From the hallway, men and women’s dorm rooms may not look a lot different. On the doors – names, maybe a wipe board. But inside, there’s a world of difference. Girls may opt for flowers, stuffed animals and Brad Pitt, while guys may be minimalists, choosing solids and a Jennifer Lopez poster.

For some students, it’s crucial to decorate the room.

“It kind of sets the mood for the rest of the year,” Winchester sophomore Katie Richards said. “Last year we had a movie poster theme.”

Richards is living in Southwest Hall for a second year.

“You want to balance the cuteness with efficiency,” she said. “It’s a hard combination.”

Richards said that guys’ rooms seemed to typically have beer signs and posters of girls.

“Other than that, their moms definitely did it for them,” she said.

Campbellsville sophomore Alex Ison, a Southwest Hall resident who used to live in Pearce-Ford Tower, said she thinks it’s important to decorate.

“We have a ‘Friends’ night, and I like my room to be inviting so people will feel comfortable while they’re there,” she said.

Ison doesn’t think that guys have the same considerations when decorating.

“For some reason, I picture a guy’s room as real plain with flannel sheets and dark colors,” Ison said. “And usually kind of messy as well.”

Edgewood senior Bryan Butler, who began his fourth year living in the dorms, said he wishes he shared the decorating skills girls have.

“I’m envious of girls because their rooms seem nicer, comfortable and liveable,” he said. “I’m usually pretty thrilled if I can throw up a picture of my family. Then it’s like I’m living there.”

Butler said he thinks it’s poor taste when guys and girls have posters of the opposite sex on their walls.

Louisville freshman Jared Gallegos said he needed to make his PFT room seem homey.

“It is my sacred area of magic,” he said. “You feel so special when you have your own area.”

He said it he thought there wasn’t much of a difference between girls’ and guys’ rooms.

“I’ve seen some that are the same,” he said. “It depends on the person. It’s like a packet of M&Ms. We’re all the same flavor, just different colors.”

Not all students are excited about dorm decorating however.

“Socially, girls usually care more about their appearance than guys do,” said Terrence Spiller, a freshman from Duquoin, Ill. He lives in the all-male Keen Hall.

Bowling Green freshman Adam Vincent said he did not consider decorating important for his room in Gilbert Hall.

“It’s just a place to rest,” he said. “I just have what I need in there. On my bulletin board I have coupons.”

In response to the decorating drive of students like Richards and Ison, Vincent simply said, “That’s girls. They do that.”

Either way, it isn’t always easy to decorate a dorm room.

“These rooms are kind of trashy anyway so it’s hard to make it look nice,” said Megan Haug, a freshman from Evansville, Ind.

Haug lives in Poland Hall, where she said the furniture can’t be moved and the space is a bit cramped.

Nashville freshman Katie Gallimore said she had a bad first impression of her PFT room.

“Those rooms look like prison cells. The first time I saw it I cried,” Gallimore said. “But it ends up being the coolest room in the world.”

Reach Marci Kacsir at [email protected]