. I tried to keep my door open if I was in my room, because I believe strongly in daily personal interactions and that was my way of letting people know I was there and always willing to chat about life, school, work, or just how much someone hated to cold weather. "It's interesting moving from room to room so quickly," he wrote from his study abroad, "especially when one minute you're at Williams and the next you're in Italy, but the nice thing about college is that you get used to making a new home for yourself each year. "That first night that you come back late from the library and are just relieved and comforted to be returning to that particular living space, that's when you know you've made the transition from just another room at college to /your/ room, your space, your home away from home." |
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reproduced with permission |
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