How to best outfit a dorm room

[Lady Vashj]

Having seen the housing market in Big Rapids, I have decided to give up on sending in an appeal to live off-campus.
Now I seek advice of people - preferably other girls - who have lived in one on how to outfit my dorm room. I will shell out the extra cash for a single, unless the medical-reasons thing goes through or I get the Junior/Senior Incentive stuff; either way, I'd get one for free. In any case, I will have no roommate to second-guess me and my taste or fill up my valuable space with her crap.

[Jeunemaitre]

Having seen the housing market in Big Rapids, I have decided to give up on sending in an appeal to live off-campus.
Now I seek advice of people - preferably other girls - who have lived in one on how to outfit my dorm room.  I will shell out the extra cash for a single, unless the medical-reasons thing goes through or I get the Junior/Senior Incentive stuff; either way, I'd get one for free.  In any case, I will have no roommate to second-guess me and my taste or fill up my valuable space with her crap.

I'm not a girl, but I have lived in a dorm room (same room for four semesters). I actually prized portability in my dorm furnature. I rearranged my half of my room (a split double) about twice a semester. The other thing that I sought was ease of cleaning (what little I did neede to be as easy as possible in order to get any of it done) and lastly storage space. I did have a close, but it was barely big enough for my clothing, so I had to use as much of my verticle space as possible (stackable drawer/trunk units and shelving for the hundreds of dollars of books that I "needed" each year. Although I had a desk, I found that I didn't do much work at it, mostly because it was built into the wall and the workspace was too small. I actually spent more time reading on my bed, or working on my laptop facing out the window than I did doing anything on the desk.

My first suggestion would be to find out what furniture will be provided to you, and what will be needed. From there, consider additional seating, and storage. Good luck to you.

[ShadowHM]

Having seen the housing market in Big Rapids, I have decided to give up on sending in an appeal to live off-campus.
Now I seek advice of people - preferably other girls - who have lived in one on how to outfit my dorm room.  I will shell out the extra cash for a single, unless the medical-reasons thing goes through or I get the Junior/Senior Incentive stuff; either way, I'd get one for free.  In any case, I will have no roommate to second-guess me and my taste or fill up my valuable space with her crap.
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My days of living in a campus residence are far behind me. But I am not sure just what your question is: decorating? or space management?

If it is the former, do you have a budget for this? Are there items that you wish to have with you as reminders of your 'other life'? How important are they?

If it is the latter, you need to know what furniture is provided before you can start making additional decisions.

In my days, I lived in a room with painted concrete block walls for a long time (six years of university). I covered those walls with an ever-changing series of posters and photographs that either cheered me up, reminded me of other places I cherished or of people I wished were near.

[kandrathe]

Having seen the housing market in Big Rapids, I have decided to give up on sending in an appeal to live off-campus.
Now I seek advice of people - preferably other girls - who have lived in one on how to outfit my dorm room.  I will shell out the extra cash for a single, unless the medical-reasons thing goes through or I get the Junior/Senior Incentive stuff; either way, I'd get one for free.  In any case, I will have no roommate to second-guess me and my taste or fill up my valuable space with her crap.
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I had a dorm mate in my day. We went out and bought some 2x6's and plywood and built in upper bunks over our desks to free up the floor space for a couch, carpet, and a console TV. Then we upholstered the exposed 2x6's with foam and black crushed velvet. We had to make arrangements with the dorm of course to inspect that our enhancements were safe and caused no damage, and to take away the bed frames. At the end of the year, we had to take care of reversing the process.

[Mithrandir]

I was only in the dorms a year (I much prefer the house I'm in now), but here are some suggestions I would make as a male (mostly based off mistakes my buddy and I made <_< ):

1) No carpet. What a mistake this was. The floors themselves weren't bad (I actually prefer a decent hard floor to carpet under certain circumstances), but the dust and 'fuzz' got really bad and just kept collecting no matter how many times we sweeped. Carpet helps here immensely.

2) Unless your dorm room is quite large (which I doubt), either make or purchase a raised bed/bunk (my university had a service where for a pretty modest fee a couple guys would build bunk beds tailered to your room on move-in day, which we were stupid and didn't take advantage of). The amount of space a bunk frees up is astronomical. It almost seemed like completely different rooms between ours and people who had gotten the raised beds.

There might be a bit of trouble getting into a bunk bed while intoxicated, but you'd probably be just as happy with a chair/floor/couch at that point, and the extra space benefits far outweigh any drunken negatives.

3) Small fridge of course. I could not have lived without this, whether it was holding extra fruit I had taken from the dorm cafeteria for a quick snack or... other... things :)

[Lady Vashj]

OK, pertinent facts:

Dorm rooms at FSU are either 10'3"x13' or 11'x14'. I don't know which size I'll get at this point, but I figure the larger rooms are for double occupancy only.

Loft beds are allowed, with a permit, and stringent building codes apply. Fortunately, my dad was the best carpenter east of the Mississippi in a previous life, so no worries there.

I have a TV/VCR and DVD player already, and possibly a computer. I'm allowed a 4.2 cubic-foot refrigerator and a 750-watt microwave. I don't know what else is provided/allowed.

I want to know how to cram all this and the clothing-storage space I need into the room with enough space to fit in a rolling chair and a small recliner. And then I need personal touches.

[Count Duckula]

I have a TV/VCR and DVD player already, and possibly a computer.&nbsp; I'm allowed a 4.2 cubic-foot refrigerator and a 750-watt microwave.&nbsp; I don't know what else is provided/allowed.

I want to know how to cram all this and the clothing-storage space I need into the room with enough space to fit in a rolling chair and a small recliner.&nbsp; And then I need personal touches.
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You can have a microwave in your room?! *jealousy*

I live in a 10'x7' with modular furniture. The closet, dresser, and desk/cubby are literally built into the walls. If you haven't bought the furniture already, I suggest a computer cart and a desk chair that will fit underneath with good knee space.

You might want to leave the recliner at home unless you can't live without it. A bed and a desk chair are all your room really needs. And make sure the furniture you bring is sturdy enough for double-duty: a dresser/table that's strong enough to hold the weight of a TV and VCR and DVDP and gaming consoles and video collections...not that I'm speaking from experience here or anything. :blush:

Might want to weed through your clothes too. Bring seasonal stuff with you if you know you can go home for the holidays. That's how I survived my sophomore and junior year. Thanksgiving, Xmas, and Easter, I brought clothes home and swapped for the weather.

For the walls: posters. Cheap, quick, covers up those blank spaces. My wall decor is part movie posters, part Star Trek calendar, part magazine clippings, part bizzare and random stuff. Allposters.com has some nice finds for under $10. So does Beyond the Wall but their usual stuff is a tad more expensive.

The more stuff you can hang from the walls, the better. If you can drill holes into the wall (provided that they're spackled up and painted over by year's end) try hanging some slotted racks and brackets, cut a few 2x12s down to size (about 3' long) and put 6" 1x12s on each end. Voila, bookshelves. You can also hang Xmas or cable lights from your ceiling, put in curtains, hang plants, etc.--just make sure it's okay with Res Life first.

To be honest, when you live in a shoebox, your living space becomes a womb. Not too many people in singles on this hall entertain more than two at a time. Five are a fire hazard. >_< There's always gonna be someplace on campus or in the dorm to go if you want to relax or hang out with friends.

[Doc]

You lucky people.

I lived in a VW van for a whole lot of my college life. 10x7? How spacious!

[pakman]

Here are a few pictures of how my dorm room is set up. The first two are showing the loft and how that is set up (yes that is my roommate on the futon :)). We cheaply carpeted the floor by going to a scraps place near my home. The third is how we set up out "entertainment center." We have the fridge, microwave, coffee maker, dvd player, etc. The last one is how I have my desk set up.

Very large images.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~pkasley/left.JPG
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~pkasley/right.JPG
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~pkasley/entertainment.JPG
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~pkasley/desk.JPG

[Lady Vashj]

You might want to leave the recliner at home unless you can't live without it. A bed and a desk chair are all your room really needs. And make sure the furniture you bring is sturdy enough for double-duty: a dresser/table that's strong enough to hold the weight of a TV and VCR and DVDP and gaming consoles and video collections...not that I'm speaking from experience here or anything.  :blush:

The loft bed is required to be five feet off the floor. Room enough for a small recliner. The dresser/table is a good idea, but being me, I need room to hang stuff (the loft is supposed to fit tight to the walls, so that's out). I have a TV/VCR combo and a really tiny DVD player.

Bathrooms are shared between adjoining rooms, if that influences anybody.

[Gurnsey]

Bathrooms are shared between adjoining rooms, if that influences anybody.
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I suggest a sign for the adjoining room that states: "Hair left in the shower drain will result in DEATH" :huh:

[Tal]

You lucky people.

I lived in a VW van for a whole lot of my college life. 10x7? How spacious!
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Luxury! Why when I was in college I had to live in a locker with nine other people!

;)

[Treesh]

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.

[SetBuilder]

A couple of coleman camping chairs, with the dual cup (beer) holders, the computer desk, and a sleeping bag. :D

You did say budget, yes?

Oh, btw, not a bad looking setup, honestly.

[Lady Vashj]

I suggest a sign for the adjoining room that states: "Hair left in the shower drain will result in DEATH"&nbsp; :huh:
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Considering how long my hair is, hair left in the shower drain will most likely be my own. Suggestion about vacuum cleaner with rotating brushes duly noted.

ADDED BONUS: Yaaay! I got a single room for no extra charge!

[Munkay]

ADDED BONUS:&nbsp; Yaaay!&nbsp; I got a single room for no extra charge!

Congrats!

It only took me 2 years (and becoming an RA) to get a single :P

On that note, make friends with your RA as soon as possible. It's got me out of many a pickle :whistling:

My best advice for the dorm is not to worry too much about the initial room. My roomate and I changed everything around 2nd semester, and then really changed everything going into sophomore year.

As long as somewhere in there is a bed, and somewhere to put most of your belongings, you'll be okay. Once you're in there, you can get a good feel for what you want to do. then I'd worry about putting a thought out plan into action.

You never know, it may take only a few drunken nights to realize a lofted bed will be too much trouble ;)

Cheers,

Munk

[Lady Vashj]

Congrats!

It only took me 2 years (and becoming an RA) to get a single&nbsp; :P

I got one because I'm starting as a junior.

You never know, it may take only a few drunken nights to realize a lofted bed will be too much trouble&nbsp; ;)

I don't drink. Solves that problem.