It's a frightening time in the life of every Brandeis student: the terror and triumph of the randomly-assigned housing lottery. But whether your number was 23 or 2,300, there are countless ways you can make your new living space an attractive place to relax and regenerate. When I found out last spring that I would have a common room in my suite, I realized what an exciting opportunity I had to create a great living space for me and my friends. Whether it's hanging old art projects, discarded tissue paper sheets or photocopies of your hands around the room, there are countless ways to make your common room come alive. Heed my directions and you, too, can live in a space any interior designer would envy.

First and foremost, if you want to draw people in, make your common room full of color. You can play it safe and use colored Christmas lights, which are cheap and guaranteed to liven up any room. Make sure you steer clear of the boring white lights; choose an unusual color, one which will have fewer associations with the jovial holiday.

Wall art instantly brightens up plain white walls. If you have access to a photocopier, the sky is the limit. Photocopy your hands, face and other body parts. To really make them pop off the walls, tape your photocopies onto larger sheets of colored paper or tissue paper available in any craft or stationery store.

Once you've drawn people in, keep them there with activities that will also decorate your walls. Use the not-so-well-kept secret of suite decorating: coloring books! My suite has used everything from Hello Kitty to Little Princesses to Halloween coloring books. We get our religious education from books such as Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors (imagine the possibilities!) and Bible Fish Stories. Keep the books out on the table with a bowl of crayons, and let people color their hearts out.

When a picture is complete, put it on the wall and let everyone enjoy it. If you're like me and refuse to have your creativity restrained by the shackles that are lines, feel free to express your artistic side by coloring outside the lines as much as possible. The more fun you have, the more fun the room will be. My suitemates relegated my pictures to the window shade, making sure to roll it up whenever we have company over. Don't let this kind of attitude discourage you; go for the gold!

If you like letting your guests help decorate the room, invest in a "doodle roll" or any large sheet of paper that can be put on the wall. Hang some markers next to it and invite visitors to draw or write whatever they please. You can always expand the doodle roll into a "quote wall," writing down any and every amusing line uttered in the suite.

A plethora of colorful blankets and pillows is a cozy way to add color to any couch or chair, and colorful shot glasses add much-needed splashes of color to the counters. The tiny cups are great for holding jelly beans, cashews or little flowers picked fresh from the lawn. You can keep the cups out for when you want to consume small amounts of juice or milk.

Beware: Some dcor innovations may meet some resistance from your suitemates. Don't be surprised if someone picks up a piece of tin foil from the inside of a Pringles can and asks, "Is this art or garbage?"

"I'm sitting here and I think I'm sitting in a fun-house. It makes me a little wacky at times," said Andrew Giordano '08, one of my suitemates and dcor-critics. Giordano, an art history major with a penchant for elegant interior design, often scoffs at my creations.

Don't let the of Giordanos of the world crush your dreams of design. If you make it, they'll only look like jerks when they criticize them. Whatever you put on the walls will last forever, or at least until someone "spills" something on the walls.