ping pong table: Transforming the dorm: Making the most of your personal shoebox

Indu Chandrasekhar
The Student Life

August 03, 2006

(U-WIRE) ST. LOUIS, Mo. - It's pretty safe to say that most of Washington University's incoming freshmen enjoyed full rein over their rooms at home. And I can state with confidence that a room for one at home is a few square feet larger than the room waiting for two or three in Wash. U.'s dormitories. For some of you freshman this sacrifice of personal space might be what you loathe and fear the most. I, for one, missed my closet severely.
Like all things college-related, adjusting to your room size and limited space is easy if you have the right attitude and some creative ideas. In my extensive travels through the South 40 dorms, I have witnessed organizing and decorating schemes that range from convenient and cute to truly outrageous, and I will share all of what I learned with you.

University dormitories, no matter their appearance, age or location, are all essentially the same. Each student gets a closet, bed, dresser (traditional dorms) or bookshelves (newer dorms only), desk, chair and wall-mounted shelves (traditional dorms only). There are quite a few ways to arrange these humble objects, even in single-occupant rooms, depending on which wall the bed rests.

In a common Wash. U. dorm room, there are three main places of large-scale storage: Under the bed, on the desk and above the closet. The most commonly used space is where those monsters once lurked (never fear, there are only dust bunnies under Wash. U. beds). If you are willing to set the mattress frame of your bed to the highest rung (you can get a pretty large range in bed height), you can easily fit several rolling storage units with pull-out drawers. Even the dressers belonging to the older dormitories fit under those beds, although stashing them under the bed means losing a great place for makeup, jewelry, toiletries, pictures and the general mess.

Desks in University dorms can also be quite accommodating. They sport extra leaves on the side and back which you can prop up, adding to your desk space immensely. And if you feel these leaves are too cumbersome they can be removed to allow for that extra inch of wiggle room needed in tight quarters.

Finally, there exists an expanse of space above the closet that most students grossly under-use. Dorm chairs fit quite nicely up there, as do televisions, microwaves, stereos and extra storage units. The closet itself is expandable too: Canvas shelves that Velcro onto the hanger rod can hold a multitude of clothing and clear up the shelves in your dresser.

Most students stick with the provided layout of their dorm room, experimenting only with the orientation of the desk, which can face the wall or the window, and the dresser, which fits in the closet or under the bed. Students frequently place their fridges between the two desks. While this system always works, it doesn't stand out. Those looking for unique layouts should keep reading.

Starting with the simplest suggestions, there are two things that can instantly transform your room's atmosphere from an echoing prison-cell into the warmth of a living room: Bookshelves and potted plants. For as little as $20, you can purchase full-sized bookshelves that fit quite nicely by the dorm desk (just keep the side leaf folded down). Hardy plants are preferred as the tight quarters of a dorm room aren't always accommodating to those needy greens.

For those of you willing to try more daring arrangements, here's a fun fact: Wash. U. doubles are the exact length of two beds aligned head to head (in older dorms, one bed must rest partway in the closet). So, if you and your roommate decide you'd rather have an entire wall for some other large contraption, say, a ping-pong table, get ready for a lot of togetherness.

Another fun fact: The chairs provided in several new dormitories are able to rock back and forth. For the clumsy student, this means that you will be falling out of your chair quite often. You can take advantage of this chair, however, through a more convoluted scheme.

Here's how it once worked: Two young men, eager to have a larger space for their television, videos, games and music, decided to use the beds themselves as an entertainment center. They bunked the beds, removed the mattresses, placed a wooden plank on the lower bed frame, turned a bookshelf sideways and stuck it next to the TV (for all of their movies) and sentenced their mattresses to the floor, the perfect location from which to stare at a screen. The best part: When they finished their homework, they could tip backward in their rocking chairs and land with a comfortable wumph, right onto a waiting mattress. True story.

You might decide to stick with the tried and true methods of stretching your space, or you might invent an even crazier way of organizing your space. Either way, you can always add and rearrange as the year goes by, albeit settling into a room basically locks everything tightly in place. If your roommate is willing, try something outside of the box -- it doesn't hurt to be notorious within the first week.

Copyright ©2006 The Student Life via CSTV U-Wire