RoomHop is back!  It’s one of Bwog’s favorite features, in which we showcase rooms that are awesome, unique, or just plain pretty.  If you know of anyone with a distinct abode, send us a tip at bwog@columbia.edu and we’ll send a gnome with a camera.

College dorms are notorious for being drab and depressing.  Many, including those in the infamous McBain shaft, barely ever see daylight.

This is hardly the case for the cheery Broadway room Bwog visited earlier today.  Claire and Sarah (long first “Sar” as in a pirate “Arrrr”), CC ’11, were quite dissatisfied with the default color of their room and decided to give it a makeover.

The room is almost rectangular, with one diagonal where the door is, making it look much bigger than its meager 165 square feet.  It overlooks Broadway and sunlight pours in through the huge windows.

Sarah explained the choice of color, which Bwog crudely referred to as “orange,” while we listened to the entrancing sounds of Abida Parveen.  “It’s mango-slash-butternut squash,” she explained, gesturing at the walls with her fingers, painted ten different colors.  Specific shades make all the difference, it seems; one of her nails’ color is “brunette on the Internet.”

 

Claire, a visual arts major, designed stencils to paint vertical columns of red damasks on the narrower sections of wall.  Classy 45’s, some of which still look playable, line the wall above the light switch and carefully-placed trinkets on trays cover the surfaces.  A standing paper lamp accentuates the mix of CC and Lit Hum books that fill Sarah’s bookshelf, making them look less dreary and more sophisticated.


The room glows with red and orange mango, giving the place a vibe and energy that was lacking in the pair’s previous Carman suite, though the treatment doesn’t cover the entire room.  The wall behind the large dresser remains unpainted, since it was too heavy to move.  The designs are simple and tasteful, down to the matching Andy Warhol print above Sarah’s desk: “Art is what you can get away with.”

–AJB


Photos by Anish Bramhandkar