Pink, Purple, and Tie-Dye, Oh My!

The only dorm room I had ever seen was the one I had visited on accepted student's day. It was a pink and green double with Chinese lanterns and a futon. I loved it and wanted my dorm to compare. The only problem I thought I would have is that I wouldn't be able decide on a color, but I learned quickly decorating was going to be much more aggravating.

     My dorm decorating started online, and so did the trials. The number one idea on websites for cheap decorating was painting the dorm room walls. Painting the walls is not allowed at Furman, nor at most other colleges.

     Also, I wondered how a freshman "newly in debt from student loans" could afford a $30-$100 can of paint, rollers, and coordinate the color with two roommates they don't know.

The second most popular idea for cheap decorating was hanging curtains. According to Furman policy curtains have to be fire resistant; this limits the material, style, and colors that my roommates and I could choose.

     The third idea was putting up posters or photos on the dorm walls, yet again Furman policy states that wall décor cannot be taped or glued to the walls and must be hung with a special type of adhesive called sticky tack.

     I was aggravated with internet decorating savvy sites for single dorm rooms with a bottomless budget and large floor space. Even more aggravated with Furman policies that were constraining my creativity. I moved forward to the old-fashioned way of shopping: driving to 100 places only to buy something at two.

Shopping was stressful because I still didn't know exactly what I wanted to do to decorate. I decided to move forward by getting storage and a bedspread in hot pink. Hopefully whatever my roommates and I decided would include pink somewhere.

     I attempted to contact my roommates and after a few weeks of worrying over the room I heard back from both of them. One had bought yellow stuff; the other, had bought purple stuff and was planning to bring a tacky tie-dye futon. Both of them seemed to think the colors would work, and we all managed to get a few items down for the room.

     As far as styling the room we will have to see what happens with our colors coming all together with personal touches and a tie-dye futon to pull the room together. When we get settled in we can always buy some decorations for the room that fit all of our styles.

     Don't stress about the room having a theme, everyone in the room will have their own individual style but if you can all go simpler in the beginning it makes it easier to tie all the colors together.