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Gabe Perrin and his four roommates weren’t sure what to expect when they got a vague text from Perrin’s dad a day after they moved into their house in Syracuse this semester. “Something funny” was coming in the mail, he said.

It arrived on their doorstep a few days later: a blow-up doll.

The friends threw it on the bed of one of their roommates, Angus Kupinas. He decided to hang it from his ceiling and put his scarves around its neck. His room had lacked decoration the past two years, he said, so the inflatable worked great in his space.

“This year I was like, ‘I need to go all out now because I actually had a lot of fun decorating,” Kupinas, a computer science major, said. “I try to be different with it; I try to do something weird.”

As upperclassmen begin signing leases for next year, The Daily Orange posted on social media asking Syracuse University students to share how they decorate their off-campus housing. Mementos from partners, home and yes, the blow-up doll scarf hanger, are just a few of the things that fill students’ homes.

The five roommates said they “got lucky” with their ivy-covered house. Cozied next to professors’ homes in the quiet Eastside neighborhood, they found the lease around Halloween last year through an old friend. The house is better than other options because it has some vintage charm, Perrin said, like old windows and wooden furniture.

In the living room, a collection of items, like hand warmers and a cat pillow, is strewn across the floor. On the shelves, LEGO minifigures and toy cars line up like they’re ready for action.

“We just like having little trinkets around,” said Ant Millan, a senior television, radio and film major. “I just don’t know whose LEGO stuff this is, I like it though.”

Millan said physical media is important to the group because it’s a literal display of their interests and what they like to do, watch and listen to.

A Japanese good luck dog and his dad’s old mug sit on Gabe Perrin’s desk in his Eastside house, where he lives with four roommates. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer

Speaking of trinkets, a green bong hasn’t left its spot on the kitchen table since the five friends moved in. A vase of flowers to the right complements it, while a slew of newspapers, mail and packs of Chinese cigarettes line the table.

Back in Kupinas’ room, music posters cover the wall above his bed. A big Arsenal Football Club fan, Kupinas sports an Arsenal scarf above his bed, along with basketball and soccer jerseys. $1 CDs line the built-in shelves on the wall. When Kupinas lived in a South Campus apartment last year, his room was a completely different story.

“Last year, I was on South and I was talking with this girl, and she said it looked like an insane asylum in my room because I just had the white walls,” Kupinas said.

He enjoys his time in his room more now that he’s incorporated more elements to make it feel more like his own.

Abbey Fitzpatrick, a senior studying political science and history, is also a lover of physical media.

In her apartment near Walnut Park, Fitzpatrick’s desk and nightstand are stacked with books for school and for fun, like an illustrated version of “Little Women” and other reads from book swaps at Kelsey’s Coffee and Friends.

As a history major, Fitzpatrick has always loved anything with an older feel.

Worn gold frames above her kitchen sink and thrifted plates on the bar cart show her love for antiquing with her mom. Fitzpatrick enjoys finding the cool stories behind the things she thrifts.

“I try to make it vintage and inspired by where we’re from, is the vibe I go for,” Fitzpatrick said.

Her fridge is covered with magnets she collected while abroad in Florence, depicting places like Italy and London. Ever since she studied abroad, Fitzpatrick has been collecting more magnets from places she visits to add to the decor.

Cat magnets hold up a card her roommate, Brie Iaia, received from her mom, where the corner of the paper was chewed off by Iaia’s cat. For Fitzpatrick, a calendar her mom creates every year with pictures of their dog helps her feel close to home, she said.

Brie Iaia’s cat peeks out of her room in the apartment she shares with Abbey Fitzpatrick. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer

Fitzpatrick said she enjoys showing her personality in her space by incorporating vivid colors, with yellow being a recent favorite. With a string of autumn leaf lights, her room is already decorated for fall, something she doesn’t get to experience in her hometown of Monterey, California.

Iaia and Fitzpatrick have been living together since freshman year. They’re both West Coast natives; Fitzpatrick is from California, and Iaia is from Washington. Fitzpatrick likes to include reminders of their home states, such as pictures and maps, so they don’t feel so far away.

“I love having little bits of home everywhere, even if it’s just magnets,” Fitzpatrick said

Fitzpatrick said their space is a “work in progress” — she’s moving things around and playing with what she likes best. But, items from home are always present, like an otter print from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

A framed, brightly colored map of landmarks in California sits on the wall above the two’s bar cart, while a map of Washington state hangs on another wall in their living room.

“It’s been really cool to see how our spaces have changed over the years, how things have evolved,” Fitzpatrick said. “Some things have stayed the whole time, like random things that have been since the freshman dorm still here.”

It’s Zachary Perrier’s first time living outside of Ohio. The first-year graduate student said coming to SU for grad school felt like a jump, so personalizing his off-campus apartment to make it feel like home was a must.

Perrier’s mom bought a plant at Kmart 30 years ago, which she propagated and repotted so Perrier could bring his own version to school. His family keeps a garden at home, and he wanted to bring that piece of home with him to his new space to make it feel more lived in.

Before Perrier was born, his aunt started to cross-stitch a map of the U.S. with symbolic icons representing each state. She gifted it to him when he left for grad school this year. Perrier said this past summer was most likely his last time living with his family, a bittersweet way to leave for his next chapter.

“You feel like you need those reminders of home, but also of the people at the home because that’s what makes it the home,” Perrier said.

A poster from “Band On The Run” hangs in his living room, an album he and his partner love. Perrier keeps a Guinness magnet from his partner’s trip to Ireland on his fridge as a reminder of her. The pair have been together for almost four years and are currently doing long distance while in grad school.

Similarly, Millan has a “girlfriend corner” on his wall where he keeps Polaroid photos of them, along with some of him and his friends.

A group of students’ kitchen table is full of trinkets: a green bong, deck of cards and fresh flowers. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer

Growing up, Millan said he didn’t decorate his room, but in Syracuse he decided to make it feel more like himself. He’s included music posters from Soundgarden, a Spiderman poster and his TV from home, where he plays video games, something he always used to do with his younger brother.

“Moving to a different space, I was like, ‘I really want it to feel like mine,’” Millan said. “I wanted a spot where I could feel comfortable.”

Perrin has the “big room” in the house, and he said he’s always changing what he chooses to display. But above all else, he’s a collector. He’s been compiling records since he was in high school, and the collection is still growing today on his shelves.

On the other side of Perrin’s room is plenty of sports memorabilia. The broadcast and digital journalism major keeps all his media passes from sports games he’s covered, hanging them on the wall inside his door.

Sports are something Perrin has always shared with friends and family, so it connects him to back home, just north of Indianapolis. He likes to keep these things to hold onto the memories and remember what he’s done so far in his college career, he said.

A Japanese good luck dog and an old mug of his dad’s from the 1980s sit on his desk. Looking at Perrin’s bulletin board, it’s filled with reminders of the people he keeps close and the things he loves, like notes from his girlfriend and photos of his dog. Some stickers have stayed on for years now.

“It’s a combination of stuff I love, and funny sh*t really,” Perrin said.

Some decorating methods are simply yearly traditions for students. Since their sophomore year, Perrin and Millan have gone to Goodwill regularly to find framed photos to hang on their walls. Over time, a theme of animals emerged. Their favorites include a kitten in a teapot, a painting of a dog wearing glasses, a colorfully striped scarf and an owl — named “Marty” by the roommates — admiring a glass of wine.

“Sophomore, junior year we’d go at least once a week, it was almost an addiction,” Perrin said.

Perrin and Millan have lived together since freshman year — a “rare case,” Millan said. Since then, the two have gradually roped in their friends to become roommates also, and now the group of five get to share this mesh of animal photos with each other.

Fitzpatrick and Iaia share matching Brie cheese Jellycats on their beds from freshman year, mimicking Iaia’s first name. Whether it’s with a stuffed animal or a map hanging on the wall, a touch of decoration says something about the person living in the home.

“It’s a reflection of who you are, not just of other people,” Perrier said.

DISCLAIMER: Abbey Fitzpatrick is a staff photographer for The Daily Orange. She did not influence the decision to publish this editorial board.

Published on September 18, 2025 at 2:25 am
Contact Mia: mjones58@syr.edu