Winner Learns Fast in Dorm Decor Lesson

SHOP AROUND: SUITE DEAL!
by Lz Granderson

If SAHARA McGRAW, the 2003 winner of the accessAtlanta/99X Dorm Decorating Contest, studies as hard as she shops, then college will be a breeze. McGraw won a $500 shopping spree with Morning X host Leslie Fram --- with accessAtlanta picking up the bill --- along with other cool stuff like tickets to Ozzfest from the radio station. Fram, a collector of funky folk art, is a hard-core shopper who offers tips on the station's Web site.

McGraw and Fram, along with Fram's husband/chauffeur Lanny West, accessAtlanta photog Jenni Girtman and yours truly, spent more than six hours fighting traffic, heat and sometimes each other Friday in search of the perfect item for McGraw's dorm at Oglethorpe University. The adventure went something like this:

DESIGN CHALLENGED: "My mom once lived in a treehouse with her 22-year-old Rastafarian boyfriend in Costa Rica, so I didn't learn too much from her about how to decorate," said McGraw, whose parents are bona fide hippies.

Her father lives in Roswell but plans to sell his home and become an apple farmer. She wanted to call and tell him that she had won the contest, but he was in New York during last week's blackout. "They are cool for parents, fun to hang out with," she said. "But very flaky people."

NO-SHAG ZONE? The first item McGraw --- a 20-year-old economics major --- purchased was a twin bed converter from Bed, Bath & Beyond in Buckhead. She initially wanted to join the twin beds to make a king. But that idea was cast aside when she decided to make the second bed into a sofa. "I think you'll have more room that way," Fram said.

McGraw quipped, "Now that I think about it, I don't think I'm going to need a king-size bed this year."

FOCUSED FRAM: Despite her dorm decorating expertise, Fram never lived in one. "I had an apartment, so I went straight into responsibility,'' said Fram, whose current home is a Southwestern/folk art blend. "I found what I wanted to do really early in life. When I was doing radio from midnight to 6 a.m., my friends were in a sorority."

COLOR ME SAFE: "Do you like them hard or soft," Fram asked, squeezing pillows at Target in Buckhead, where more than $200 went to bedding. And while Todd Oldham's college collection was fun, it was too "out there" for McGraw's "funky style" and preference for mellow colors. "I like earth-tone colors like brown and green," she said.

A DO-IT-YOURSELF TYPE: "You do know it's assembly required," I asked as McGraw loaded a desk hutch into her cart. But this is the same girl who rebuilt the engine of a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme her father gave her. "She's a fixer-upper," said McGraw, who learned how to fix cars from a book.

GLOBAL CONNECTION: Among the unique purchases was a hand-painted fir mask from Planetarian Ornaments in Virginia-Highland. The store owner's niece makes the masks from her Pakistani home. The clerk, Tanya "Bamboo" Bostwick, explained that the woman ran away from her abusive husband and is unable to get work because of it. "The mask is used in tribal ceremonies and symbolizes spirit."

YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE: McGraw's favorite item is the goat-skin Moroccan lamp she found at Soul Kiss in Little Five Points. Ranging from $28 to $135, the hand-painted, henna-dyed fixtures ranked high on Sahara's list from the beginning. "I come in here a lot, and I can never afford anything out of here," she said. "But now I get to splurge."

OOGLE-THORPE? Among the famous Oglethorpe alums are poet Sidney Lanier and major league baseball player Luke Appling. One name not listed in the school literature is Michael Morrison. He founded the Inserection Adult Fantasy chain in 1994. (We didn't go shopping at any of his stores.)

ALL WOMAN: McGraw's suite-mate, Beth Bosserman, was impressed with the final product --- especially the sexy faux fur draped over the makeshift sofa. The fabric was almost $20 a yard at Hancock Fabrics in Decatur. "You have no idea how shy this girl used to be," said Bosserman, who was McGraw's freshman roommate. "A couple of days ago, she gave a boy her telephone number, and now this. She's just growing up before my eyes."

JUST THE STATS, MA'AM: Six hours, nine stores, 45 intown miles and only one coffee break. Fram was a machine.

IT'S IN THERE: The best find of the whole adventure was the $12.50 Moroccan-style desk lamp from the Family Dollar at the Suburban Plaza in Decatur. "I can't believe we've driven all over this town, and everything we need is at the dollar store," Fram said. McGraw also purchased a cheetah-print footstool and a four-tier shelving unit.

Upon completion of the room, Leah Hoffacher, McGraw's childhood friend, summed it up: "It's a more stylized Sahara, but it's Sahara."