The Best Nest

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Senior Emily Blease’s room enveloped me with warmth as I walked inside. Not physical warmth, but complete, satisfying coziness. Her room does what Anthropologie’s home section tries to do: makes bohemian style livable, comfortable and personal. But Blease goes beyond that; her room is authentic. The lighting is dim but not dark and matches the atmosphere of the room perfectly. Blease’s paisley bedspread in pleasant but slightly muted tones and her fun square, patterned red lamp shade on a small lamp are cheerful and stylish elements that remind me of the way Blease dresses. Blease has almost every inch of wall space covered with decorations: everything from tickets to vintage records, posters, tapestries and sketches. She has a cut-out of a Batman mask, an old Christmas card, black and white postcards and cards from friends personalized with glitter and marker. Though the types of items range widely and the walls are very covered, the space feels neither overly-crowded nor disorganized. Blease’s devotion to her home state of Minnesota, her family, friends, Colgate and Morocco, where she spent a semester abroad, are all visible in aspects of her room.

What I have come to find this semester in writing this column is that surrounding oneself with reminders of things that one loves is what personal space is all about. Visual reminders serve as sources of comfort for people, and often people want to be reminded of who they are and who loves them, so we put things in our rooms that bring these things to mind. Peoples’ rooms at college are havens, away from the stress of class and papers, helping connect them back to home and, in doing so, become homes themselves.

How does your room reflect your personal style?

It’s super colorful. There are things from my travels next to my mirror. I also chose the records on the wall for a reason – Janis Joplin is a badass and Prince is from Minnesota. It’s colorful, weird and not coordinated. All the pictures on the wall are happy.

Tell me about one particularly important item in your room.

For me, there are four most important items in my room. The first are the pictures of my grandparents above the mirror on my dresser – they are my favorite people in world. Then my name in Arabic script, the rug hanging up on the wall and the painting near the records. They’re all from my trip to Morocco and remind me of how important my time there was.

Where/from whom did you get your inspiration?

Myself. When I move into a room I immediately need things on the wall; for them to be covered. Everything on the walls is me. I had it all up so quickly because I need things on the wall and I need to have decorations in the room. I put stuff up that makes me feel comfortable and that I like looking at.

Contact Eliza Graham at [email protected].