Students offer decorating
ideas
By Nicole Arias
Staff
Writer
Two band posters and a "Grab your tool"
sticker on their loft are two Cary Quadrangle residents’ idea of
room decorating.
But then, they say there's room for little else.
A television and microwave sit on top of the stacked
dressers; the microwave is hanging off the edge. A futon, refrigerator
and three dressers that house two computers and another television crowd
under the loft.
"The room is the size of a large walk-in closet,"
said Brad Dickson, a freshman in the School of Science. "We basically
smashed everything in as close as possible; it was a miracle it all
fit."
Decorating a small room can be a challenge, but
when that room is a "claustrophobic" size, many decorators
say order and originality don’t have to be abandoned.
Rooms should reflect warmth and balance, said Joan
Sozen, a lecturer in the department of visual and performing arts.
Balance comes with the room being neat and uncluttered,
she said. Warmth is attained when students decorate with things meaningful
to them that show what they care about.
"Make your room reflect you," Sozen said.
One way to accomplish that is to bring things from
home to make the room familiar, said Barbara Coury, the development
director in the School of Nursing, who enjoys decorating.
Heidi McCullough, a sophomore residing in the Willowbrook
apartments, said her biggest challenge when decorating her room was
finding enough space for everything.
She faced the same problem when she lived in Earhart
Hall last year.
Her solution to this problem was to rearrange the
room several times to see which situation worked the best.
A large component of a room’s look is the
wall decoration.
Although the practice is common, it is not necessarily
a good idea to cover all of the wall space with posters, said Sozen.
"You should choose one large thing that makes
you feel good when you walk into the room," she said.
If the walls are covered in excess, she warns,
the room becomes another cluttered space that can be overwhelming.
If students plan on hanging many pieces, the size
and shape should be the same throughout.
One suggestion is to decorate with album covers
for which the result would be interesting, but orderly.
Students can increase the amount of light in their
room with a floor lamp.
"The free-standing light fixture throws light
to the ceiling," Sozen said. "Then the light is reflected
and spread throughout the room."
When students begin to tire of their room, a few
minor changes can make a big difference.
One simple way to give the room some variety is
to change the bedspread, Coury said. She suggests darker colors for
winter and lighter colors for summer.
In addition, decorations such as vases, pottery
and plants can be changed to reflect the changing seasons, bringing
the outdoor beauty inside, Sozen said.
Cadie Beske, a junior residing in the Atrium apartments,
said her primary focus when decorating her room was to make it functional;
aesthetics are secondary.
"The goal is to have your room so that you
like it and can live with it," she said.
Beske also decorated her room by trial and error
and several alterations before she finally settled on one arrangement.
"Don’t be afraid to experiment,"
she said.
When Dickson and his roommate didn’t have
any place to put the television and computer speakers, they nailed and
duct-taped wooden blocks on the loft frame under their beds.
"It supposedly gives us better acoustics,"
Dickson said. "Realistically, it was the only place they would
go."
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