Home and garden -- Tufts style

Living on campus is an interior decorator's nightmare. The white blocks in Miller feel more like an insane asylum than college, while the insides of Haskell and Wren make you feel as if you're cooking in a brick oven. Despite these obstacles, Tufts students view dorm room d?©cor as a must, and they take many different approaches to decorating their "homes away from home."

While students have many ideas as to how to best decorate their dorm rooms the Residential Life Office enforces numerous regulations when it comes to decorations. Upon arrival to campus, students are given a brochure entitled "Creating your home at Tufts." In the brochure, Residential Life lists items that are acceptable and prohibited. Aside from dangerous items such as explosives, the "Leave-at-home" list includes miscellaneous items such as "air conditioners, cooking appliances, glow-in-the-dark wall/ceiling accessories, and dartboards."

Residential Life produces their policies for the benefit of Tufts students. The brochure states: "These guidelines are informed by four basic goals: safety, comfort, building preservation, and community building...Each of the policies we draft is specifically intended to prevent disturbance or emergency."

Many students disagree with these decoration rules. Sophomore Mary Humphreys believes many of the policies are pointless. "What does it matter if we put up a few glow-in-the-dark stars?" Humphreys said. "They come off easy and they're not dangerous."

Despite these regulations, students try to be creative when it comes to decorating their rooms. Sophomore Jacqueline Haker created storage for her room through refurbished shelves.

"I found these old shelves outside a school by my house. They were gonna throw them away so I just took them," Haker said.

Haker then sanded down the old shelves and painted them in her favorite colors to create a shabby-chic look for free.

Sophomore RA Trevanna Grenfell decided to turn her single into a tranquil room. "I wanted to make it comfortable and light," Grenfell said. "I spend a lot of time here and since I'm an RA people come to talk to me." Unfortunately, RAs are not permitted to comment on Residential Life policies to provide response.

To attain a cozy atmosphere, Grenfell opted to have a couch and coffee table opposite her bed. With two simple white sheets, she was able to slipcover the sofa and table so it matched the rest of the room.

Grenfell also bought numerous plants to add some color. "Especially in the long winters I like to see some green," Grenfell said.

For her walls, Grenfell displayed artwork both of her own and pieces her friends created. "All of it has some meaning," Grenfell said.

In addition to artwork, Grenfell crafted a symmetrical design along her walls with silver aluminum. "I found long aluminum strips at my camp," Grenfell said. "I punched some holes to create a pattern and put them up."

Like Grenfell, Sophomore Adam Buckley decorated his Carmichael room with relaxation in mind. Buckley said he just tries to make his room as comfortable as possible with several extra chairs and a television.

"My room's just a place to relax," Buckley said. "The party room's another place."

These "party rooms" are often found in West Hall. Deemed the party dorm by many students, West offers the luxury of a spacious common room for each triple or quad. Sophomore Timothy Kane chose to reside in a quad at West for this exact reason.

"We spend most our time in the common room because our bedrooms are really small," Kane said. "We all contributed to decorating it so it we can have people over whenever we want."

Kane and his roommates created a social atmosphere through a big screen television, a large futon, a big love-seat, and a few tables. They adorned their walls with posters of movies such as "Scarface" and shelving full of food for late night munchies.

Along with making a room a more welcoming place, wall decorations can be great conversation starters. Sophomore Hilary Pentz usually has people ask her about her album covers in her room when they walk in.

"I went to Goodwill with my roommate to get some cheap decorations," Pentz said. "We saw all these vintage album covers and though it would give a really cool retro feel to the room."

Sophomore John McGlynn also tries to make his single in Houston a popular party destination. "An RA can't really have a party room," McGlynn said. "But it's as close as I can get."

As an athlete, McGlynn mainly decorates his walls with sports posters. One of his favorite posters is a large picture of Michael Jordan. "Being a basketball player myself, I look up to him," McGlynn said.

McGlynn also has a large Red Sox poster on his wall. "I'm from Boston," McGlynn said. "I gotta support my team."

Like McGlynn, Buckley also likes to support his home team. Originally from New York, Buckley is a huge Yankee fan.

"I have a poster of Yankee Stadium," Buckley said, "which wouldn't exactly be appreciated in Boston." His roommate, a huge Red Sox fan, does not love the poster but says it is not a problem.

This brings up an important issue in dorm room d?©cor -- many students differ in their decorating tastes. However, usually there is little conflict. McGlynn said that during his freshman year at Carmichael, he and his roommate had different tastes in dorm room d?©cor. Yet, it didn't bother him: "I was indifferent," McGlynn said. "I let him put up his own thing as long as it stayed on his side of the room."

Some students work together with their roommates to decorate their rooms. Sophomore Mary Humphreys and her roommate went shopping together to ensure that their room in Miller had a theme.

"We tried to think what colors we wanted our room to be," Humphreys said. "My mom gave me a purple comforter, so we decided on purple and green."

Humphreys and her roommate then bought a wall tapestry and fabric to go with their new colors. They cut the fabric to create homemade curtains by pinning the green fabric above the window and used contrasting purple ribbon to tie the green fabric when they wanted the curtains open.

"I think it feels more homey when there's a theme to the room," Humphreys said.

Senior Alana Harrison also goes for a homier atmosphere. She decorated her room in Hillsides similarly to her room back home.

"It's basically the same, just smaller," Harrison said of her dorm room.

Like many students who have traveled abroad, Harrison, who went to Spain her junior year, decided to decorate her room with mementos she had accumulated while abroad.

"I have lots of pictures, ticket stubs, scarves, tapestries, things that I've been collecting," Harrison said.

Sophomore Thu Nguyen complains of the dull walls in her Miller dorm. In effort to compete with her roommate's bright posters, Nguyen dries flowers that her boyfriend gives her. "He usually gives me flowers to brighten up the room," Nguyen said.

Other students can make their d?©cor similarly personal by making paintings or sewing curtains at Tufts' very own Crafts Center.