diff --git a/src/App.js b/src/App.js
index 3879c14..01ea17c 100644
--- a/src/App.js
+++ b/src/App.js
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ const App = () => (
       name="rooms"
       list={RoomList}
       create={RoomCreate}
-      icon={RoomIcon} />
+      icon={RoomIcon}
+    />
     <Resource name="connections" />
   </Admin>
 );
diff --git a/src/components/rooms.js b/src/components/rooms.js
index dc2fc30..5e5cd7c 100644
--- a/src/components/rooms.js
+++ b/src/components/rooms.js
@@ -25,15 +25,12 @@ export const RoomList = props => (
   </List>
 );
 
-function generateRoomRecord() {
-  return {
-    room_name: "",
-    public: true,
-    alias: "",
-  }
-}
-
-const validateDisplayName = fieldval => fieldval === undefined ? "synapseadmin.rooms.room_name_required" : fieldval.length === 0 ? "synapseadmin.rooms.room_name_required" : undefined;
+const validateDisplayName = fieldval =>
+  fieldval === undefined
+    ? "synapseadmin.rooms.room_name_required"
+    : fieldval.length === 0
+    ? "synapseadmin.rooms.room_name_required"
+    : undefined;
 
 function approximateAliasLength(alias, homeserver) {
   /* TODO maybe handle punycode in homeserver URL */
@@ -47,8 +44,7 @@ function approximateAliasLength(alias, homeserver) {
   // heuristic.
   try {
     te = new TextEncoder();
-  }
-  catch (err) {
+  } catch (err) {
     if (err instanceof ReferenceError) {
       te = undefined;
     }
@@ -56,12 +52,7 @@ function approximateAliasLength(alias, homeserver) {
 
   const aliasLength = te === undefined ? alias.length : te.encode(alias).length;
 
-  return (
-    "#".length +
-      aliasLength +
-      ":".length +
-      homeserver.length
-  );
+  return "#".length + aliasLength + ":".length + homeserver.length;
 }
 
 const validateAlias = fieldval => {
@@ -73,34 +64,47 @@ const validateAlias = fieldval => {
   if (approximateAliasLength(fieldval, homeserver) > 255) {
     return "synapseadmin.rooms.alias_too_long";
   }
-}
+};
 
-const removeLeadingWhitespace = fieldVal => fieldVal === undefined ? undefined : fieldVal.trimStart();
-const replaceAllWhitespace = fieldVal => fieldVal === undefined ? undefined : fieldVal.replace(/\s/, "_");
-const removeLeadingSigil = fieldVal => fieldVal === undefined ? undefined : fieldVal.startsWith("#") ? fieldVal.substr(1) : fieldVal;
+const removeLeadingWhitespace = fieldVal =>
+  fieldVal === undefined ? undefined : fieldVal.trimStart();
+const replaceAllWhitespace = fieldVal =>
+  fieldVal === undefined ? undefined : fieldVal.replace(/\s/, "_");
+const removeLeadingSigil = fieldVal =>
+  fieldVal === undefined
+    ? undefined
+    : fieldVal.startsWith("#")
+    ? fieldVal.substr(1)
+    : fieldVal;
 
 const validateHasAliasIfPublic = formdata => {
   let errors = {};
   if (formdata.public) {
-    if (formdata.alias === undefined || formdata.alias.trim().length === 0) {
-      errors.alias = "synapseadmin.rooms.alias_required_if_public"
+    if (
+      formdata.canonical_alias === undefined ||
+      formdata.canonical_alias.trim().length === 0
+    ) {
+      errors.canonical_alias = "synapseadmin.rooms.alias_required_if_public";
     }
   }
   return errors;
-}
+};
 
 export const RoomCreate = props => (
-  <Create record={generateRoomRecord()} {...props}>
+  <Create {...props}>
     <SimpleForm validate={validateHasAliasIfPublic}>
-      <TextInput source="room_name"
-                 parse={removeLeadingWhitespace}
-                 validate={validateDisplayName}/>
-      <TextInput source="alias"
-                 parse={fv => replaceAllWhitespace(removeLeadingSigil(fv)) }
-                 format={fv => fv === "" ? "" : "#" + fv}
-                 validate={validateAlias}/>
-      <BooleanInput source="public"
-                    label="synapseadmin.rooms.make_public"/>
+      <TextInput
+        source="name"
+        parse={removeLeadingWhitespace}
+        validate={validateDisplayName}
+      />
+      <TextInput
+        source="canonical_alias"
+        parse={fv => replaceAllWhitespace(removeLeadingSigil(fv))}
+        validate={validateAlias}
+        placeholder="#"
+      />
+      <BooleanInput source="public" label="synapseadmin.rooms.make_public" />
     </SimpleForm>
   </Create>
 );
diff --git a/src/i18n/de.js b/src/i18n/de.js
index 452584b..0c5dd74 100644
--- a/src/i18n/de.js
+++ b/src/i18n/de.js
@@ -19,15 +19,12 @@ export default {
     rooms: {
       room_name: "Raumname",
       make_public: "Öffentlicher Raum",
-      room_name_required:
-        "Muss angegeben werden",
-      alias_required_if_public:
-        "Muss für öffentliche Räume angegeben werden.",
-      alias:
-        "Alias",
+      room_name_required: "Muss angegeben werden",
+      alias_required_if_public: "Muss für öffentliche Räume angegeben werden.",
+      alias: "Alias",
       alias_too_long:
-        "Darf zusammen mit der Domain des Homeservers 255 bytes nicht überschreiten"
-    }
+        "Darf zusammen mit der Domain des Homeservers 255 bytes nicht überschreiten",
+    },
   },
   resources: {
     users: {
diff --git a/src/i18n/en.js b/src/i18n/en.js
index f6382d9..0cb5f5e 100644
--- a/src/i18n/en.js
+++ b/src/i18n/en.js
@@ -19,15 +19,12 @@ export default {
     rooms: {
       room_name: "Room Name",
       make_public: "Make room public",
-      room_name_required:
-        "Must be provided",
-      alias_required_if_public:
-        "Must be provided for a public room",
-      alias:
-        "Alias",
+      room_name_required: "Must be provided",
+      alias_required_if_public: "Must be provided for a public room",
+      alias: "Alias",
       alias_too_long:
-        "Must not exceed 255 bytes including the domain of the homeserver."
-    }
+        "Must not exceed 255 bytes including the domain of the homeserver.",
+    },
   },
   resources: {
     users: {
diff --git a/src/synapse/dataProvider.js b/src/synapse/dataProvider.js
index cae6e6c..24e114b 100644
--- a/src/synapse/dataProvider.js
+++ b/src/synapse/dataProvider.js
@@ -45,9 +45,17 @@ const resourceMap = {
       members: r.joined_members,
     }),
     data: "rooms",
-    total: json => {
-      return json.total_rooms;
-    },
+    total: json => json.total_rooms,
+    create: params => ({
+      method: "POST",
+      endpoint: "/_matrix/client/r0/createRoom",
+      body: {
+        name: params.data.name,
+        room_alias_name: params.data.canonical_alias,
+        visibility: params.data.public ? "public" : "private",
+      },
+      map: r => ({ id: r.room_id }),
+    }),
   },
   connections: {
     path: "/_synapse/admin/v1/whois",
@@ -67,38 +75,6 @@ function filterNullValues(key, value) {
   return value;
 }
 
-const roomCreationMap = {
-  path: "/_matrix/client/r0/createRoom",
-  map: r => ({
-    room_id: r.room_id
-  })
-};
-
-const roomCreationProvider = {
-  create: (resource, params) => {
-    const homeserver = localStorage.getItem("home_server_url");
-
-    const homeserver_url = "https://" + homeserver + roomCreationMap.path;
-
-    const newParams = { ...params.data,
-      public: undefined,
-      room_name: undefined,
-      alias: undefined,
-
-      name: params.data.room_name,
-      room_alias_name: params.data.alias,
-      visibility: params.data.public ? "public" : "private",
-    }
-
-    return jsonClient(homeserver_url, {
-      method: "POST",
-      body: JSON.stringify(newParams, filterNullValues),
-    }).then(({ json }) => ({
-      data: roomCreationMap.map(json),
-    }));
-  }
-};
-
 const dataProvider = {
   getList: (resource, params) => {
     console.log("getList " + resource);
@@ -242,23 +218,24 @@ const dataProvider = {
 
     const res = resourceMap[resource];
 
-    const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
-
-    /* Special handling for rooms, as creating a room
-       is a POST request rather than put, and goes through
-       the client-server API rather than the admin API. */
-    if (resource === "rooms") {
-      console.log("want to create a room!");
-      console.log(params);
-      return roomCreationProvider.create(resource, params);
+    if ("create" in res) {
+      const create = res["create"](params);
+      const homeserver_url = homeserver + create.endpoint;
+      return jsonClient(homeserver_url, {
+        method: create.method,
+        body: JSON.stringify(create.body, filterNullValues),
+      }).then(({ json }) => ({
+        data: create.map(json),
+      }));
+    } else {
+      const homeserver_url = homeserver + res.path;
+      return jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${params.data.id}`, {
+        method: "PUT",
+        body: JSON.stringify(params.data, filterNullValues),
+      }).then(({ json }) => ({
+        data: res.map(json),
+      }));
     }
-
-    return jsonClient(`${homeserver_url}/${params.data.id}`, {
-      method: "PUT",
-      body: JSON.stringify(params.data, filterNullValues),
-    }).then(({ json }) => ({
-      data: res.map(json),
-    }));
   },
 
   delete: (resource, params) => {