Thursday, August 23, 2001
Spruce up your space
By Emily Ward
skiff staff

Whether looking for the basic room essentials or searching for those perfect matching curtains, decorating a room or apartment is a battle all students must conquer when moving away to college.

Designing a room just right for you, however, need not be difficult or expensive. With the right touch and a little advice from other students, this task can prove to be quite simple.

Emily Ward/Skiff Staff Joey England, a junior biology major, visits Carol Davis, a senior biology major, in Davis’ room in Waits Hall. Both are resident assistants in the hall. Davis used many butterflies to decorate her walls in order to make her room feel like home.

"The most important thing to remember when furnishing an apartment or dorm room is to maximize your space," said Josh McDonald, a junior philosophy major who lives off campus. “Everything matters from how you arrange your furniture to how you set up your closet space."

Cramped living space is something most students are forced to deal with, especially when they are living on campus. Even the largest of dorm rooms can get pretty small after moving in, said Stephanie Clark, a senior social work major.
This year, Clark moved from a room in Colby Hall with no roommate to a place in the on-campus apartments. The move cut her bedroom living space nearly in half.

Clark agreed that moving from a large space to a smaller one can be quite difficult.

“My biggest problem is that I have to choose which pictures and knickknacks to put up,” she said.

Putting up hanging closet shelves helped Clark conserve space for her clothes and other storage items. Taking advantage of all available space can help students avoid renting a storage unit somewhere off campus, she said.

Carol Davis, a senior biology major, said putting up wall grids to hold small decorations is a good way to deal with a cramped living space. Storing some unnecessary ornaments is a good way to open up the room, though comfort should never besacrificed, she said.

A comfortable chair, blanket or pillow is always a quintessential item for a dorm room or apartment. Students are more likely to enjoy their living environment if they go a little bit further to making their room more like a home, Davis said.

But creating a new home does not have to cost an arm and a leg, McDonald said.

Emily Ward/Skiff Staff Josh McDonald, a junior philosophy major, plays on a friend’s computer and watches TV in an on-campus apartment. Stacking shelves are a convenient way to save space.

“It’s all about getting what you need (for your space) at a cheap price,” he said. “You don’t have to go out and buy the high-quality stuff, especially since you are in college.”

Davis suggested box frames as an inexpensive alternative to the metal or wooden ones. At a cost of about one dollar each, students can easily decorate their walls with familiar faces to make their rooms more homey.

Using plastic crates in place of expensive book shelves is another cheap way to furnish a dorm room, said Joey England, a junior biology major.

England agrees that comfort is key to designing the perfect room and said if students can avoid lofting their beds, their rooms will seem more inviting to visitors. Having as much sitting space as possible is a great idea, though a bed is a lot more comfortable to sit on than a blow-up chair, she said.

McDonald said he purchased most of his furniture at a garage sale.

“Getting used furniture is smart because most of the time, you end up ruining your furniture anyway,” he said. “It may not be expensive, but it is comfortable, and nobody is afraid to spill anything on my couch.”

Clark said the best way to get the most of your basics isto head to Wal-mart or Kmart. Most students can find almost everything they need from the simplest shower caddy to the perfect spring rod for their curtains. A lot of the time, students can find pretty nice-looking stuff at a low price, she said.

Emily Ward
e.e.ward@student.tcu.edu

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