Dorm rooms and interior designers

[Anonymous]

when we did drop off, the guys rooms still looked like prison cinderblock rooms but saw that the girl rooms had the twinkle lights and bean bag chairs and color! I would have loved the more fun rooms to come back to every night when I was in college, but was not done at my school at time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:when we did drop off, the guys rooms still looked like prison cinderblock rooms but saw that the girl rooms had the twinkle lights and bean bag chairs and color! I would have loved the more fun rooms to come back to every night when I was in college, but was not done at my school at time.

It wasn't at my school either. But I still painted my half of the room, put up handmade picture boards, put up cute curtains, bought a coordinating rug. And I was in college 40 years ago.

I do the same thing for my kids now. So I don't hire a designer but I do the design myself. My kids are in their dorm rooms for 9 months. There is no need for it to look like a dump.

Oddly, my work is very non-creative. Perhaps this is my way of using the creative side of my brain? Fortunately my kids expect and appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you noticed these "professionally designed" dorm rooms look very cookie cutter? I'm not even impressed. These parents could have saved money and encouraged their kids to be creative and personal with their rooms.

Agree! It reminds me of “bed in a bag” bedding sets from Bed Bath and Beyond in the 90s - with matching wall paper border!

[Anonymous]

I don’t care. It’s only a problem if one roommate was pressured to buy something they don’t want.

[Anonymous]

I am paying $80K+ per year for 4 years. She is buying whatever she wants for her dorm room on her own! My only contribution was the purchase of a mattress topper and pad. Her aunts got her a duvet and duvet cover. Anything else she wanted (twinkle lights, posters, some extra shelving, wall art, etc), she bought herself. Space is cute but is “target chic” nit interior decorator chic. I think she is very much the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:when we did drop off, the guys rooms still looked like prison cinderblock rooms but saw that the girl rooms had the twinkle lights and bean bag chairs and color! I would have loved the more fun rooms to come back to every night when I was in college, but was not done at my school at time.

It wasn't at my school either. But I still painted my half of the room, put up handmade picture boards, put up cute curtains, bought a coordinating rug. And I was in college 40 years ago.

I do the same thing for my kids now. So I don't hire a designer but I do the design myself. My kids are in their dorm rooms for 9 months. There is no need for it to look like a dump.

Oddly, my work is very non-creative. Perhaps this is my way of using the creative side of my brain? Fortunately my kids expect and appreciate it.

Painting the walls?

Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I’ve seen SIGNIFICANTLY more content criticizing girls for this, than content about actually decorating dorm rooms.

Anyway.

In hindsight I wish I had done more to make my dorm room pleasant to live in. It was a tough year and more pleasant living conditions would have been nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:when we did drop off, the guys rooms still looked like prison cinderblock rooms but saw that the girl rooms had the twinkle lights and bean bag chairs and color! I would have loved the more fun rooms to come back to every night when I was in college, but was not done at my school at time.

It wasn't at my school either. But I still painted my half of the room, put up handmade picture boards, put up cute curtains, bought a coordinating rug. And I was in college 40 years ago.

I do the same thing for my kids now. So I don't hire a designer but I do the design myself. My kids are in their dorm rooms for 9 months. There is no need for it to look like a dump.

Oddly, my work is very non-creative. Perhaps this is my way of using the creative side of my brain? Fortunately my kids expect and appreciate it.

Painting the walls?

Ridiculous.

I don't think it would have even been allowed in my dorm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:when we did drop off, the guys rooms still looked like prison cinderblock rooms but saw that the girl rooms had the twinkle lights and bean bag chairs and color! I would have loved the more fun rooms to come back to every night when I was in college, but was not done at my school at time.

It wasn't at my school either. But I still painted my half of the room, put up handmade picture boards, put up cute curtains, bought a coordinating rug. And I was in college 40 years ago.

I do the same thing for my kids now. So I don't hire a designer but I do the design myself. My kids are in their dorm rooms for 9 months. There is no need for it to look like a dump.

Oddly, my work is very non-creative. Perhaps this is my way of using the creative side of my brain? Fortunately my kids expect and appreciate it.

So interesting! My son’s first apartment at school was this year (sophomore). 3 rooms, 6 kids and a good size common area. We showed up as the boys organized the spreadsheet of who brings what. Us parents were impressed…decorative sparse but it was robust in all the essentials! Way better stocked than my first apartment post college…they cared more about the 55” tv, gaming etc. but also the blender, rice cooker, and full knife set to name a few. We all have budgets, the kids all have what is important to them. Love the options and price ranges. For gosh sakes my daughter’s homecoming dress cost far less than mine did in the 80s..cheaply made but for something she will only wear once as I did so it is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:when we did drop off, the guys rooms still looked like prison cinderblock rooms but saw that the girl rooms had the twinkle lights and bean bag chairs and color! I would have loved the more fun rooms to come back to every night when I was in college, but was not done at my school at time.

It wasn't at my school either. But I still painted my half of the room, put up handmade picture boards, put up cute curtains, bought a coordinating rug. And I was in college 40 years ago.

I do the same thing for my kids now. So I don't hire a designer but I do the design myself. My kids are in their dorm rooms for 9 months. There is no need for it to look like a dump.

Oddly, my work is very non-creative. Perhaps this is my way of using the creative side of my brain? Fortunately my kids expect and appreciate it.

Painting the walls?

Ridiculous.

I don't think it would have even been allowed in my dorm.

Definitely not allowed at George Washington. I haven't visited many dorms, but I haven't seen cinderblock walls. The dorms I've seen look like normal bedrooms, with wooden Ikea-type furniture. Maybe a tad spartan, but not jailbird by any means! My son's GW room is painted white, has blue carpet, three windows, and is perfectly fine as it is. He brought his teddy bear and blue bedding/towels to go with the carpet. It pulls the room together without any unnecessary add-ons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just because some people have more dollars than sense does t mean everybody does. We have 2 kids on college in 2 different states (one private in New England, one public in the midwest), amd my kids have never seen a designed does room, not have I.

Maybe a southern thing?

You wouldn’t see something like that in a New England school. Maybe it’s geared towards those Southern sororities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Decorating a dorm room is entitlement? Why are you normalizing it?

It’s when you bring a designer in, they take measurements. Custom made drapes, coordinating rugs, wallpaper and duvets, stealthily taking out chairs and replacing them with high end massage chairs. Those are the type of things that will be ridiculed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a stupid thing to be upset about. Dorm rooms are homes—why would there be controversy about making them as nice as possible?

They are not homes anymore than a hotel is a home. You don’t own anything. As long as nothing is altered or destroyed there’s no problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am paying $80K+ per year for 4 years. She is buying whatever she wants for her dorm room on her own! My only contribution was the purchase of a mattress topper and pad. Her aunts got her a duvet and duvet cover. Anything else she wanted (twinkle lights, posters, some extra shelving, wall art, etc), she bought herself. Space is cute but is “target chic” nit interior decorator chic. I think she is very much the norm.

That is the norm. And that’s not what the OP is talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am paying $80K+ per year for 4 years. She is buying whatever she wants for her dorm room on her own! My only contribution was the purchase of a mattress topper and pad. Her aunts got her a duvet and duvet cover. Anything else she wanted (twinkle lights, posters, some extra shelving, wall art, etc), she bought herself. Space is cute but is “target chic” nit interior decorator chic. I think she is very much the norm.

That is the norm. And that’s not what the OP is talking about.

+1. The norm is still kids decorating their rooms themselves with stuff from target. In some specific places a specific demographic has gotten into extreme dorm decorating but this isn’t the norm.

If your daughter is big on social media and attending a big southern university where she is planning on rushing this might come up