Dorm Room Dirt: Decorating Tips, Inspiration and Disco Balls Reporting and Photography by Caitlin Bigelow ’11
From Dirt Devils to disco balls, Juniata students describe the essentials of their dorms, favorite decorating ideas, and their fantasy roommates. So where do you live on campus? Alex Shope, biology ’12: We live in the basement of Cloister, a.k.a. “The Farm.” We wanted to live here because of the location: it’s in the middle of campus. And we also liked how much space there was. We like to hang out.
But….why was it called The Farm? David: I guess because of the
Did you guys have a game plan for decorating? David: Well, all the flags were part of the plan from the beginning. Whenever we traveled we bought flags from the countries we were in. From there we added posters and signs we liked and we all brought stuff. If you had $500 to spend for the room what would you buy? Alex: Oh, we’d get a sweet wraparound couch…or maybe two! A stereo system, a disco ball, and we’d try and bribe Will Ferrell to room with us. But, we’d make him bunk his bed. Could you really get all that for 500 bucks? Alex: Craigslist. You can get anything on Craigslist.
“Well, my roommate
brought her tent up and we were just sitting here and had the idea to fit the poles into where the bed bunk pins go and then drape her sari over it. It’s pretty crazy that it fit so well.” —Kelsey Myers ’13
talks about the canopy she and her roommate erected above the bed in their Lesher Hall double.
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Winter ’11 | Juniata College
The Farm? David Grim, international politics ’12): Well, this summer I worked in the state capital and I met a Juniata alumnus, Tom Creighton ’67, who is a state representative. He found out I went to Juniata and asked where I was living. I told him the basement of Cloister and he said, “Oh, you mean The Farm!” Turns out he lived there also while going here and that’s what they called it.
wooden beams in the ceiling. We liked the name though and are trying to bring it back.