Students, such as freshman Sarah Lamkin, often fill their walls with pictures of family, friends or movie stars. With more and more students owning computers comes the desire to personalize them. Accessories from funky mousepads to monitor covers to simple stickers are finding their way onto more and more students' desks. Photo by Arron Pendleton

Making the best of a bland situation: Dorm decorating tests students' creativity

by ARRON PENDLETON and LUKE DAMRON
reporters

Dorm rooms. What comes to mind?

Probably pictures of small square boxes, each identical to every other room in the building. Some students strive for individuality, while others strive to make their room look as much like home as possible.

The most popular commodities in girls' rooms are stars. Glow-in-the-dark stars were in almost every room.

Some other popular celestial items are clouds and moons.

Lava lamps and pictures of home and friends are also important additions, and vertical storage units and crates are almost essential for organization.

Guys' rooms are sometimes sparsely decorated. Gabriel Hinton, sophomore transfer student, said his room would soon have more decorations, preferably of the adult kind.

He also said his father was an artist and some of his father's work would soon be on display in his room. Other unusual items in his room are an ironing board, an iron and spray starch.

A necessary addition to a room without air conditioning is fans. Hinton has three of them.

Hinton also commented on his single room and how great it is to be without a roommate. Hinton once experimented with the freedom of nudity in his single room, but realized too late that his window blind was open.

Sophomore Jeff Rodebaugh and his roommate have a more typical dorm room.

Rodebaugh's main decorations are a beer poster and a near-microscopic fish. His roommate's half of the room is cluttered and includes a turtle, memorabilia and pictures of women in various stages of undress.

Rodebaugh doesn't understand why his roommate requires all of his "crap," but accepts it as general quirkiness.

"When you have two skulls in your room you have one too many," he said.

Whereas many guys' rooms are covered with pictures of people they wish they knew, the girls' rooms are generally decorated with pictures of people they do know, such as family, friends, boyfriends and pets.

Stuffed animals were another common item.

Brianna Roberts owns a multitude of panda bears. Some rooms could even put visitors in mind of the Disney Store.

A common addition in both girls' and guys' rooms is computers. Some students use them for chatting while others use them for downloading music from Napster. Brittany Roberts and Sarah Lamkin said many afternoons have been lost to downloading music.

While decorations vary from room to room and between genders, one thing remains constant: The rooms' decorations are a reflection of personality and provide comfort in a strange place.