Making the Most Out of Your Small College Dorm

Natalie Weinstein is President of 
Natalie Weinstein Design Associates, 
The Natalie Weinstein Home 
Decorating Club and Uniquely Natalie, 
a quality consignment outlet. Hear 
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I’ll never forget my first college dorm experience as my son David embarked on his freshman year at Carnegie Mellon.  I had read the brochure.  I was smart.  I was organized.  I was ready to take my first-born to the nether-land of higher learning in style.  Was I ever clueless!  Today, I look back and chuckle at the remembrance of my husband and me “walking” a newly purchased occasional chair through the streets of St. Louis to the Washington University freshman dorm for my younger son, Jason, only to find that it couldn’t fit in his room when we got there (Me – the designer and great space planner!).  You’d have thought we’d learned something by then.  But no one, absolutely no one, designer included, can imagine how small a dorm room shared by two students, two beds, two desks, one infinitesimal closet, a refrigerator, a microwave (if allowed), mounds of books, luggage, computer equipment and sundry other clothing and necessities can be – and the dorm rooms seem to have shrunk!  Maybe you can when you realize how unbelievably small they are with nothing in them!
 
•  If you can, try to get the size of the assigned room in advance.  If, by some good fortune, you can get information on the size of the bed or other provided furniture, as well as closet space, you’re ahead of the game.  Lay out the room on graph paper and think vertically.  A clever arrangement we devised for David and later, Jason was to raise the bed (or mattress) above the dresser drawers and storage area to maximize floor space.

•    Next, find inexpensive but workable organizers to utilize every area of closet space, including the back of the door (command hooks are great but not for heavy stuff).  Choose clothes carefully and make sure your college student gets a lesson in doing laundry as well as judiciously organizing drawer and hanging space.

•    Desk and study areas are most important especially if your newbie collegiate can’t deal with studying in the library.  If sharing a room, back to back desks may provide more space for both students to work and allow for wall shelving for textbooks, computer and other materials, while being a natural room divider.

•    Before buying bed linens, remember to ask if the dorm mattress is “extra-long”.  You will need to buy sheets to fit.  Consider buying a “husband” – not the kind you marry, but the kind you lean back against on the floor or in bed for reading or studying.  

•    When you arrive in town, locate the nearest hardware store for incidentals.  You may need to hang a fixture, buy a window treatment, or make repairs in a hurry.  Then kiss your grown-up college kids goodbye and wait for the dirty laundry to come home at first break.  Here’s the good news.  You won’t have to see what their dorm room became twenty-four hours after you headed home to clean up the room they left behind!