Renaissance Man-Style

While you wonder whether your Peter Griffin poster matches your Starry Night print, some freshmen have been putting up wallpaper.

H. Hai Pham ’09, Baruch Y. Shemtov ’08, Davone J. Tines ’09, and Matthew T. McClure ’09 see their suite as a long-term decorating project—from the rug to the light fixtures.

The common room, decked out in black, white, and orange, has a deliberately “bold, graphic theme,” explains Shemtov. A zebra-striped shower curtain and framed zebra prints adorn the wall above the fireplace. Two orange paper lanterns cover the overhead light to create a rich warm glow. “It’s a bit cheeky,” says Shemtov. “We used some kind of tacky pieces, like a lumberjack lamp.”

Most of this, McClure and Pham insist, is the work of Tines and Shemtov, who have masterminded the suite’s decoration.

Pham and Shemtov share the one double, which they styled for “the feel of an old men’s club,” Shemtov says. The walls are covered in an ornate, patterned fabric, and a dark wood armoire feels very Renaissance. Embellishing the room are various tchotchkes from Shemtov’s collection, like a 17th century portable lap desk, a model foot from a shoemaker, and Chinese porcelain urns.

Not all the bedrooms are as baroque. “While Baruch’s more about the overall feel of a room, I’m more interested in using the space in the most effective way,” explains Tines, who has a single. “From a design standpoint, I’m more practical and detail-oriented.”

In his room, a strong Velcro adhesive holds gold fabric to the walls, and framed sheet music hangs from gold rope and an ingeniously-used pan rack. The room has a warm, subdued atmosphere. “It feels like an extension of my house,” he says.

By contrast, McClure, the self-proclaimed “normal one,” fills his single with a Beatles poster, his bicycle, and flyers for an upcoming Glee Club concert. When asked about the differences between his room and the rest of the suite, he smiles knowingly and laughs.

His roommates, meanwhile, see the suite as a work in progress. “Sometimes it’ll be 3 a.m. and the kids will be moving everything around to get the right configuration,” says Pham.

Tines insists that this has only happened once.