How to decorate your room to fit your Bristol stereotype

There’s more to it than fairy lights

7 years ago | UPDATED 7 years ago

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The Surrey Girl

You’ve moved on from the safety of Wills and into the big wide world of second year accommodation, where you’re almost definitely living with other Surrey girls. You’re a regular at Motion and your nights out are expertly archived through a series of flattering Insta filters taken on your iPhone 7. You’ll spend the next day moaning about your awful hangover as you snuggle up on the sofa in your extra fluffy blanket, but it never lasts long because your Ocado order arrives and brings your recovery combo of avo and rye bread.

Your room should be filled with all things pastel, from your fluffy blue rug to your dusty pink Reeboks – your aesthetic is undeniably saccharine. Even your yoga mat should match the colour scheme and is key to letting everyone know just how flexible your body is, although you haven’t actually been to class in months.

A Parisian poster adds just the right amount of wunderlust to the room, suggesting that you love to travel but you’d never go anywhere without public WiFi access. Pair this with your weekly reading of cultural bible Look magazine and your cute patterned notepad and you’re just about prepared to do a degree.

Straighteners must be easily accessible at all times in case of a blonde hair emergency, as should your animal print make-up bag – stocked to the brim but ready to chuck into your Longchamp tote at any moment.

To avoid homesickness invest in a reed diffuser, preferably from John Lewis, to bring the scent of Surrey to your flat. To add to the comfort everything should always be bathed in the soft glow of fairy lights, whether they’re strung across your shelves to make your folders look extra pretty or around your bed as a kind of landing strip for post-Motion visitors.

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The Wannabe Bristolian

Have you seen the Clifton Suspension Bridge? Of course you have – it’s your screensaver. Your weekends are spent strolling through the idyllic Bristol countryside with the dog you hire weekly from BorrowMyDoggy. It all started in Freshers when you had your first drop of cider at The Bag of Nails and suddenly found yourself referring to people as “my lover” in a heavy Bristolian accent. Since then, you’ve been a regular rambler and have asked for a new Barbour jacket for your birthday.

Your room is your safe space, and therefore it should be filled with things to make you happy. Bedsheets the colour of the rolling hills you so love to walk in, baskets made from the branches you love to brush past and a gourd picked up on your last stroll although you’re yet to identify its exact taxonomy.

Your lightweight waterproof jacket and organic canvas bag should be easily accessible in case you’re taken by an overwhelming urge to hike, which seems to be happening to you more and more regularly.

Wicker baskets are the perfect organic storage solution to hide away all your family heirlooms from home that you can’t bear to part with but will ruin your wholesome vibe slightly.

Your plaid pyjamas should lie invitingly atop your ultra-soft bed, ready to be crawled into by 10pm after a heavy session at the micro-brewers. Your personalised beer bottle can be left nonchalantly around for people to comment on, allowing you to tell them the story of how you made it from your Amazon home-brew kit.

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The Festival Girl

Bristol was always the place for you – it’s filled with endless club nights and underground gigs that you can blog about weeks before they’ve featured on Spotify Discover. You spend half your life recovering from the night before and the other half trying to get glitter out of your hair. You’ve got an impressive selection of fancy dress options, some of which verge on the edge of cultural appropriation, but it’s ok because you’re super cute. The highlight of your year is undoubtedly Love Saves the Day.

No one’s going to take you seriously as an edgy gal if you don’t have a mandala duvet cover, so make that your priority and have it as the centrepiece decoration of your room. Pair with a fluffy rug for ultimate colour clash chic.

Over the bed should hang a poster of something you’re really passionate about as long as it’s been featured on Tumblr in the last six months. The ethereal glow of fairy lights makes any room seem cosy, but these aren’t the only lights that should make up the vibe of your room – a lava lamp is also essential for that throwback retro feel from when people really knew how to party.

Obviously you’ve got major wunderlast because what self-respecting festi-gal doesn’t? If the wooden elephant from your trip to Bots isn’t enough then invest in a scratch map so you can visually boast about all the places you’ve been without having to actually talk about it and explain that you were only in India for a four hour stop-over – but it counts, right?

Glitter should of course be everywhere – in pots, in bottles, in between your sheets – and used liberally. People might think glitter’s only for special occasions but you know differently. Pair with some beat up Stan Smiths, preferably from an exclusive collaboration, for a year round festival inspired style.

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The Rugby Boy

Most of the week you’re a dedicated team player, stoically attending training, dutifully downing your protein shake and forcing more carbs into your body than have ever been featured on Man v. Food. But once a week come the sports socials – your chance to get loose with your mates, put on your team tie and head to Bunker for some good old fashioned sharking.

Dark navy sheets are the way to go to hide the stains of a multiple of sins and cut washing frequency in half. They also go great with the red cups that should be on every surface in preparation for the next hardcore lash sesh. You’re not one for wastage, so you should put the endless cups to good use and have some double as a pen holder.

A massive tub of protein is of course compulsory to show everyone just how bulked you are, in case your regular gym stories weren’t proof enough.

Posters will let you express the many facets of your personality, from your skill at beer pong to your appreciation of an attractive woman who can play sport flashing a cheek. By showing the intellectual side of you they’ll make you almost irresistible, so you should always have a selection of condoms at hand.

A half-eaten Five Guys isn’t a permanent fixture, but it will add a sense of homeliness to the room and a delicious scent to mask any hungover horrors. It’ll also save you a trip out the Tesco in the morning where you might bump in to some unwelcome faces from last night.