Senior Sophie Salzman’s bedroom in her off-campus house at 17 College Street is eclectic, colorful and charged with personal meaning. Salzman’s effervescent personality is reflected in the great variety of decoration in the room: from posters of vintage French advertisements to Andy Warhol prints to postcards, colored glass bottles, flags and album covers. Salzman’s room is also filled with photos of her friends and family and mementos from her years at Colgate. Salzman has also surrounded herself with many reminders of her semester abroad in Copenhagen and her travels throughout Europe. Two Danish flags hang above her window, one of her walls is covered in postcards and posters from her family’s travels in Provence decorate the closet door. Salzman’s room is both cheerful and comforting, serving as an accurate representation of her personality: enthusiastic and energetic, but sweet and understanding. I can speak from personal knowledge as I know how much care Salzman took in her aesthetic choices when decorating the room. I am one of her housemates and was able to observe the room come together while also hearing her ideas before we even moved in. Last spring when we were both abroad and traveling together, she already mentioned many of the ideas that she has executed beautifully, such as thedecoupageboard. I admire the meticulous planning behind Salzman’s room and am so happy to have been able to feature a space that I was able to witness from its inception to reality.

 1) How does your room reflect your personal style?

 It’s colorful, and my personality is very lively. My room embodies that. It reflects the things that I love and my memories. There are photos from Provence with my family, a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” poster, because it’s my favorite movie and an old record that I decorated with colorful plastic spoons I got from fro-yo restaurants. I like to think of myself as unique and I think my room shows that. My favorite quotes are around the room too.

2) Tell me about one particularly important item in your room.

I have a lot of favorite items, but probably the most original one that encompasses an important semester of my life is my wooddecoupageboard filled with memories from my semester abroad in Copenhagen. It has maps, museum tickets, train tickets, fliers from festivals, concerts and notes that my friends wrote to me. I didn’t know what to do after I collected all of them, but I wanted to do something meaningful. I know I can keep this forever now and keep these memories in a singular, material way.

3) Where/from whom did you get your inspiration?

A lot is from myself. Pinterest, too, and interior design shops. I love Swank downtown, for example. The things I love, like frozen yogurt, travel, color, all come together in my room. I love walking back into this room and being in a welcoming space, and I feel really fortunate to have that.

Contact Eliza Graham at [email protected].