There is also the issue of what you want to teach your children. I do not want to teach my children that throwing away $10,000 is okay.
I just got sent a picture of one daughter dressed in overalls that were too long, looking attentively at a cow. This world makes sense to me.
True. But for many of us that is not even a remote thought or option.
My D23 was following all of these tik tok dorm videos before she left for school. She bought a white fluffy throw rug for her room and found one on wayfair for around $100 which I explained 50 times was a waste of money because dorm room floors are disgusting. Anyway, by the time we arrived for Family Weekend in October it was rolled up and in the closet!
Hey, lesson learned - especially because she bought it herself. When you have to spend your own money, life gets real!
And D19’s dorms didn’t allow any extra furniture to be brought in so no fancy coffee tables etc
I think those rooms look awful but I get we all have different tastes. My cousin is an interior designer so did a beautiful job of her kids’ dorm rooms, but not ….overstated like those pictures.
Great job! Love that pop of a red couch.
When my younger son moved out of his Boston University dorm into an apartment for junior year, he furnished it entirely (except mattress) from Allston Christmas stuff.
Yep. The kids took older towels. If anyone was going to get new ones…it was we parents. As it happens, an aunt gave each a set of Company Store towels in their school colors. A great gift!
But shopping otherwise? Kids wanted their bed comforters. We already had X long sheets and mattress pads from camps. We had plenty of rugs. Kids wanted their own wall art from their rooms.
I guess we’re mean, I’m ok to pay for basics but all this decorative stuff the kids want can come out of her own money 
My parents bought me a mattress for my college graduation, that was their big contribution to my adult life 
To each their own. Some people love creating these over the top rooms and some people love looking down on those who do.
I don’t think I could ever justify spending that kind of money on a dorm. But I can absolutely relate to one part of it…. I visited my freshman at college this week, a couple of weeks after move in. While she was busy in class she asked me to get her a couple of things for her dorm: a small container to hold ice in her mini-fridge freezer and a vase to hold some faux “flowers” she made from craft supplies. Not gonna lie, I visited 3 stores (all in the same parking lot, but still) to find the best options for her. She didn’t ask me to but I guess it’s the feeling of being able to do something for her that gives me joy. Of course there’s a difference between the $14.98 (plus tax) I spent on these items and the $10k dorm designer. But I know a few people who have done the crazy fancy dorm thing and some of the sentiment is the same. So I get that, even if I would never spend that kind of $$!
A wife is a partner and many earn their own money. A child is not on the same level as a spouse, so not quite apples to apples. I honestly don’t care if you decide to drop $10k on a dorm room that is used for a grand total of 10 months. You do you.
I still don’t know any dads in any of my circles who would jump up and down with excitement at the thought of spending $10k on dorm room decor for their 18 y.o. child, regardless of whether their wives get Botox, or the dad’s have a man cave wine cellar filled with $200 bottles of wine.
My daughter lives in Allston, the only new thing she bought was a bed in a box from Amazon. I’m pretty sure she garbage picked her dresser. In undergrad she bought all of her bedroom furniture (including the bed) from a previous resident for under $200.
Its rust color in person. Was free from a lovely home where it was sitting unused in a formal living room. Its in near pristine condition!
That’s a good point about the dorm furniture. Both of my daughters’ colleges prohibited any of the existing furniture being removed from the room (not even the desk chairs, which always sends parents into a tizzy). Some colleges must be okay with it.
Mine was. But the student has to put it into storage (which they’d need to pay for if the free storage was full) and return the furniture to the room at the end of the year.
I don’t look down on people that drop $10k on a dorm room - I just happen to think it is a waste of money.
I lived in a scuzzy Allston sub-let right after graduation. Most of our “furnishings” (I use that term loosely) were from Allston Christmas.
I just googled “Allston Christmas” and now I’m jealous. This sounds like a hoot!
Yes! My older kid bought all of the furniture in his first apartment from the previous tenant for…$50. And sold it all to the next person for…$50.
DD thought I was nuts when I told her to knock on the door of the house she and six friends were renting. The previous folks were all seniors and I figured they would be very happy NOT to have to deal with the contents of the house. The previous tenants sold them everything including an extra fridge in the garage, all the dishes and cook ware, small appliances, everything. My kid and her friends had to move it all into the garage as the landlord was required to clean and paint between renters….but that wasn’t a problem. Total cost (including all the bedroom furniture too) was $250. And at the end…they sold and donated the things the next students didn’t want.
If I had $10,000 extra dollars, I would be buying all new furniture for my family room.
Yep - my daughter bought all her furniture for $50 from the previous tenant and they left the living room furniture because they inherited it from the previous owner. My d and her roommates did the same when they vacated for the new tenants.