About the Dorm
This semester Tulane introduced a new dorm, SoHo or Weatherhead Hall. SoHo Honors Village was originally intended for sophomore honor students. However, the honors requirement was dropped when less people applied than expected. Residents of this dorm often exclaim how glad they are to be living in rooms never before utilized. They’re just glad to be the first to sleep in their beds, or even on their floors.
Plus, no one’s ever thrown up on the carpeting! This dorm is suite style living so shared bathrooms aren’t even an issue! It seems as if those lucky enough to live here really are receiving many benefits.
About the Residents
If you find yourself roaming the halls of Weatherhead, you may just run into Lee Chedister and Elise Matton. Lee is a biomedical engineering major while Elise is majoring in History & Environmental Studies. She’s planning to pursue the teacher certification program at Tulane. Lee calls Chicago, Illinois home while Elise is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Despite their different interests and hometowns, Lee and Elise actually do agree on a lot. Their mission: teaching us all a lesson about how not to want to kill your roommate for waking you up while blow drying her hair, or worse—leaving her ugly stripped sweater slightly on your side of the room. These two girls are pros at cooperation and respect by now. And did I mention, Elise even sings to Lee sometimes?
Now come on in! Check out where these girls come home…
Lee’s Corner
Check out Lee’s part of the room! She opted to decorate a bit differently then rooms we’ve looked at before. Instead of photo crazy, Lee’s gone poster crazy. The extensive wall space in SoHo allows Lee to hang up many different posters to reflect her many different interests. She has music and movie posters along with some photographs of family and friends. The lack of white showing on Lee’s walls gives the room a nice, warm feeling. Since posters take up more room then photographs, it’s easy to hang up a bunch without making your wall look too busy or overwhelming. “It’s cozy and homey and I love it,” exclaimed Lee while telling me about her space. She also loves the rug she brought from home. It’s warm colors and traditional pattern add to the comfort radiating from this room. Also notable—Lee’s happy birthday banner is hung above her desk. Elise decorated the room for Lee’s special day and Lee decided to keep the banner up for a bit longer to remind her of how sweet her roomie is. Don’t be surprised if you find the banner on Elise’s side of the room once it’s her birthday!
Elise Lights it up
Looking at Elise’s side of the room we can see her creativity shine. When decorating her room, Elise’s main goal was to incorporate photographs and Christmas lights into her decorations. She ended up combining the two so photographs hang off the lights! Elise has similar lights up in her room at home and likes to use them as dim lighting right before going to bed. Elise also was excited to show off the New Mexico pride she has in her room. “My friend painted me a landscape of New Mexico. It represents New Mexico and it’s special because it’s a gift from a friend”. If you’re looking through decorations try finding a poster of the city or state you’re from! It’s fun to show off your hometown when everyone at Tulane comes from such different places.
Let’s Talk about Roommates
Lee and Elise definitely agreed on their favorite part of their room. Forget the decorations—it’s having each other as roommates! Both Lee and Elise love that their sides reflect their different personalities but also work together really well. The way their room is set up makes it so they have a lot of common space, which isn’t unlikely to happen especially if you live in a smaller freshman dorm room. It’s especially important to Elise that she didn’t have to compromise what she wanted in her room at all. Don’t be that girl who tells her roommate she can’t hang up a poster! Or worse, that girl who tries to keep Elise from her Christmas lights! Ok, it’s understandable in some cases—I don’t know what your roomie is into! But if you really have no reason to say no, don’t! “Our room is our own space but it’s our room, not my room or her room, it’s a combination of us,” they agreed. Of course, roommates will be put in many different situations where they must respect one another, but people tend to forget that decorating is one of these times! So remember, if you don’t respect your roomie it will be much harder to turn your room into a comfort zone.
Make it Your Own
- Find posters from movies or of bands you like to show your style off to visitors! Check out allposters.com for a wide selection.
- Bring a rug from home that you might not be using anymore!
- Buy Christmas lights—they tend to be longer than decorative string lights.
- Hang up something like a poster or a flag to show off your hometown.
- Hanging up accessories such as scarves can serve a decorative purpose. Check out the ones hung on Elise’s bed!
- Buy things that make you comfortable, don’t try to mold yourself into what your roommate wants. Make sure you get your roommates ok though if you think something might bother them (xmas lights) but don’t let them hold you back.
- Hang up paintings/drawing/photographs from your friends for a unique touch!
Remember Tulane…Defend New Orleans, Defend Your Dorm!
Do you think your dorm has what it takes to be raided? Email rshinner@tulane.edu