GRAND FORKS (AP) - The sorority house where Dru Sjodin once lived is getting a makeover.

"There's been kind of a dark cloud over the house since Dru went missing," said Katie O'Keefe-Hale, a Gamma Phi Beta sorority member who now lives in Fargo.

The 1930s sorority house was redecorated over the summer.

"We wanted a new start for these girls and a fresh change for Gamma Phi, and it was definitely time to update the house," said Erinn Hakstol, a chapter adviser and O'Keefe-Hale's sister.

The house has new furniture, window treatments, floor coverings and fresh paint.

The $40,000 redecorating project was paid for by donations, chapter dues and loans.

"When I first walked in, my mouth hit the floor," said Megan Pohlman, a senior who doesn't live in the house. "I wanted to move back so bad."

Her favorite part is the "believe" mirror in the foyer.

The word, in silver script adhered to a mirror, is one of the first things one sees entering the house.

"It's just a great way to enter your house, to have hope for the day," Pohlman said.

A photo of Sjodin still hangs at the bottom of the stairs in the basement. In the white matte, friends have written messages to her in black marker. The walls around it have been painted pink, her favorite color.

Sjodin lived at the house during the 2002-03 school year, O'Keefe-Hale said. She was living off-campus with a fellow Gamma Phi at the time she disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall parking lot in the fall of 2003. Her body was found near Crookston, Minn., the following April.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., of Crookston, is on trial in Fargo on a charge of kidnapping resulting in her death.

"She was one of those personalities that kind of infiltrated that place," Hakstol said, of the sorority house. "She was one of those girls that lights up the place."

On Thursday, about 40 members practiced, clapping and singing, for the upcoming fall recruitment of new members. Classes start Tuesday.

"It definitely helps to have new girls and the house looking new," said Stephanie Perusse, the Gamma Phi president. "It's just a fresh start."