University is so exciting for so many different reasons – you move to a new city, make new friends and get free money in the form of student credit cards, overdrafts and student loans. But for me, the most exciting aspect of moving away was, (and I can casually quote Virginia Woolf here), that I would have ‘a room of one’s own.’ I have always been into decorating and interiors, and no landlord charging me £59 from my deposit because I’d stuck some picture-hooks up was ever going to stop me from hammering the hell out of my brand-spanking new plaster-board walls. So that is what I did. That, and go to the age-concern furniture warehouse and buy EVERYTHING so I can pretend my room is an antique dealer’s boutique. My room makes me look like I’m about 80 years old, but I’ve counter-acted my prematurely ageing taste with some nice Wilko’s fairy lights and a poster from the standard fresher fair poster sale. And I put pictures from my ‘gap yah’ on my door, just so everyone can see how cultured I am:
Because I reeeeeeaaaallly like rooms and get excited over curtain rails, I thought it would be cool to have a look around some of my friend’s rooms, and judge them on their big pimpin’ styles. Think Cribs with Westwood, except that instead of me being a 54 year old rambunctiously spoken DJ who pretty much raps his daily life and shows you around rich people’s mansions, I am a 21 year-old English student who is going to show you some bad-quality photos of some poor students’ bedrooms.
Room One
As you can probably tell from the darker tones of colour, and the framed photo of Rio Ferdinand’s piercing stare, this room belongs to a boy. The art he has chosen to display (footballers and a rebellious Banksy canvas) could suggest a rowdy-boy mentality is the person who occupies this crib, but look at those timetables on his shelf, and his well-organised bookcase. And he has sheepskin rugs! This is a lovely room, showing that he enjoys the finer things in life, namely art, sheep and his appearance. (What other male student has a full length mirror?).The decoration of the room is no mean feat for boys, yet our lad has managed to do it in a non-tacky, non-teenage and a big pimpin’ way (cringe). Well done. Not sure about waking up to Rio’s face though…
Room Two
On a first glance, this room isn’t as bad as the shoddiness that ensues from closer inspection. What’s wrong I hear you say? Well nothing, look at that lovely ripped calendar that isn’t on the right month, he has some lovely framed photos where you can’t see their faces in a broken picture frame, a burned out candle and don’t even get me started on that weird pink thing. What is it?? Look at that lovely cotton wardrobe and his ‘edgy’ statement he makes the lack of curtains. But he does have the star wars box set…and an interesting face.
Room 3
Ah, what a lovely contrast! More for the ladies, or people who can appreciate the shabby chic trends in interior design, but I don’t think anyone can deny the calming decor here. A vintage type-writer and hand decoupage vase with dried flowers says nothing else but the ‘Welcome Home’ that is hung on the wall. This girl has actually managed to pull off the ‘vintage country home’ style that so many dream of having, without it looking cheap and tatty, when in fact it was rather cheap. She got the ‘welcome home’ wall hangings from home bargains and then found some old wrapping paper and got out the PVA, and the bunting was made from scraps of fabric she picked up at a fabric shop. Super score!
Room Five
Well what is there to say? Standard student room. It’s dark because you don’t want to pay for electricity, is super messy because you’re far too busy pretending to work and have no time to tidy, and it has random flyers and posters you got for free that are falling down, because you had to make the £1 white tack last for them all because you can’t afford to buy any more.
So, not as ‘Homes and Garden’ or ‘MTV Cribs’ as I had hoped, but fairly good attempts at making your first proper home-from-homes bearable.