Hidden in the back corner suite of Stevenson North’s eighth floor is the cozy abode of Shannon Bandur, a junior sociology major, and Katie Piper, a junior metalwork and jewelry major. Although the girls had never met before moving into the suite this year, they managed to hit it off and become stylish roommates.

“[We met] this year actually,” Bandur said. “She was just my suitemate and we just really lucked out and hit it off. We just decided to live together and it’s been awesome.”

Upon moving into the suite, the girls didn’t take long to discover they had tons in common. When they found out their schedules meshed well, they did the old switcheroo and became roommates. Not only did personalities and schedules blend well, but as it turns out, so did style.

The girls’ room is a burst of color; from the tie-dyed sheet that adorns the ceiling, to the multicolored swirled rug beneath their feet, everything is awash with color. While most of the items in the room were things the girls had before, they still went out and made a couple of joint purchases.

The girls felt the room needed something fun to grace its walls. They bought several old, cheesy records that they put up for display.

“We just got the cheesiest ones,” Bandur said. “The Dads is just a bunch of middle-aged men on the record and Jay Ferguson looks so suave and who doesn’t like ‘Lets Get Physical’ [by Olivia Newton John]?”

Also gracing the walls is a piece drawn by a friend titled, “The Friendly Breeze” which depicts both Bandur and Piper.

“We originally wanted to do a Beatles theme with all four roommates,” Bandur said. “Usually when people see it, they don’t think that it’s a really flattering picture, but I like it.”

Some of the artwork in the room was actually created by Piper, including a couple of drawings and a sculpture made out of organic materials. Her most prominently displayed pieces are her photographs posted next to the room’s window.

“I just got a camera and am getting into photography,” Piper said. “They’re just the first shots that I took. They came out pretty good so I was surprised.”

The most striking feature about the room is its sense of continuity and comfort. There is no sense of a dividing line between what is Piper’s and what is Bandur’s. Instead, everything meshes together in an atmosphere that invites people to come in and stay awhile.

“The thing I like about our room is that we were able to bring all of our stuff together,” Bandur said. “The room I had before was just [divided into] two completely different spaces and here you don’t feel like you’re crossing a line into the other person’s space.”

As much as they have already decorated and done in the room, Bandur and Piper still have a few more plans for it. Although they have already ‘adopted’ a hanging plant named Martha, the girls would like to add some more animated roommates to the place.

“We have talked about getting an animal like a fish, maybe a little aquarium or a beta fish,” Piper said. “I think our room is pretty earthy and I guess that it would be a little addition, another friend.”