Pimp your room

Rachita Jain '14 and Cezanne Simon '14

"We put the desks together so that generally, the middle of the room is pretty empty and airy, which is nice.

If you are going to be living here for an entire year, you want to put in some effort and make it nice and home-y so that it’s someplace that you really feel like coming back to at the end of the day.

Putting stuff up on the walls is a great idea — pictures, posters, photographs, paintings, whatever — they are not hard to find. And I think it just makes the room a lot homier.

Daybeds are just a great way to generate seating. We don’t have enough space to have a lot of chairs or extra stools."

Interview conducted by Lisa Fierstein ’14

Michael Jiang '13

"The person who helped me hang it first thought that it would be funny to have [the map] upside down.

I got this online from Urban Outfitters. I like maps, so they’ve always had this but in the past it was always in blue. I don’t know what it’s meant to be. I think it might just be a bedsheet or a wall hanging.

I liked the idea of sleeping in a really tight space. I like sleeping in trains and I like sleeping in bunk beds."

Interview conducted by Lisa Han ’13

Lisa Han '13

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"When you’ve been at Princeton for three years, buying posters at the sale can feel kind of trite. That’s why I’m a big believer in making something old look new.

I came up with the puzzle idea my sophomore year, when I had this really awful Death Cab for Cutie poster left over. Rather than spend money on a new one, I found that cutting it up gave it more intrigue and made it seem less collegiate.

I love music. I used to have a wall of CDs, but having the posters does a better job of emphasizing album artwork. I go for the zanier-looking bands, like Daft Punk or the Gorillaz."

Interview conducted by Alexis Kleinman ’12

Monica Greco '13

"I guess I was just thinking that I wanted pictures that looked good together. And I’m really afraid of all these pictures because I am intensely afraid of clowns. But I really like all the paintings so I’ve overcome my fear.

I printed these out ... I was just getting power drills so I could do my curtains properly and then I saw the orchid on sale. Befriend people with power drills.

Look for sales and have friends that give you weird posters."

Interview conducted by Meredith Wright ’13

Maddy Bernstein '12

"I’d say my favorite part about my room is that I have all these different pictures of different places around the world that I love to look at and remind myself that there’s other stuff going on in the world besides stressful things at Princeton. And then I have lots of pictures of animals because I love animals.

I would say you definitely don’t have to spend a lot of money to make your room nice. The vast majority of things in my room are magazine cutouts or $5 lamps from IKEA or fake flowers or this little shelf thing that I got at a yard sale or art that I have made myself.

I actually had a lot more of my art up last year. I used to paint a lot when I was little, so it reminds me of my childhood and it definitely makes it more my own."

Interview conducted by Lisa Fierstein ’14

Cody Kitchen '14, AJ Glainena '14 and Gabe Reder '14

"We wanted some cool wall art, so I played around with Photoshop and thought this would be aesthetically pleasing. Kind of bring a fresh feel to the room, but also be relevant to us ... because it is us ... the four roommates. Always together. Even when we are apart.

[My favorite part is] my turret. When it’s a sunny day outside and you leave all the windows open and the blinds up so the breeze is flowing freely through, it’s a really refreshing place. I have my little perch on top of the world from which I yell at people below me.

Our eight person sectional sofa is really fantastic. Let me tell you why: The red leather shows that we have class, which is important to us. It makes it an incredibly social environment and people want to hang out in the room to chill. It really facilitates social gathering beyond the conventional pregame and going out scenario, which is something that I think is nice to have on campus.

Find a roommate who has a lot of money."

Interview conducted by Abby Williams ’14