<p>My daughter and I are busy shopping for her dorm room. The comforter on her bed at home is a northern nights lightweight down. The problem is that it is always very thin in spots. Are there down comforters that stay more evenly distributed? Would a heavier weight be better? I thought a regular comforter would be better, but she really likes a duvet cover she saw online. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Well…they do make “synthetic” duvets…and those hold their poof better. Then she could have the distribution and the cover.</p>
<p>You could look at the LL Bean and Garnet Hill Web sites–they both have a range of down comforters that they say are well distributed–I have no direct experience with either company’s comforters but general reputations are good. I know the LL Bean site usually has comments about each product, so you might be able to get some idea from those commentws how the various down comforters have worked out for specific buyers.</p>
<p>thanks. Has anyone had luck with BB&B down comforters? I have so many coupons! Her bed is a regular twin so no problem with looking for extra long.</p>
<p>My kids’ comforters are from BBB although you have to realize that BBB carries several different ones at a variety of price points. I forget what my girls have at the moment but it was in the mid price range of what they sell there. I am pretty sure that my younger D’s is synthetic down (not positive) because of allergies. When they each went off to college, they got a twin down comforter (and a duvet cover) and used it on the extra long dorm twin beds. But then one child moved into an apartment with a double bed and had to get a new one and later this summer, the other D is getting a double bed and will get a new down comforter (likely from BBB…we have coupons too) and will order a duvet cover online. I think their duvets have held up nicely. Sorry to not be able to say which model they each have from that store.</p>
<p>thanks, soozievt. We went to BB&B yesterday and my daughter burned out very quickly. She said it was too overwhelming to look for everything at once. She admitted that is making her nervous to think she will be leaving in less than a month. We bought 3 items! Our big purchases were a hamper, trash can and shower tote. We looked at many more items but she couldn’t decide. I did this with my son 3 years ago and don’t remember this at all. Are girls always more fussy about all this stuff?</p>
<p>Can’t say always but in my experience girls seem to care a lot more about what their dorm rooms will look like. Boys seem to be quite happy to let their mothers make all or most of the decorating decisions–towel color, sheet patterns or colors, and so on. And for most boys there are no decorative pillows–that was our big issue when my D left for college–she loved choosing the decorative pillows that would look nice with her pretty new comforter (didn’t get a duvet cover then, but does have one now in her first post-college apartment).</p>
<p>Try company store for down comforters and synthetic comforters. Good quality and great color selection. They have 15% coupon now too!</p>
<p>It is true that BBB can be overwhelming…so much stuff on display. However, my kids went shopping and did it all on one day. But we do live 45 miles away and so that is how we have to do it. I have to do it again with my oldest at the end of summer as she is setting up an unfurnished apartment to start grad school in a new city and in fact, can’t come home to shop as planned and will move from NYC to Boston and we will have to shop in Boston all at once. </p>
<p>But we also buy some things online and that is more relaxing. True there are shipping costs (then again, with the price of gas to go to stores far away where I live, it may be a wash) and I often look online for items and narrow it down and then email my kiddos some options I think they may like and then they choose and I order them. I have been waiting a month at least for D2 to make her final decision on some rugs and curtains I have found online…she narrowed it down from ones I linked her to but no final choice yet. Found my girls’ duvet covers online as well as they don’t like the ones at BBB, etc. I found more unique ones they like. That is an option for your D if stores like BBB are just a bit much.</p>
<p>I have a friend who bought the top of the line down comforter at BB&B, full/queen, for $500! She absolutely loves it, but was dismayed when I told her the same one is on sale for 50% off, plus using the 20% coupon would make it only $200.</p>
<p>One suggestion is to purchase a full size comforter/duvet. They work great with x-long twin beds, only hanging down a little longer over the sides, but it saves having to replace EVERYTHING when they inevitably move to a full size bed. I would especially say this is true if you are buying both a down comforter and a duvet. The comforters can be somewhat expensive.</p>
<p>In our family, the difference between my D and S in terms of bedding selection and interest in decorating was vast. She cared ALOT and he–NOT.
D also struggled in terms of decision making on color palettes, sizes, you name it. I think part of the problem is that the summer before they leave, they are typically excited, and scared. Toss in a bunch of what seems to many girls as important decisions about the new room, and well, it’s just too much! Luckily with D, we started really early in the summer, little by little.
I knew that would be the only way to survive the experience with her!</p>
<p>Before you buy a down comforter, find out about the heat in the dorms. My son went to college in a COLD climate, and never used his comforter at all. His room was sweltering in the winter…heat was always on.</p>
<p>I thought we were the only ones have a bedding crisis. Spent Saturday with D1, looking at every duvet and comforter on the planet, either in person or on line. All were rejected. However, she did find the perfect fabric, so I cranked up the Singer. It will be unique and not flowery, striped, dotted, or nautical, heaven forbid.</p>
<p>That is what I was thinking about the heat in cold climate dorms. Is there typically a thermostat in each dorm room or suite or hall controlled? I guess all colleges are different.
And I confirm that sons do not care.</p>
<p>I finally gave up and decided that my S can just take the comforter and duvet cover from his bed at home. When he’s home, he can use the one from the guest room. If that room has an occupant also, we’ll figure something else out!</p>
<p>(He didn’t care enough to go shopping with me, but he did care enough to veto the sheets I brought home…wrong color blue. Oy.)</p>
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<p>It depends on the building, but generally speaking…no control in the room. </p>
<p>Re: linens and shopping…when my kids went to college we went “shopping” first in our linen closets and on their beds. Both took the comforters FROM their twin beds at home and they were fine on those xlong beds. Both took jersey knit regular twin sheets from our linen closet. Both took towels we already had. The one who attended school closeby also took his desk lamp, pillow, mattress pad, desk “stuff”, and toiletry bag he had taken to camp. For the one far away, we did order a pillow and mattress pad…too bulky to pack and take.</p>
<p>Both were happy with their “shopping”. </p>
<p>But then, my kids also took their OLD used computers from home with them their freshman year of college too.</p>
<p>I know this “dorm shopping” is big business, but with all the other expenses of college, we “shopped at home” first, and the kids were happy. (oh…fyi…one boy and one girl)</p>
<p>Suggestion… buy a double for a single bed. It’s OK if it over hangs a little, and chances are good that they will eventually upgrade to a double bed. At least mine did. Her’s was a cheapo but it had boxes sewn in so that the down didn’t move out of the squares & stayed distributed nicely. She will need a new duvet this year to take it into her Jr year & we’ll splurge a little on thread counts for that since that’s the part that touches ya.</p>
<p>riverrunner, my kids did not like any of the duvet covers in stores. I found unique ones online that were made in India and shipped from the UK. Also, when we got to round two…double bed duvets, D2 picked out batik fabrics at our local store and I had the duvet cover made for her.</p>
<p>thumper…for us, they really could not take the home stuff. They have handmade quilts on their beds at home and would not have anything to use when they came home if these were at school. But since I can’t afford all these goodies for college, their linens for college served as their birthday present that year. Now, for D1 who is outfitting an apartment (same with D2), they have their own earnings and gift monies to buy the furniture and linens. I will help them pick it out but I am not buying it on this round.</p>
<p>soozievt, how funny! The duvet I’m making for her is actually pieced together throws we picked up at an import store: they are made in India.</p>