Brandeis Cribs: Stylish Dorms for the Fashionable Brandeisian

We’ve all heard the saying “There’s no place like home.” But how is a stylish college gal to make herself at home when she’s far from it? And unless you’re a magician, how are you supposed to take a cramped dorm room and turn it into a cozy, warm abode?

Let’s face it, if you’re like most college students, you’re presented with pretty sparse living options and must use those college smarts to get pretty creative. But many college students don’t have the time or money to properly decorate their dorms, so what’s a girl to do?

To answer this question, I’m seeking out stylish Brandeisians to prove you can still be comfy in your living space— even if that space is tiny and you might have to share it with the yin to your yang. After all, we all need a little oasis away from reality once in awhile, and your room should be welcoming and functional at the same time. So to help you stylish Brandeisians, I’m entering the singles, suites and lofted triples of stylish Brandeisians to get some insight from the hostesses themselves.

Faced with four cramped walls and a college budget, these stylish Brandeisians will prove that home away from home can be just as sweet. To kick it all off, I talked to HC Brandeis’ very own Destiny Aquino and got the scoop on how she turned her Rosenthal suite into a cozy home away from home.

What was your dorm like during your first year of college? Was it similar to how it is now or has it evolved significantly?

“It was similar but I didn’t have the black and white photographs or the lamps. It was much longer of a room so there wasn’t a lot of space to [be too creative]. And I didn’t have the carpet either, so I just had the pink and green bedspread. And then the walls were white and it was really kind of boring [so I said to myself]: ‘I want to make it cozy this year.’ But I was also a midyear, so I only had six months with it.”

Space is a huge issue with college dorms because you have such little room to really personalize and make your room your own. What advice do you have to help fashionable Brandeisians deal with that?

“You have no space and so you have to be really organized about how you use things… [For example], here’s a really fun calendar… [because] you need a calendar in your room. And then this is like secret storage and I use it as a night table. And then these are pink and decorative, but they hold notes and flashcards. So you just have to be really neat about the way you do things and [also be] functional.”

If someone wasn’t able to see your room—whether it be in person or in photographs—how would you describe it to them? For example, is there a certain theme you’re going for?

“[One of my friends] called it the inside of a Gilmore Girls set. So it’s a little girly but not too much so that it’s disgusting, [because it has] the green worked in. But it’s just really cozy. Like [one of my friends] says I hibernate in here because I put the lamp on [because] I hate this light [in the room].”

What’s your favorite item in the room?

“I think my favorite is that poster…it’s modern because it’s black and white but it’s an old photograph. It’s Marilyn Monroe and James Dean and it’s actually not an actual photo; it’s photoshopped that way. There was never a picture of them together; they just put it that way and they’re two 50s icons and I found it online. I think that’s my favorite thing. I don’t know how I’m going to get it home, but it needs to make its way into my room at home.”

How would you compare this room to your room at home?

“My room at home has a little bit more space, but I wouldn’t say a lot; it just has a bigger closet and a bigger bed. But functionality-wise, this has a lot more space and my room at home is…a lot more stark because you’re at home already so you don’t need to make it feel cozy because you have a living room and a dining room so you can make the rest of your house feel cozy. So you can just put your own style and taste in but when you’re in your room in a dorm room, this is your main place of living so you have to make it as comfortable as possible and that means more fluffy and cozy [things] and you can’t be as minimalistic as my room at home is.”

Do you have a stylish dorm that you want featured on HC Brandeis? Email me at chriscal@brandeis.edu