De gustibus non est disputandum.
“I would be more interested in how the designers are solving storage issues in a small space. It would be nice if they showed what they are using for storage.”
I agree, @momofsmartdancer.
De gustibus indeed! I’m sitting here giggling over what the reaction would have been had my D proposed to her freshman roommate that they go all out in room decor. The roomie arrived with white sheets, a navy wool blanket that shouted Army-Navy store, no comforter or bedspread, no accessories, not so much as a family photo or poster. It wasn’t a financial situation–her dad was a physician. She was just an oddball in both the environment she preferred and pretty much everything else (and was very hard to live with, so D moved as soon as she could). On the other hand, my D arrived with a wastebasket and backrest that matched her comforter and felt she had gone all out–and she had, by her college’s standards. If I had even suggested crafting a headboard and getting curtains, the eyeroll would have been monumental.
My freshman roomie was such a colossal slob that we only survived together by effectively drawing a line down the middle of the room so all my furniture and possessions were on one side and all hers on the other, and I would regularly have to kick her dirty laundry back across to her side. Her main decoration was her creepy boyfriend who spent his time sprawled out on her bed most of every day. I would have happily upholstered him.
So given my and my D’s freshman roomie experiences, I have to wonder how it happens that both roommates in all these decorative extravaganzas end up being the type who even want that sort of thing. Is there a question on the roommate matching form about how over-the-top you want your dorm room to look?
I don’t think anyone on our entire campus had curtains.
I keep wondering what happens to all this coordinated decor when the roommates change in years 2, 3, and 4.
@VickiSoCal, one of my Ds isn’t allowed any sort of curtains in the dorms. The blinds work, but she has to keep them down for any sort of privacy at night. If she were allowed curtains, she could block the view with some on just the lower half of the window.
I lived in a sorority house for 2 years and I still don’t recall anyone coordinating with a roommate, or putting up curtains, or anything beyond the basic moving-in-with-bedding-and-personal-effects. I wonder to what extent this is really an Ole Miss tradition versus something that is prevalent elsewhere.
My freshman roommate and I had matching comforters we bought from JC Penney. Not expensive in the least; we both worked there during high school, so I’m sure we wanted the discount, and it just made sense to match them.
@Pizzagirl - I lived in my sorority house for 2 years as well and we didn’t coordinate bedding or go all out with room decor. I think more students are decorating their rooms these days than in our time. Not necessarily the over the top decorations in these photos, but creating a warmer, less institutional environment. The Internet and apps like Pinterest may contribute to this phenomenon.
I think you’re right. Plus the availability of cameras on phones. I don’t think I have any pictures of any dorm room I ever had. I think it’s all just in my memory bank!
For that matter, how many of us who came of age in the era when picture taking was expensive and inconvenient have a lot of photos? I probably have, what, 50 pictures total covering my college years, many of which were from formals where a photographer had been hired. Does anyone of our age range have lots of photos? Cameras were expensive, film was expensive and you had to go and get it developed - you couldn’t just knock off a bunch of pictures!
My roommate and I walked down the street to a store and bought similar (not identical) India print covers for our beds. That was probably the only thing we ever did together. We were very different. Nothing really in common.
I think a lot of these young women find each other on FB and discuss their tastes before they decide to room together. And there’s plenty of selling the stuff the following year to the next round of girls. I find it all quite entrepreneurial, actually, when they make the stuff themselves.
Yeah, maybe a part of it is simply the availability to vet a roommate beforehand via social media. “In our day” you were assigned a roommate and that was that; maybe you exchanged a letter or a quick phone call, but it just was difficult to communicate with someone not from your home area.
S’s room has curtains that came with it.
I remember there was one room on my traditional dorm floor where the roommates coordinated ahead of time. It was a nice looking room setup. One of the gals transferred to a different dorm by Thanksgiving. New resident did not have matching anything. Just like the rest of us.
@ Hanna. Exactly. My d looked at UA because of NMF scholarship. She wants to explore the option of joining a sorority. At UA, my understanding is that Greek life is very prominent and that not being part of it can limit your social opportunities. We looked at the cost and found that between the high cost of sorority at a southern school and travel, these costs would be equal to almost 2/3 of her tuition scholarship. People would mention one way to save money would be to live in the house. But- like you mention, with such large chapters it is difficult to get to live in the house.
@Pizzagirl I wouldn’t call decorating to this degree an “Ole Miss tradition.” There has been some of this for quite some time, but it has gotten more elaborate. I think there’s always the desire to do something bigger and better than the girls did a year before. Some of the stuff, such as headboards and dressers, are sold at the end of the year to a newly arriving crop of girls.
Some other factors at play are the popularity of the home decorating channels and the ability to pick roommates and coordinate efforts through Facebook and social media. Also, fads come and go; there was a time when swallowing goldfish was all the rage.
sorry - was attempting to delete draft I never posted and posted it anyhow 
My S has friends at Arkansas, Baylor, TCU, SMU, and UT. The matching and coordination is happening at those schools although in varying degrees.
Oh, curtains-that brings back memories! When I got to college my two roommates had already moved in. One had taken the coveted alcove which would give her a modicum of privacy, and the other one had hung up curtains.
The curtains looked EXACTLY like the black and white checkered flags that they wave at races. And these were big windows. I remember asking her “are you a Nascar fan?” It was the only plausible explanation for those butt-ugly curtains. Turns out her mom had gotten into the dorm early, measured the window and made those curtains herself. Makes sense, because short of the Nascar museum, I don’t think those would be available for purchase anywhere.
If my kids end up sharing a room, you can bet we’re getting there FIRST. [-X
@MotherOfDragons
Yep. When a short window opened up to allow students to register for early move-in, I made sure my d jumped on it. Her roomie had pretty much already chosen some dramatic colors and inquired about curtains/ draperies. I did somewhat fear she might go with some version of black since her comforter is black. I did the carpet and curtains. Both are a plain neutral cream color, hung on a small black rod hung up by command hooks. We plan on d being able to use them for future dorm rooms as well as maybe for an apartment.