Bedrooms of Bethel

Within the four walls of cramped dorm rooms, creativity and personality collide for Bethel University students.

By Alex Eigen | Royal Report

Junior Allegra Rose Berger blissfully poses for a shoot for Pottery Barn Teen in her Bethel University dorm room. “I think that made me want to decorate my room really cool, it was on the Pottery Barn Teen blog too.” Berger said. “It was going to be a lot of places.” | Photo courtesy of Allegra Rose Berger

Allegra Rose Berger lives in what she calls, a “Magical Treehouse.” With walls laden with photos, dream catchers and all things inspiring, the Bethel junior has created a space that is unique and all her own. Berger, a popular blogger with a large Instagram following credits her decorating ability to her experience with both photography and blogging.

“I just really like creating visually pleasing environments, it brings me joy,” Berger said. “I’m always trying to find inspiration; the space I live in is very important to me.”

Berger recently had the opportunity to team up with Pottery Barn Teen to review some of her favorite pieces on her YouTube channel dorm tour as well as her blog.

“I think that made me want to decorate my room really cool, it was on the Pottery Barn Teen blog too,” Berger said. “It was going to be a lot of places.”

“My room is safe space where I can find quiet time, inspiration, and have time to reflect. — Allegra Rose Berger, junior

Berger’s daily planner holds her busy schedule consisting of reminders and to-do lists scrawled over the pages. Balancing work, a social life and school, the art major has one mantra for this upcoming summer: Do less.

“My room is safe space where I can find quiet time, inspiration, and have time to reflect. One thing that I’ve been trying to do more of this semester is value rest. I feel like I’ve been saying yes to every opportunity that comes my way. I’ve been trying to use my room as a space I can go back to and just chill. I don’t ever do homework in my room. I don’t see my room as a space that I can work in that way.”

Her escape from life’s chaotic strains still remains to be her “Magical Treehouse,” perched in Lissner Hall.

Junior Haley Gibbs shows off her vibrant taste in décor displayed on the walls of her Nelson Hall suite. “A lot of the stuff I have I’ve gotten from thrift shops or good will. Gibbs said. “I think those things mean a lot to me because other people have had those things first and to know that they meant something to them. “ | Photo by Alex Eigen

Haley Gibbs calls the stairwell of Nelson Hall home along with her roommate, freshman resident assistant, Asia Mattson. The duo has braved the lack of air conditioning with a smile.

“I don’t think we’ve unplugged our fan since we moved in,” Gibbs said.

The Nelson stairwell is also home to freshmen girls who come and go from Mattson and Gibbs’s room.

“It’s just a very open space, and with my roommate being an RA we always have girls coming in and out. It’s really nice to be able to open this space for them.”

“I really like our room because it’s just filled with us.” — Haley Gibbs, junior

Gibbs has taken advantage of the cozy nook of her cubby bed inside the wall with Christmas lights winding around the corners. Any wall space without a smiling photo, student activities poster or handmade craft is hard to find.

“It’s fun to go shopping and pick up little things that my roommate would like,” Gibbs said. “I really like our room because it’s just filled with us.”

Kind words plastered on neon Post-It notes and little notecards grace Gibbs’s and Mattson’s desks amongst displays of brightly colored picture frames that hold cherished photos.

“Both of us really like words of affirmation so it’s fun to leave little notes around the room and show each other we care in that way,” Gibbs said.

With décor and words just as vibrant as the roommate duo, what they lack in air conditioning they make up for in their joyful Nelson Hall dorm room.

Senior Mara Woetzel reminisces on how she came across the strange metal piece that her roommates now use as a pegboard in their living room. “Kendall Soderstrom and I were out taking photos for a graphic design class.” Woetzel remembers. “We were behind a building getting side shots and we found it on the ground and it just looked so cool. Both of us have that creative mindset.” | Photo by Alex Eigen

Senior Mara Woetzel’s passion for art began with crayons. Years later her passion would grow to cover the walls of her Arden Village suite at Bethel University.

“When I was young people would tell me that I was good, and I kept it up,” Woetzel said. “My art story goes like this: Wow your stick person has fingers and other details, what an artist! I’ll put this one on the fridge.”

Upon stepping foot inside the suite that Woetzel shares with five other girls, one simply cannot miss the large metal peg board that holds an interesting story. Filled with art prints, coffee sleeves and photos the girls of room B2 have found purpose for the strange piece of metal.

“Kendall Soderstrom and I were out taking photos for a graphic design class,” Woetzel remembers. “We were behind a building getting side shots and we found it on the ground and it just looked so cool. Both of us have that creative mindset.”

Woetzel’s favorite works hang above her small twin bed. One of her favorite pieces being one of the grandfather she sadly never got the chance to meet, and another from a time that she decided to take a pot of ink and paint the snow into a beautiful landscape.

“Sometimes inspiration just hits you and it’s like man this is what I want to do.” — Mara Woetzel, senior

“Sometimes inspiration just hits you and it’s like man this is what I want to do,” Woetzel said. “That was one of those moments, I’m going to go paint the snow.”

Mara Woetzel insists that the theme of her dorm can be considered “thrift shop,” but her art belongs anywhere but.