Decorating your dorm room sounds so idyllic in the articles I read. You can shop with your new roomie and become best buds or you can work on it online over the summer and establish a rapport. Or you can face reality and accept that your roommate and you might not really get along. I went to college expecting to room with my future best friend. I wound up with a junior for a roommate who had absolutely nothing in common with me and who spent the first night with her friends watching the freshman (me) sleep. And I meanwhile pretended to sleep and tried not to cry. Yep, not the roommate in those happy little decorating articles.
The good and a little surprising news is, my roommate and I became ok-friends and actually decided to continue living together the following year. While my friends were becoming best buds with their roomies Jeanne and I were learning to tolerate each other and respect each other's space. And then while my friends were desperately trying to move into new rooms because they'd had a fight with their newest enemy, Jeanne and I were expanding our professional and personal circles by meeting each other's friends.
And to focus on the interior decorating side of things, we decorated together. Believe it or not, after such a horrible beginning, this girl and I developed our own decorating scheme that was so uniquely us we both loved it and everyone on our floor enjoyed contributing.
We were both fairly artistic people. I was getting a degree in Radio/TV/Film and Jeanne was pursuing her degree in Music Therapy. Our next-door neighbor was a true art major, black garb and all and she had left a roll of art paper in our room. We decided to use that paper to decorate our room. We started with the quote wall. We covered a wall with the paper and began writing down things we said that were interesting, or odd, or just funny. Soon everyone on the floor was participating. It became a thing of legend and sometimes people from other floors, people we didn't even know, would come by and add their quotes. It was a great way to meet people and a fantastic icebreaker.
Then one day we rolled the art paper out and traced ourselves and spent a whole night coloring in our clothes. These cutouts went on the ceiling. It wasn't terribly attractive but, except our parents, everyone liked our room.
Granted our room didn't look like others. Rooms that could have been cover photos for interior design magazines, but we didn't care. It was the room and the decorating and the cooperation that made us friends and kept us roomies for two years.
My point in sharing my dorm experience is that you shouldn't be tempted to buy all of the coolest new dorm gear at Target or Wal-Mart or wherever, but instead let your personality come through. Let your relationship with your roommate guide your decorating decisions and choices. You'll be amazed at what comes out of it. And at how inexpensive it can be.
