04-13-2005, 07:53 PM
I had a fantastic dorm room. I managed to get into the best res hall on campus when I was a freshman. My room was 14x12 and came with decent furniture and storage. We shared a bathroom with the room next to us and were usually pretty friendly with them so any issues we had were handled well. Some of the suites in the res hall set it up so everyone slept in one room and then the other room was for socializing, studying, watching tv, etc.
Speak to the other people sharing the bathroom and setup some cleaning schedule. If one person doesn't mind doing it all, that's fine, but most of the time someone is going to start getting resentful if she's always the one who has to clean it.
There was a year when I didn't have carpeting and a year when I did have carpeting. If you have long hair, find out if the vacuum you have available has rotating brushes or not. If it doesn't have the brushes, your hair will still just stay in the carpet making it feel rather unclean on the feet. If it does have brushes, make sure you clean the hair out of them before and after use. I've burnt out motors before because of the hair tangling around the brushes not allowing them to move. If you stay without carpeting, there's going to be a lot of sweeping and dusting going on, but it's a lot easier to clean if you frequently have visitors in the room, especially the drunk ones or just clumsy ones.
Storage - think vertical. Shelves of all kinds will be your friend. The higher you can safely stack things, the better off you'll be. Also, you won't have to worry as much about decorating the walls if they are covered by shelves. ;)
With the 14x12 rooms we had, things like couches and recliners were easy to fit in. You just have to be good with spatial organization, but it's entirely possible if you use a loft and even just bunks.
Speak to the other people sharing the bathroom and setup some cleaning schedule. If one person doesn't mind doing it all, that's fine, but most of the time someone is going to start getting resentful if she's always the one who has to clean it.
There was a year when I didn't have carpeting and a year when I did have carpeting. If you have long hair, find out if the vacuum you have available has rotating brushes or not. If it doesn't have the brushes, your hair will still just stay in the carpet making it feel rather unclean on the feet. If it does have brushes, make sure you clean the hair out of them before and after use. I've burnt out motors before because of the hair tangling around the brushes not allowing them to move. If you stay without carpeting, there's going to be a lot of sweeping and dusting going on, but it's a lot easier to clean if you frequently have visitors in the room, especially the drunk ones or just clumsy ones.
Storage - think vertical. Shelves of all kinds will be your friend. The higher you can safely stack things, the better off you'll be. Also, you won't have to worry as much about decorating the walls if they are covered by shelves. ;)
With the 14x12 rooms we had, things like couches and recliners were easy to fit in. You just have to be good with spatial organization, but it's entirely possible if you use a loft and even just bunks.
Intolerant monkey.