From MTV to NIU, Cribs is in the house … well, residence hall.

Throughout the semester, Sweeps will delve into the dopest domiciles NIU students inhabit.

This week, we visit the pretty in pink … and purple pad of NIU students Amanda Johnson and Allison Holysz.

Amanda Johnson and Allison Holysz’s residence hall room could have ended up just like everyone else’s.

There is nothing particularly outstanding about their entryway. It is just the standard issue: name signs, dry-erase board and then a quirky listing of the many attributes of gymnasts, which both girls are. However, one thing sets this room apart.

“We didn’t know each other before we got here,” said Johnson, a freshman undecided major. “Our gymnastics coach just set us up with each other [over the phone], and we decided that we should coordinate and do the room in pink and purple.”

And coordinate they did – big time.

Everything in these girls’ room is pink and purple. The garbage cans are pink and purple, the drawers are pink and purple, the lamps are pink and purple, the lights are purple, the rug is pink and purple, the hangers are pink and purple – heck, even the girls’ beds are pink and purple.

“Allison bought the sheets for both of us,” Johnson said. “So now her bed has purple sheets with a pink bedspread and mine has pink sheets with a purple bedspread.”

The girls are not yet finished with their ode to all things girlie. Lining the ceiling in the room is a garland of pink and purple chiffon.

“We haven’t finished yet,” Johnson said. “We are still in the process of [putting the] flowers up with the lace. We will probably do more later also, but we have both just been too busy with gymnastics right now.”

Why the monopoly of pink and purple as opposed to any other colors?

“I don’t really know,” said Holysz, a freshman undecided major. “We just both like [pink and purple] and so we just picked out two shades that we both liked that worked together.”

These freshmen’s love of all things pink and purple didn’t come cheap either. In order to replicate the feel of Barbie’s mansion, both girls had to drop a couple bucks.

“I have no idea [how much money I spent]. Probably $200, but that’s just a rough estimate, so it is probably more than that,” Johnson said.

“I probably spent around $350, give or take,” said Holysz. “Most of [the money] went to Bed, Bath and Beyond or Linens and Things.”

Of course, those figures are not taking into account some of the more expensive items in the room, such as the girls’ computers or their VCR.

“I brought the VCR so that we could tape the Olympic Games when we first got here,” Johnson said.

Atop their lovely VCR is Holysz’s very own, top of the line … 12-inch television. But, don’t be fooled by its “space saving” size. The television fits perfectly on the ledge in front of the windows in the room and even has a built-in DVD player. Nope, not bad at all.

Next to the door, the girls keep their combination mini-fridge and microwave. Both roommates are NIU gymnasts, so keeping fit is a big part of their lives. The refrigerator clearly shows that.

“[The fridge has] a lot of yogurt because it’s easy to eat in the morning before we go weight-training at 6:45 a.m. There’s a lot of fruit in here right now because I just stocked up on it in order to finish off my dining dollars.”

And that’s the end of our tour of the gymnasts’ Barbie-doll fantasy room. From the chiffon trimmed ceiling to the pink and purple spotted run, this room is 100-percent girlie.