Dorms Out of the Norm

By Diana Silbergeld
Contributing Writer

Now that students have begun classes and are settling into their homes away from home, it’s time to ask, "Who has the most spectacular room?"

Creating a fabulous dorm room takes creativity and inventiveness, and at Wesleyan, rooms are beginning to reflect this resourcefulness. From tapestries to rugs, lofts to couches, dorm room decorating has been at full speed.

Students say that the first step to an awesome room is rearranging the furniture. To maximize space, some students in singles move their beds next to the windows instead of along the wall.

Jocelyn Greene ’02 raised her bed up from the floor "so that it feels less like an infirmary cot." She used blocks purchased at the hardware store on Main Street and now uses the space under her bed to store winter clothes.

Sophomores Lindsay Dickinson and Rebecca Duke had neighboring singles, but after a quick call to Public Safety, they were able to open the adjoining door and create a two-room double.

With a little extra carpentry and dedication, some students actually built lofts, hoisting their beds up toward the ceiling and creating extra desk, storage, and lounging space underneath.

Decorating and accessorizing with a personal touch are the next key steps in creating a home out of a dorm room. From items such as Christmas lights, flags, inflatable chairs, refrigerators, televisions and posters to old record players, coffee pots, photos of friends, stereos, cordless phones, ferrets, dorm rooms at Wesleyan have seen a bit of change over the years.

Josh Buswell-Charkow ’02, a passionate scuba diver from Florida, has a colorful fish mobile hanging in his window, an ocean screen saver on his computer, and photos of sea life covering his walls. Looking at his room "simply makes me feel good," he said.

When frosh Beth Goldoff first turned off the lights in her room she discovered an intricate glow-in-the-dark dragon painted onto the wall. "It was a little frightening at first," she remarked, "but it’s growing on me."

Most students are just putting the finishing touches into their rooms, and Laura Decarava ’02 knows that hers isn’t complete just yet.

"The essentials of a dorm room are things that appeal to the senses," Decarava said. Her room will not be complete until she has good lighting, the right colors, a soft rug, music playing, and incense burning.

While it’s difficult to make a small space with cinderblock walls look cozy, most students are finding it more of a challenge than a hindrance. As dorm rooms begin to take on additional roles as study spaces, kitchens, and living rooms, they will feel more and more like home.