COTE DE TEXAS: Elisabeth’s Dorm Room

Elisabeth’s Dorm Room

Last month my baby left for college – moving from Texas to Boca Raton, Florida, to major in Photography at Lynn University.  You have to know Elisabeth to appreciate it – she being in Boca Raton and all, majoring in Photography.   Not exactly the same as toughing it out through pre-med at some freezing, northern Ivy League school.   No, she’s out catamaraning in the Atlantic with new friends.   Ben and I just pray she is actually attending a class or two here and there.  Of course her leaving the nest for a dorm  got me all excited – thoughts of decorating her dorm room took up endless hours of daydreaming.  Reality is a bitch.   Elisabeth really didn’t want too much of my help with decorating, although she said she did to be nice.   In the end, she decorated her own room and I tried to keep my mouth shut.  It was hard. 
Dorm room designing is big business today.  Late summer, all the large discount stores like Target and K-Mart have special sections for dorm room decorating.  There is even an interactive web site to design your own dorm room with actual 3d plans from your college.  HERE.    Stores like Pottery Barn Teen, Anthropologie, and Urban Outfitters cater to dorm dwellers.   It’s all so different now than it used to be.  When I went to college in 1972, I took my sister’s 3 year old pink bedspreads  (one for me and one for my roommate – hi Helaine!) and one print for the wall.    This summer, we sent a car load of Elisabeth’s things down to Boca, plus numerous boxes via Fed Ex.   I tried to put a sunburst mirror from Ballard Designs in the car, but Elisabeth had a screaming fit and refused to let me send it.  I tried, I really tried. 
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Boca Raton, Florida on the Atlantic Ocean.   This is the view outside from our hotel room.  

 THE FANTASY DORM ROOM:
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Fantasies of a dorm room – these pictures fueled my dreams of what I wanted Elisabeth’s dorm room to look like.  She had other ideas.   Here, Max Sinsteden, featured in New York Magazine, totally changed his dorm room into a Ralph Lauren advertisement.   Max worked part time for Charlotte Moss which explains where he is coming from.   Something tells me we’ll be seeing much more of his work in the future.  Looking down – Max brought oriental runners to cover the floor and he skirted a chest in plaid fabric.  His bed has bolsters in paisley and doubles as a sofa/day bed. 

image Max was lucky and was able to paint his dorm room.  I’m sure he’ll have to paint over it when he moves, but so what?  It’s totally worth it.   Elisabeth’s would have shot me if I painted her dorm room.   I love this gallery wall.   

image Max even brought all his design books – I spy An Affair With A House by Bunny Williams and another book on Elsie de Wolfe.  


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Max skirted a table in plaid fabric and set up his own bar.   An array of liquor like this would get Elisabeth kicked out of school!   Max even added curtains with a trim, no less. 

VINTAGE DORM ROOMS:
image This dorm room is famous for being Edgar Allen Poe’s at the University of Virginia.   Great wood floors and beautiful antique furniture.   So unlike the dorm rooms of today. 


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This dorm room at Harvard’s Westmorly Court was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s.   At the time, the dorm was brand new and boasted central heat, electricity, and modern “hygienic” bathrooms.   FDR’s suite was over 600 sq. ft. with four rooms and 14’ ceilings.   There was a working fireplace too.   His mother Sara decorated his room in the Victorian style.  

 image 1880s Princeton dorm room had beautiful wood furniture and cute curtains, along with wallpaper.
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Dorm rooms were not always as boring as they are today.   This dorm room from the turn of the century actually resembles Max’s above.   I love how dressed up they were just sitting around studying.  


image Another cozy dorm room, along with a quilt and lots of pictures on the wall.  

 image I love this dorm room – notice the fishing net that holds all the pictures in it.   This room has wallpaper and trimmed out pillows.


image Those hair-dos!  Notice all the bentwood chairs.


image This pretty dorm room has matching fabric on the chairs and table and valances.  Love the lamp. 

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From the 50’s – cute wallpaper and bedspreads.   They must be wearing uniforms!    Dorm rooms with character like bay windows and paneled doors are a thing of the past except at older colleges. 


image Here is an historic photograph of James Meredith studying in his dorm room, while an FBI agent talks on the telephone.  In 1962, after then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy brokered the deal, Meredith was the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi.   Neatly dressed in a tie, his dorm room is dismal and quite depressing. 

 Fake Dorm Rooms:
image This summer, My Home Ideas HERE decorated a dorm room.   I sent Elisabeth all these pictures – I had visions in my head of us making those burlap headboards together.   She thought this was really cute, but she had her own ideas for her dorm room.

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The burlap wrapped “headboards” are the cutest. 


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This bed had a different shaped headboard.  Love the mix and matched bedding.


image I thought this was another really cute dorm room.


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This picture had me really going.  It is so “Elisabeth” who has a purse fetish.    I guess you have to buy purses to match the sheets???


 image They must have liked the purse idea too! 


image If only.   Love the cow hide rug and the quilted stools.  


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Pottery Barn Teen is filled with great ideas for dorm rooms – except the furniture in dorms is never, ever this cute.


image Oh, yeah, sure!   Make your dorm room look like a boutique.   I can just see all the neatly folded clothes out on display. 


image More fantasy.   Would you have to buy a wardrobe to match your decor?   Please.   T-shirts and jeans don’t look cute on hangers.


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I Suwannee had a “design a dorm room” contest on her blog HERE.   Lots of blogs made up inspiration boards of cute ideas for dorms.   I only hope their daughter’s let them decorate their dorm room.


Real Life Dorm Rooms:

imageHGTV’s Rate My Space has over 600 dorm rooms featured.  Most are of girl dorm rooms.  And most girl dorm rooms are black and hot pink with either damask or zebra designs, or both.  They also have either an Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe poster in them.  Another big trend is to cover white walls with sheets, construction paper, or posters.    Most of the Rate My Space rooms are beyond awful, but a few are cute.

image The typical pink and black – with both damask and zebra, along with the popular chandelier motif.

 image Another popular color scheme is turquoise with either black or brown.   Lots of damask prints and lots of faux chandelier chic. 


image I thought this was cute – monogrammed poster board paper headboards.


 image Look at the shade – a KWID inspired fabric!   I thought this was cute for a real life dorm room.  Great rug and futon.

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Mom helped out with this room.    You can always tell the ones where Mom had a big hand in the decorating.  No way a daughter would have a bolster pillow made up touting her “big sis” sorority status. 

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Shabby Chic Dorm Room:   This girl taped wallpaper on her walls.   I can only imagine Elisabeth letting me do that to her room!  


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Most depressing:  OMG.  Arsenic and Old Lace.   It’s just all so dreary and dusty looking.   Notice the feather pen on the skirted table. 


 image This one is really cute – a Tiffany gift box inspired bedroom.  Clean and simple.   Cute student too.   


Elisabeth’s Dorm Room:

image Here’s what we started out with – a cross between a classroom and a hospital room.    Her room is huge with two giant walk in closets and its own bathroom and vanity area.  This is her half of the room.   I tried to get Elisabeth’s roommate to “match” but they bought their own bedding.  At least there is no carpet – just lovely gray linoleum.   Lots of beautiful furniture comes with the room.   


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The window area.  What I would GIVE to add curtains and rip those blinds down, but Lizzy would disown me!  


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Elisabeth bought the brown and white damask bedding herself, online, from Pine Cone Hill.   She had it monogrammed in pink and added the pink peony sheets from Pine  Cone Hill.     I bought the two lamps from Target with matching brown shades.  

imageElisabeth bought the “Chanel” lamp at More Than You Can Imagine” HERE in Houston.   She also bought online those cute vinyl baskets in brown with pink monograms.   I found the small Dash and Albert rug at Olivine HERE.  I wanted to buy her a large Dash and Albert rug, but she insisted on a white Flokati rug, with matching pillows.   
 



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Here’s her white rug.   She made the two photo collages for her wall.


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We bought her cute desk chair in white from PB Teen.   We are still looking for a little futon or sofa to go against the windows. 


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I bought her white towels with brown monograms from Pottery  Barn.   Yes, her initials are SEW.   Sarah Elisabeth Webb.  And no, I didn’t think of that before.


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Thanks Dad, who happily pays for it all. 



Her College:   Pictures for my family

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Here’s a few pictures from her college, Lynn University.   It’s a small, private college with only around 2,500 students, many of whom are international students.   The campus is over 100 acres, so it’s very spread out.  I took these pictures with my new I-Phone.  They came out just as good as my Nikon!

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There are numerous lakes throughout the campus.  See the ducks?   The campus is right across the street from the much larger Florida Atlantic University. 


image The school was started in the 60s, so the buildings are mostly contemporary in style. 


image This is a cute coffee shop on campus.


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This is right outside Lizzy’s dorm.  That’s her under the huge Banyan tree.  

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Hmm.   The latest in fashion – wear a plastic shopping bag on your head.  Elisabeth and her room mate take a break from hours of studying.

91 comments :

  1. I was a Hall Director for a couple years in grad school (the RAs worked for me) and I used to love to see how the students would decorate their rooms. Of course, many would do ridiculous things that were against fire code and had to be removed (tacking up wallpaper or tapestries). After seeing another residence hall on fire, I was happy to see the flammable stuff go.

    I think your daughter's room looks perfect! Not too fussy that she'll have to divert too much energy on upkeep, but still comfortable enough to relax in once all that work is done. :)

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  2. UGH! I think that prisoners have more room than my roomie and I had. Cinderblock walls, blah furniture and linoleum floors. All in about 120 square feet! And no en suite bathroom, either.

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  3. So cute. Thanks for the trip down dorm decor memory lane. I remember sewing my blue and white gingham duvet cover out of Ralph Lauren sheets, installing "wall-to-wall" berber carpet over the linoleum and having a zillion sunflower accessories. The 90's...

    Best of luck to your daughter this year!

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  4. She done good. It's really comfy looking. Since she doesn't want the sunburst mirror you can feel free to send it to me! HA.

    - Suzanne

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  5. she is darling and so is her room! thanks for showing the uva poe room :) i'm a uva grad and we used to have halloween tours by that room and it ALWAYS creeped me out!

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  6. Oh Joni,
    This is a great post. Elizabeth's room is just darling. Realize it or not, you have passed on your good eye for design, she is just wearing different glasses if that makes any sense.
    The KWID room is so real and what I would hope Taylor would go for. Those mom's should be proud. The "purse" room....hummm...looks like someone's mom set it all up and then she wanted to move in.
    Fun post.
    xoxo

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  7. Elisabeth did well with her own decorating theme that bed looks cozy, see she learned something from you Mom. I know it must have been killing you not to have a hand in her dorm room but they do grow up and develope a mind of their own. This was a fun post and took me down memory lane.

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  8. hhaha! Being the parent of an adult/teenaged daughter, I can just picture the "screaming fit" over the mirror. Very cute! I think she ended up with a great dorm room! ;)

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  9. MOM! thanks for the post. That's a pretty embarrassing picture of me and Jonna!!

    When you come for parents weekend you can do whatever you want to my room.... improvements. not a redo.

    I'll call you later. LOVE YOU MISS YOU!
    XOOOXOXOXOOXOXOX

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  10. Looks like she's having a blast. I mean, studying really, really hard.

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  11. Oh to be back in college. I still remember my first dorm, it was right on Gramercy Park in NYC (thank you SVA) and an all girls dorm. We went crazy with contact paper, there are so many uses for that stuff, and I think I covered every sq. in. in our dorm in it.

    The vintage pics from above are my favorite, it is like looking through a window.

    Best of luck to your daughter, I hope you share some of her work on your blog with all of us. :)

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  12. This was the cutest post! And I learned so much from it :) We went through this same thing with our three daughters :) Now? Each one of them have homes that look surprisingly as if I lived and decorated there ;)

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  13. Your daughter is darling! Thank you for all of the wonderful vintage pics! Dorm rooms have come a long way. My room was the featured "tour" room for perspective students and their parents. It was a lovely, late eighties peach and blue floral motif - gag!

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  14. Your daughter is tooo cute! I love her thank you comment to you too! You both did such a great job on her room-it looks polished and cozy and inviting. Perfect dorm room-too bad the room mate didn't have matching sheets:( Love all the dorm inspiration photos too. My best friends daughter just graduated from Lynn and just loved it!I have a 16 year old that insisted on a black and white bedroom-we got the PB zebra duvets and I added a lime green bed cover--which she told me to return! Still trying to add some color...xx Barbara

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  15. Love this post....reminds me of my getting ready for college. I had custom Ralph Lauren duvet and bedskirt made, monogrammed pink towels, the whole nine yards. Called my roommate once we were assigned to each other and she informed me that she was into black....only. It was a match to be sure. Over the course of a year my huge Texas flag went up....her posters of Hillary Clinton, etc. Now that I am older we appreciate our differences (she even follows my blog) but at the time....it was interesting. Lots to be learned outside the classroom in college :)

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  16. Joni - Just a thoroughly delightful post ... . such fun seeing all the great dorm room history pics. You're to be congratulated for letting her make her own choices - know it must have made you squirm. All good wishes to Miss Elizabeth for a fab first year !

    judith

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  17. The fact that she feels secure and empowered enough to make her own decisions is an amazing tribute to her parents. She looks like a beautiful, well adjusted woman starting to navigate her way into adulthood. Good job, Joni. you're a good mommy.

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  18. Her room looks great! I like the bedding she picked out. Back in the 80's, my roommate and I painted out dorm room pink with a green stripe at the top with matching comforters for our bunkbeds. The whole room was pink and green! At the end of the year, our room was used as the room that potential residents would tour. Unfortunately for them that we painted everything back to white.

    I hope Elisabeth has a wonderful year!

    Sue

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  19. Oh, how I feel for you! The only thing worse is trying to help boys! I went through it last month with my son and EVERTHING was black, gray and tan!

    The most redeeming feature of his whole set up was the 1930's looking bathroom...green and black tile. But, with 4 boys using it...need I say more.

    Back in the 80's my roommate and I had a bohemian decorated dorm room, complete with the back of the door plastered with ripped out playgirl photos! So embarassing and crass...what were we thinking!?

    Love all the images you found, especially the Ralph Lauren inspired room. His stylish and open display of alcohol gave me a laugh!

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  20. LOVE THIS POST! I left a large fortune in my daughter's dorm room, so I can relate. Your daughter's room is gorgeous.
    I believe that the furniture company that makes this furniture has a monopoly, because my daughter has the same furniture. Don't stub your toe on it! Ouch!!
    Thanks for sharing,
    Teresa

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  21. Those dorm rooms are amazing. My halls of residence were disgusting. You would have been proud though, I was the only person who decorated and I tried to doa decent job not just a student job. Which is to put one poster up and have mismatching dirty sheets. I even got curtains.

    If you were my mother I would let you get on with the decorating :). Your clearly better t it than me.

    xxx

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  22. hahah awwww love the bag pic :)

    it's supercute...

    i had a green (schocker!) bedspread and I brought like 10 plants with me which I slowly killed as the school year progressed. I even had those really ugly rope- hanging-pot holder things for the plants to hang in the window. my poor roomates. I also feel out of my bunk bed on one of the first nights because I wasn't used to being in a bunk. My roommates said I basically juped out of it and then i remember just laying there on the ground--- haha I really hurt my back.

    Anyway, loved seeing this roundup and good luck to Elisabeth!!!
    xoxo,
    lauren

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  23. I loved this post! It was a great tour of dorm room style-- now and yesterday! And you're right, sadly, the students of today do not get to enjoy the fabulous architecture of the past. Everything now is so boring, cold and boxy.

    Thanks for sharing all the great photos, and congrats to your daughter on a job well done.

    JM, @Brown.edu

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  24. Oh Joni this post made me smile! When I went to college in the early 1990s my parents bemoaned me for lugging so much stuff- I had to everything just right!! Two years later when I moved off campus I went all-out, buying slipcovers, making drapes, and making my first design books with ideas and sketches, paint chips, and fabric swatches. I even took my grandmothers 1940s Duncan Phyfe dining set to school! I think I am still the only person I ever knew that actually had a dining set...
    (which I still use, painted now though).

    It was so much fun though. Thanks for bringing back great memories!

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  25. too cute! the room turned out very pretty, and your soo lucky to get to help even just a little, my daughter cringes when I even enter her room. She knows exactly whats on my mind :)

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  26. Hello Joni,
    Thank you for sharing this fab post and great images with us. You made me laugh with your comments and goodness, never knew there were so many "dorm rooms" out there!!
    I adore what your Lizzy did with her room- of course the apple not far from the tree!! best of luck with this new venture Lizzy, I find it precious that you commented! xo Colette

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  27. Oh, let's all go back to school!!!
    Wonderful post, Joni!

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  28. Joni, Lynn??? I'm in West Palm Beach, stop it. Please come meet me next time you visit. You can see the fabulous drapes you helped me with!! :-))

    Hope your daughter loves it down here, it's wonderful even if filled with questionable drivers.

    Lauren

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  29. I love your daughters comforter! Or is it a duvet? I've been looking for one like that for a while now! Where did you get it?

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  30. What a fun post! her school looks totally wonderful and manageable..my niece in in school at a small college in Florida, she loves it..

    My dorm room was decorated with Indian paisley bedspreads and old trunks!

    Some of these are so creative, I'm not even talking about Max's room..what about the one where she put up wallpaper??

    great post Joni!

    Kit

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  31. Oh how cute! Funny that that is the same exact furniture I had in MY dorm room freshman year! luckily my grnadparents lived 10 minutes away - the chest of drawers, ugly lamps and desk chair were put into storage in their basement and I had a nicer chair, lamps, rug(to cover the nasty stained carpeting provided) and dresser from their house. Funny enough, I don't even remember bed linens but I think they were just white sheets with a navy blue duvet cover. I did a collage of different magazine adds in a gallery wall grid on the wall - floor to ceiling - I got a lot of compliments on it! mostly people asking if I measured it out -but no, I had just eye balled it with some scotch tape put into balls in 10 minutes! I remember being so proud of myself!
    Oh -and my roomates side of the room - bare bare bare with all the provided furnishings and not a thing on his wall -LOL. I think he may have had a navy blue comforter or something though.

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  32. Oh Joni she's a cutie bug...and the room looks adorable !!!

    How hard was it to say good-bye....I cried like a baby !!!

    Much success to your sweet daughter.

    All the best,
    Kathy :)

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  33. I knew you would have to do a post on dorm rooms since this was lizzy's first year away. She did a great job. I would love to see a picture of the room in a few months after they have had a chance to "live" in it. I wish she had picked some place like Penn or Bryn Mawr so you would have to come visit and I would beg for you to come to Haverford and help me with my awful house. I am still waiting on a post of your mother's house.

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  34. Just sent my first boy after two girls to college and all we did was get the patch madras Nautica comforter and navy XL twin sheets out of the storage room. I didn't even go with them when he moved in so I haven't even seen it. I've had fun with both of the girls' apartments now that they are living by themselves. Since most of the stuff is cast offs from our house, they both obviously look like I decorated it, and they've both said it makes it seem so much more "homey". Their dorm and sorority house rooms were really cute....one did an adorable sort of boho look and the other did pink and green plaid preppiness. My girls fall somewhere between "don't really care" and "just want it to look good" and are happy to let me persuade them that's what they want.

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  35. Oh....to be a college freshman again! I cringe when I recall my rah rah "school colors" decorated dorm room. Style and I had not met yet.....:)

    If I had it to do all over again, I think going to school in sunny Florida and majoring in photography would be the way to go. Your Elisabeth really is mighty bright!!!

    xoxo Elizabeth

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  36. Great post Joni. Such an exciting time in her life. I can't imagine my baby going off to college (5 more years!).

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  37. what a fun post Joni! I graduated from college in 1986 and the thought to decorate my dorm room never crossed my mind.. I am glad that interior design is "spreading" to the smallest of spaces such as the dorm room! It probably gives the students a sense of their "own home" while away from home... LOVE Max S's space.. I too am sure we have not seen the last of him.. Love how he displays his ties ... looks like a silk wall treatment, yet functional!

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  38. Confession: it drove me INSANE that the roommate's bedding wouldn't match. Over the summer I begged elisabeth to death to write her roomie and say we would buy her bedding. we did. monogrammed it too. but of course her mom bought her daughter's own bedding in turquoise - it's cute too. it worked out fine - the room is so big. but it just killed me all summer. does anyone want a monogrammed pine cone hill duvet, shams and dust ruffle? hehe. I was shocked when lizzy told me she had ordered bedding from Pine Cone Hill. I have no idea how she found that company. I directed her to Serena and Lilly - that's who I wanted her to use.

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  39. Your daughter is just the cutest girl. You must be very proud!

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  40. OMG! She did a great job! I know just where that college is- LOTS of great shopping nearby!!!! She'll be in heaven!
    -linda, ny

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  41. my dorm had the same furniture! it was horrifying when I moved in (I had JUST redone my bedroom at home and loved it) but we managed to make it work. I had Marimekko's pink and red poppies and loved it for three years in the dorm/sorority hall, but I think it's the reason I can't deal with anything pink or red anymore!

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  42. My freshman year (95-96), hunter green, navy blue & maroon were all the rage. So, I had a hunter green comforter & all my accessories were hunter green. The next year my roommate & I coordinated & went with chambray duvet covers & red gingham pillows (matched our sorority colors). After that I chunked the red & incorporated a Ralph Lauren floral bed skirt and pink accessories.
    It's funny that you say that everyone has either an Audrey, Marilyn or chandelier poster, when I was in school it was the Raphael poster of two angels (http://katiekieffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/RaphaelsTwoAngelsSistineChapel.jpg) We had a poster of it and even a clock. Talk about overkill!

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  43. Joni wow a really great collaboration between Mom & Lizzy. Looks perfect to me!

    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  44. How lucky Elizabeth is to have a MOM like you. I know Lynn Univ very well. Hope you called Renee when you were in Boca.. great
    job on dorms..

    yvonne

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  45. Joni!
    I can so relate. My daughter picked out all of her own things too. Colors were red, white, grey and navy...kind of modern minimalist. She has exactly the same furniture! Her room was so samll that they had bunk beds. Neither girl liked that, so I rearranged the room so they could each have their beds on the floor....but it left not enough florr space for Hannah's sheepskin rug.(It is now on the futon in the living room of the suite.

    I wish I could have taken pictures, but it was still in progress by the time we had to leave. And I was just too emotional.

    Elizabeth's room is so cute. Chip off the old block!!!

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  46. Well - as usual, I am late to the game as there are some 40 something people who have already responded but I still feel the need to add my 2 cents. Firstly, you daughter is adorable! Secondly, I have the opposite problem. My daughter would be happy to let me help her decorate but then my fall clothing budget would be gone. We ended up snagging some very cute John Robshaw linens on Ebay and cute lamps at Home Goods. My son drove her to school because I had a commitment with my younger daughter and she barely fit in the Suburban - my husband was aghast. My sons went to school with a bare bones supply of furnishings. But most importantly, she seems to be having a great time and hopefully she'll fit in a little studying!

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  47. Darlin' you never go half way. The research is so strong. I loved this coverage of a topic no one has ever written about.
    Elizabeth is in a beautiful place to study photography. she will do just fine. You are a such a good mother.

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  48. What a great post. It brought back so many memories of decorating my dorm rooms. I lived in a 200 year old dorm at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was PACKED with character (hard wood floors, original sinks in the rooms, tiny closets, transom windows over the doors, working radiators). Most of that character has disappeared since I was there 20 years ago. Sinks removed, windows removed, sinks removed, lots of cables and wired added, elevator added (where my freshman room was!).
    But we had so much fun decorating. Freshman year this uber preppy girl got a super Goth girl. We had completely different taste but got along great. Soph year we had matching reversible Laura Ashley comfortors and my roommate's mom made valances and a sink skirt to match.
    You guys did a great job. Simple and classy. I love the inspiration rooms you posted too. The Tiffany bed might be my favorite.
    Thanks for the trip down memory lane.... might go visit my room next weekend before the football game!

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  49. Oh, Joni, Elisabeth is just as cute as a button- and "dad" is looking his usual adorable self.

    Consider yourself lucky to have a girl to do anything for- I have two boys who would rather destroy than create- I am talking old underwear on the bathroom floor, food rotting in their mini fridge, and I am afraid to look under the beds!

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  50. You are a GOOD MaMa. I know it was death on earth for you not to send crates of washed Belgian furniture and barrel stave chandeliers to Boca Raton. Good on YOU for being a good Mom.

    You don't HAVE to use that furniture do you? Feh!!! She's using her wings, the ones you trained her to use...just bide your time. In 4 years you will be a GENIUS to her.

    Liquor in a Dorm room (I mean on display) Really?

    Hats off to you and Mr. Slippersocks. Is he sulking?

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  51. We sent our one and only little girl off to a similar room in D.C., several years ago! The roomate had already moved in with depressingly dark blue and crimson all over. My daughter realized this just would NOT do (!) and by the end of the semester, the two of them had transformed the room...all for the better. But, of course, there's nothing you can do about that awful furniture!

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  52. guess I'll have to go with Poe's ....
    oh and I too, l.o.v.e. my iphone photos


    you are all so cute!!

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  53. What a great spread on the history of dormitory rooms. You are always so thorough and informative. I wish your daughter a successful first semester. I hope that you are adjusting well to having her gone--your posts suggest that you guys are very close.

    I have been waiting for the new designer listing, and not very patiently! Is the little one-story on Meadow Lake the one....possibly a Jane Wood design project??? I cannot wait to find out.

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  54. I love this post so much!
    We just dropped off our son at UCLA this past weekend and I just posted about the experience and his dorm room, a triple with 2 roommates!
    Your daughter is gorgeous. I'm going to send this link to my son. Who knows maybe she'll come to LA for Spring Break!
    Take care,

    Terri

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  55. Her room looks cute! Just think, it won't be long before she'll have her first place. My guess is she'll be more receptive to your input then. Love her boots!

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  56. Lovely post takes me back a few years...now I have Grandchildren and buy PB for kids! Hey just wanted to say thanks for sending me to The Skirted Roundtable...I listened for hours...Brooke being my favorite so far, way better than watching TV!

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  57. I'm entranced! Love, love LOVE Max's room; it's so LITERARY and bookish as well as chic. How could anyone live in that space and not read F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sherlock Holmes all day long?

    Also, thanks for the wake-up call about the reality of girl children. Every once in awhile I think "I wish I had a girl" and I start daydreaming about how we'd get our nails done together, how I'd get to pick out all of these great clothes for her and oh yes, DECORATE A GIRl'S ROOM! Only in a daydream do daughters let their moms decorate and pick out all their clothes -- once they are old enough to voice opinions! :-)

    Congratulations and best wishes to Elizabeth for a terrific freshman year!

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  58. Joni, you are amazing. Your posts are so educational. Love seeing the dorm rooms through the years. Max's room - wow!

    Your daughter is adorable. The best thing you could have done was give her the confidence to make her own choices, and she did great. The bedspread, "Chanel" lamp, and pink sheets are wonderful.

    Thank you - and Elizabeth - for sharing with us.

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  59. Joni, I feel your pain. My daughter and I are just finishing our late summer project of re-doing her room. It was tough to take off my designer hat and just be a mom...made a great topic for a blog post though. We are putting on the final touches...don't you hate it when they have their own opinions. She is a senior in high school this year and chose black, white, and turquoise with gray walls. It looks great. Your daughter and her dorm room are adorable.

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  60. Love Elisabeths dorm room, Very girly but not too over the top!!She is going to have a wonderful year there.I must also add that she is just so gorgeous, what a smile!!! Hang in there MOM, she will be fine, I know it is hard for YOU!!! KATHYSUE

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  61. Oh my Gah-! When my son went off to college it was all I could do to keep my mouth shut as he selected his bedding (brown), curtains (brown), rug (brown).. Son, have you learned nothing from me! lol.. He was all function, function and Mom I want to fit in with the guys..
    And the room he shared was so tiny we ended up improvising bunkbeds just so the two roomates could get around each other...

    Reality check!

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  62. Elizabeth's dorm room turned out very very cute! My own daughter's dorm room {at a school in Montecito} was so tiny, it was hard to do anything with it. ugh. Lots of roomies stacked their twin beds on top of each other& put a couch underneath so they would have a tiny bit of place to hang out.{And yes, Kevin, you DO have to use their furniture, bad as it is most times}

    I hope she has a great time at school. And for you, Joni, trust me, it DOES get easier as time goes by. Thinking of you, Mom! xo Lidy

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  63. So, 3 years ago we went through the same thing. I am a designer, and off went our son to Syracuse (brrrr!) and a miserable dorm room. The GREAT news is that it inspired him to start a company! He was so uncomfortable in the room, that he designed an ergonomic bolster to turn a twin bed into a sofa - with LUMBAR support. He ended up in Inc. Magazine in March: http://www.inc.com/ss/cool-college-start-ups-2010 , and on the Cover of the Orange Entrepreneur:
    http://whitman.syr.edu/Centers/Falcone/orangeentrepreneur.asp !
    Here is his web site:
    http://rylaxing.com/index.html

    I'll bet Elizabeth would enjoy one!!
    All the best.
    Erica

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  64. LOL...when our son was at USC he was President of his fraternity and the summer leading into his senior year I volunteered to help him decorate his room in the frat house (as President, he had his own room). We painted, moved furniture, etc. The finished room looked great (in my humble opinion). By the first event at the house that included parents, I was horrified to see the sorry state the room was already in---rearranged furniture, etc. I knew then that he had simply indulged "mom" and her love of design. I guess its a right of passage---they are growing up!

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  65. i would love to know where some of the above dorm photos are from because my dorm room at college DID NOT look like that, with nice, white crisp walls and nice, clean floors. mine was a beige, peeling paint with carpet and crammed into the smallest space ever. i only wish my dorm room looked as cute as some of those. i LOVE the tiffany box one. i couldn't really get into decor for my rooms until i had an apartment.

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  66. When I was a young girl, we rented out our upstairs to four "college girls". There were two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a small bathroom with just a sink and a toilet. On Saturday nights, while our family watched Bonanza, the college girls would trudge through our living room to use our bathroom to take a bath (we didn't have a shower). The girls would entertain their male friends on the stairs as the opposite sex was not allowed upstairs. We washed their linens and cleaned for them when they were at classes. We lived approx four blocks from the university, so they walked to and from campus. Things sure have changed!

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  67. * J~ Oh-so-fun to see n' read, and oooh, the memories!!! (Annnd, SHE is just sooo cute!!!

    XO,
    Linda in AZ *
    bellesmom1234@comcast.net

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  68. Wow - Elisabeth's dorm room looks so much like my dorm room at Rice! Some how or another, I ended up with the rooms with the exposed brick walls (only a few of the rooms were this style in my residential college), which was kind of a curse because you couldn't hang anything on them, but it actually gave the room a lot of character.

    I can tell you for sure that no one's room looked like the rooms from the catalogs - I wonder if college students didn't do that back then? I remember stringing the phone connection through the window so the room next to mine could share the phone bill - oh, the days before cell phones.

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  69. loved this post joni - my daughter just went away to college too - i posted her dorm room on my blog because it was just so amazing as raw space! I have not seen the latest decoration - tried to link to the post - but couldn't - if you are interested, the post is labelled "change"- got a great an inexpensive futon thru target mail order! Looks like your Lizzie is having a great time - my sweetie, I am happy to say, is have a great time too!

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  70. I can't believe how much has changed in a decade -- when I went off to college you just went to BB&B and bought some extra-long twin sheets and comforter (minimal selection but I recall Tommy Hilfiger having cute stuff) and then tried to somehow cram all your stuff into a tiny room that you had to share with another girl (or more, if you got unlucky). And I went to one of those old, staid institutions that you feature on here..but what was once a single is now a quad. Hurrah for overcrowding!

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  71. Great post. What we don't do for those daughters. My daughter's specs for her room: no pink, no animal prints, nothing sparkly; other than that, do whatever you want to. Now she's on to jet setting around the world "studying abroad" as they now say. The life of a college student has certainly changed in the last 25 years!

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  72. Wow, this is a great post. Not only did you some investigationwork, you found so many diffirent inspiring things too and the personal touch, young students and Dad as well ..I do love it to the best. Thank you.
    Good luck to the young student ( we have been there too with all three of them - for now: they really got the hang of it and want to study on ..and ..on ...They must be brilliant future tax-paying citiziens of The Netherlands, I'm sure ..) I love my kids and having them leave home to study out of town really is an "eventfeull episode"in one's families life.
    Have a wonderful sunday.
    Lieve groeten
    Godeliva van Ariadone

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  73. Joni, I have to know who manufacters the chanel lamp. I have looked everywhere and I can't find it!!!! please help

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  74. Oh what I would give to be in college again- she looks like shes having a blast already in her beautiful dorm room!

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  75. peggy - for the chanel lamp - there should be a link there for More Than You Can Imagine, it's a store in houston. hope this helps!

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  76. Joni, I loved seeing all the pictures of dorms throughout the years and also the one of Elizabeth's room. Looks cute, and you know I love that Dash and Albert rug! The monograms are wonderful, and so are the lamps. And Elizabeth is absolutely adorable. I got teary-eyed seeing that picture of her with Ben. I know how much y'all are going to miss her, and if I can ever be a help to her here in Florida, I hope you will call on me. I'm several hours away, but it's only a car ride.

    I'm on a blog break, but I wanted to pop in and see what you had been up to. Thought I might see a post about school.

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

    Love the picture of the girls... so fun!

    P.S. I emailed you, but I'm not sure you saw it. I can imagine that you have thousands of emails. Just wanted to wish you a blessed holiday season!

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  77. I stumbled across this blog looking for photos of bryn mawr dorms (long story). I'm now a college prof at a Big State U in the South and this post was a riot -- I can only imagine what my students' dorm rooms look like!

    My own house is full of what my mum calls "Ikea Academic Eclectic," meaning the walls are covered with bookshelves OR with taxidermied animal heads and art from my time spent in Africa. I love it...she thinks it's a bit daft. On the other hand, my dad believes it is fantastic that his daughter has antelope heads and horns on her walls, and writes that only some rifles mounted over the fireplace would be needed to complete it!

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  78. I liked this post very much..I m interior and ur site really helped me. A+ for this nice post. Thanks for the information on topics.I was excited by this article.

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  79. i love all the blog and images and content . really a nice
    dorm bedding

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  80. Such fantastic dorm room designs that you've laid out for Elisabeth, and I loved how you both redecorated her room even though the linoleum flooring looks pretty bland in comparison to your lively outlook in design. Other than that, it looks pretty sad to see your daughter move out for college, but it's great to see you guys took it like a champ and hoped for her best.

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  81. There are different and versatile bunk beds are used. some of them have desk on the side while some have desk under it. the beds with desks underneath are very beneficial for the user because many things like books extra covers of beds etc can put in the desk underneath the beds.

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  82. Hii, I was wondering if your daughter would be willing to sell that Chanel lamp? I know it's a shot in the dark but I've been looking for that lamp. Please let me know if she would be interested. Thanks for your time and attention. Pbimports@gmail.com

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  83. Hi! Do you know where that student got her tiffany blue pillow and comforter?

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  84. The first 'Fake' one is actually real. They made headboards with plywood and burlap bags. All the furniture is dorm style furniture (they only switched out the chair) and you can notice the floor is grey linoleum under the pretty rug. The only thing that is 'fake' about this room I believe is the budget. I believe it was not a student budget friendly room (not a typical student at any rate).

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  85. Dear Joni,
    So sorry to say that someone has posted an obscene and potentially criminal comment / reply (this was in 2015). It should be reported and removed. Not sure how else to let you know.

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