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The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter.

I have learned so much from my wonderful roommates in the three years that I have known and lived with them. I could go on and on about Ellie, Leah, and Claire and how much they have helped me grow as a friend and person (and I’m sure as the weeks go on, I will sit down and write some sort of emotional article dedicated to them), but one of the simplest things they have taught me is the power of decorating. 

If you took a look into my room at home, you would see some light gray walls, basic bedroom furniture and…

Yeah, that’s about all you’d find. I have never been one to focus on interior design, half because I don’t want to spend the money on things I technically do not “need,” and half because I seriously flirt the line between cute decor and outdated, maximalistic, uncoordinated “stuff.” Either way, I am definitely not one to decorate my personal space. 

Here’s where my roommates come into the mix. 

When I began living with Claire, Ellie, and Leah in a shared townhouse space last year, I brought kitchen supplies, school materials, and a couple pieces of furniture – and was perfectly fine with that. However, the three of them brought posters, fairy lights, colored lamps, an egg rug, lemon bath towels and a pink wind chime that hung in front of the vent in our living room. At first, I will admit, I thought they were a little silly for packing their cars with (what I thought was) unnecessary clutter. 

But as we started to set up our townhouse, I began to realize that we were creating our own home. 

Each piece that we brought to our living room, bathroom, kitchen or even the hallway created a hodgepodge of our things – like a scrapbook of our friendship – with each decoration representing some part of ourselves that we were selecting, splitting and sharing with each other. 

And the finishing product was imperfectly us. 

I could come home after twelve hours of school, work, dance, or the library and get right onto one of our many couches, curl up with someone’s mom’s hand-me-down knitted blanket and listen to the pink wind chime jingle above me as I drifted off to sleep while watching an old “Survivor” episode with my roommates. The place we created in that standard, white-walled townhouse was ours, and I thank my roommates’ abilities to decorate our space for that completely. 

So, as we have moved into our own house this year (a pink house, nonetheless), I made sure to pitch in this time around with the decorations. The four of us hung lights, taped up some little posters, nailed in some record cases and found a new place for that little, pink wind chime. I have come to seriously appreciate the difference a space that you have created and shaped together can have on a group of people. 

This is our home and we all belong here. 

And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Riley Connors is a member of the St. Bonaventure chapter of Her Campus and plans to write about college, careers, movies and just about anything that comes to her mind that week. She is a senior Adolescent Education and English double major. Outside of Her Campus, Riley is a member of the SBU Dance Team and is a part of SBU College Democrats. She also has a radio show with her roommates on St. Bonaventure's radio station, WSBU-FM. In her free time, Riley enjoys hanging out with her friends and girlfriend, spending time outside in the sun and listening to any song by Boygenius, Hozier or Lizzy McAlpine. She cherishes her time spent at home with her family and dog but loves her St. Bonaventure family that she has created in her three years of college.