Tips for Arranging a Dorm Room
Before you begin futzing with the actual furniture pieces, here are some prelimary tips:
1. First (and this applies particularly to freshmen), don’t feel like you have to finish arranging on move-in day. Although it’s typical for mom and dad to fuss about dorm room details, they won’t be living there with you and they don’t know what your routine will be. Heck, even YOU don’t know what your lifestyle will be like until you’re living there for a week or two. On move-in day, I recommend setting up the basics and then making adjustments as you get to know your roommate, learn each other’s schedules and preferences, etc. During orientation and the first few days of class, it’s far more important to meet people, learn your way around, and enjoy yourself.
2. Visit other people’s rooms! The vast majority of dorm rooms in your building will look alike – same size, same furniture, and so on. With tens (and probably hundreds) of other people going through the same experience, it’s wise to see how other people arrange their space. You’ll inevitably get ideas from the more ingenious roommate pairs. I can’t tell you how many times I watched two roommates find an inventive configuration and then have other roommate pairs file in and say “Wow, we should totally do that with our beds!” or “Let’s stack our dressers like they did.”
3. Talk to your resident advisor. Because your RA is an upperclass student who has probably seen his/her share of dorm room arrangements in your hall, ask this campus life veteran for advice. The RA may know how previous residents in that building have solved common problems (limited outlet space, built-in desks, etc.)
Now it’s time for the nitty gritty tips for arranging a dorm room, organized by furniture item:
BED TIPS
In most dorm rooms, your bed functions as both a place to sleep and a sort of couch, unless you find space for a thrift store sofa. When arranging beds, ask yourself the following:
– Can the beds bed bunked?
– Can the beds be lofted so that furniture can be placed below them?
– Would climbing up to a lofted bed or a top bunk bother either of us?
– Can the beds be arranged in an L-shape?
– Can the beds be placed end-to-end? (I’ve actually seen some roommates place the feet of their beds together, using a large bulletin board as a privacy divider.)
– Do you care if your bed is near a window or door?
CLOSET TIPS
If you closet is built-in, then it’s built-in and you can’t change the fact. However, in some rooms, the fixed closet is big enough to accommodate more than clothing. I’ve seen people put their fridges inside their closets, so just be aware that extra space inside a closet can help unclutter the rest of the room.
For folks with movable armoires, there are more options for arranging the dorm room. The closets may be arranged:
– Side by side along a wall, with no space in between.
– Side by side along a wall, with space in between for a bookshelf, TV unit, fridge, chair, or even pillow on the floor.
– With backs against each other so that each person has a “side” of the mega-armoire.
– With doors facing into each other, creating a nook. This idea is great for very small dorm rooms because the clearance space required for opening the closet doors is the same space for both people. By overlapping the clearance, you actually free up a few square feet elsewhere and you create a miniature dressing room. The drawback is that it’s usually hard for both people to get into their closets at the same time.
– With the “dividing wall” technique. This involves placing the closets roughly side by side, but instead of residing against a wall, they will jut out into the room something like a crooked divider. Each roommate can push a desk up against the flat back of the roommate’s armoire, creating two workspaces that feel separate. If you have trouble visualizing this, imagine a desk and an armoire placed side by side, with their fronts flush. Then picture the same arrangement, in reverse, on the opposite side.
DRESSER TIPS
Some dressers are built-in, so you can’t do much except decide what to put on top of them. If they are movable, however, consider the following ideas:
– Stack the dressers on top of each other.
– Partially loft one or both beds so that the dresser (and maybe a fridge) will fit underneath the bed. A lot of modular furniture purchased by colleges these days is designed to have multiple bed heights. If you don’t want your bed totally lofted but you don’t want to lose the space underneath it, there may be a mid-range setting about the height of the dresser.
– Some walk-in closets can accommodate a dresser to get it out of the room space.
– Place dressers at the feet of the beds.
– Place the dressers side by side along a wall, with space between them for a fridge, TV, etc.
DESK TIPS
Once again, some dorm rooms feature built-in desks. These can be incredibly annoying, but remember that they don’t have to be used conventionally. Some laptop-owning students forego the idea of a regular desk and just use their laptop on their bed, freeing up the built-in desk to become an extra dresser, a place for a TV, or just a place to stack stuff.
If you have movable desks, think about the following tips:
– Arrange the desks side by side with a piece of furniture, a big bulletin board, or something else to divide them.
– Put the desks back to back, as though you’re playing Battleship. You can always put up a divider if need be.
– Put the desks underneath one lofted bed, with one desk back below the “head” and one desk back below the “feet.” This may be tight if you’re both at your respective desks, but if your room is cramped, at least your desks won’t face each other.
– Place your bed against a wall with the back of your desk along the SIDE of your bed. If your roommate places his/her bed on the opposite wall and mirrors the pattern, you can both be in bed without seeing each other AND your desks will face in opposite directions, overlooking your respective beds.
– See the idea in the closet section for using armoires to divide the room.
MISCELLANEOUS TIPS
– Identify all the outlets and the ethernet jacks (if you school doesn’t do wireless in the halls yet). Make sure whatever dorm room arrangement you select will work given the outlet locations.
– Not everything needs to be used for its intended purpose. If your dresser somehow makes a better desk and the desk makes a better dresser, then buck the system. Some old residence halls have particularly bizarre furniture pieces with ambiguous functions.
– Think about lighting. Since most dorm rooms have unflattering flourescent light, you may want to be sure that both people have access to natural light or that a pole/torchiere illuminates up the room evenly.
– Last but not least, COMMUNICATE with your roommate(s). Everyone living in the room needs to feel comfortable with the layout.
