Crash course
They’ve been prepping for this since primary school. And now, at long last, here they are. College! Freedom! The launchpad into adulthood! But hold on. This is where they’ll be living? In these cinderblock nightmares? These dreary concrete bunkers with their institutional furniture and their industrial colors? Good grief, this must be prison.
No, it’s just the dormitory. Where a hapless 2 million a year are consigned to live across the country.
We wondered if it was possible to transform a dreary dorm room into a place with the kind of pizazz befitting this episode of life. Under the creative direction of Home stylist Adamo DiGregorio, and with a budget of $800 per room, we remodeled two 125-square-foot cookie-cutter spaces -- one occupied by a male, the other by a female -- at USC’s Fluor Tower.
With the rooms’ battleship-blue carpeting, white cinderblock walls and fluorescent overheads in drop ceilings, it wasn’t exactly a snap, especially when you throw into the mix the university housing regulations: no removal of the mismatched mass-produced furniture, no paint, no nails, no screws and no halogen bulbs. It took six days to accomplish.
In the end, it was a lesson in not just humanizing but glamorizing two drab little cells and making them expressions of two distinct personalities.
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DAY 1: The subjects
Last fall, Rob Robol was an 18-year-old freshman leaving Columbus, Ohio, for his first year at what he quickly learned to call the “University for Spoiled Children.” That’s because after procrastinating on his housing application, Rob wound up sharing a room on one of several floors at the Radisson that USC commandeered to alleviate its housing crunch.
“It was pretty sweet,” he recalls. “There was a pool, a health club, and we could order room service, but we had to pay for that.”
There was also once-a-week maid service, something Rob already needs in his new space on the third floor of Fluor Tower, even though he has just moved in.
Though he says his middle name is “Danger,” he is instantly dubbed “Rob the Slob,” a nickname the wisecracking sophomore takes in stride. “I have no organizational skills,” the undeclared major admits with a grin.
But, oh, does he have fantasies.
“I’d like a flat-screen TV,” says the film fan, whose prize possession is a poster from “Jackass: The Movie” autographed by its stars Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O.
“And an aquarium. A disco ball would be cool to vaporize any vampires that get into the room, an in-room incinerator for my garbage and a putting green. I need a chin-up bar and punching bag too, because one day I’d like to fight crime.”
It’s clear, however, that the battle against grime and disarray is going to be more pressing. Along with studying and sleeping, Rob will be using his quarters for counseling, in his role as resident advisor to the 24 freshmen on his floor. Because his resident advisors’ dining plan covers only 10 meals a week, he’ll also be eating a fair bit in his room, which is equipped with a microwave and fridge. Rob also plans on doing some entertaining.
By contrast, Angelica Ramos, a junior majoring in religion and sociology and a first-time resident advisor, is a study in efficiency. She has repositioned all the furniture in the room so that it takes up the least amount of floor space and creates an open central area.
Her bed is made, as it is every morning, and framed photographs and a large drawing of Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira are positioned on her desk and side-by-side dressers.
There’s a place for everything, and everything is already in its place, including a rather large collection of stuffed animals with an emphasis on giraffe accessories, from pillows to picture frames, photographs to a hand-painted giraffe stool. “We short people daydream of being tall,” the 19-year-old L.A. native explains.
Only one problem: “It’s a little boring,” says Angelica, who is shy about using her favorite colors, green and red. “The only time they go together,” she says, “is at Christmas.”
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DAY 2: The prognosis
Angelica has an innate sense of proportion and scale. If anything, she is too logical and symmetrical. Having placed all the furniture around the perimeter of the room, she has created a spatial doughnut. It’s an easy problem to solve; sliding the dressers under her bed (a twin with adjustable height) will free up wall and floor space for a much-needed seating area.
Her giraffe collection provides the key to adding excitement to the room. Surrounded by her favorite objects, she has already made herself at home.
Creating a habitat for her menagerie by covering the walls in easy-to-cut reed fencing will pull everything together, providing drama and a neutral ground that can accommodate a more adventurous color palette.
Rob needs everything.
Aside from his movie poster and a collection of photographs he has taped to the walls, the only way to describe his design sensibility is Collegiate Eclectic.
With the same floor plan as Angelica’s, his room is an obstacle course.
The first step will be working with the room’s measurements to create two defined spaces: one for sleeping and studying, the other to serve as a small seating and entertainment area.
The color scheme -- dirt-camouflaging black with a bit of white and red -- will echo his “Jackass” poster, which is the translucent kind seen on bus shelters. As his defining statement of aesthetics and identity, it deserves special attention; it will be mounted on a plexiglass box with fluorescent tubes, providing mood lighting while commanding center stage.
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DAYS 3 TO 5: The shopping
Working within the limitations of installation, existing furniture and, now, a theme and color palette actually helps narrow down a plethora of choices in the back-to-school market. In addition to such seasonal dorm-specific collections as Todd Oldham’s for Target, both Pier One and IKEA stock highly versatile low-cost furniture and accessories.
The inherent risk of using such resources, however, is a room as generic as a page from a catalog. The solution? Mixing and matching basic items from these retailers and integrating colorful accessories with the students’ own possessions.
The first task is to minimize the wall-to-wall carpeting with accent rugs that add big bang for a relatively big buck. To complement Angelica’s jungle theme, a dark split bamboo floor mat eats up a quarter of the $800 budget, but it will pull everything together, setting the stage for a low wicker table (actually a footstool painted red) and print throw pillows that will create a floor-level dining and conversation area.
For Rob, a white flokati will define an entertainment space with a modernist bachelor-pad vibe that is enhanced by two low black plastic lounge chairs and a low-cost Parsons table and circular TV stand with storage, both in vivid red.
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DAY 6: The installation
Bringing in the new furniture and accessories will be the icing on the cake. First, however, there are larger issues: Each room has four white walls lighted by an overhead fluorescent light that exudes all the charm of a police station, and each is equipped with an enormous and rather ugly armoire that needs to be camouflaged or turned into a conversation piece. The bed, which takes up about 20 square feet, also needs to add personality to the room.
In Rob’s room, the first orders of business are “filing” his possessions in easy-to-store, smoke-colored translucent plastic storage bins and rearranging his furniture to expose the wall against which his “Jackass” poster light box will rest.
Before putting the poster in its place, however, wrapping paper in a vivid vertical stripe (to add height) and a Playboy bunny pattern (to add personality) are applied to the wall with low-tack double-stick tape.
Altering just one wall provides a focal point in what would otherwise be a boring cube; it also makes the room feel larger. Rob’s collection of snapshots is carefully arranged on the armoire, which occupies a prominent spot on the opposite wall. The result: an ugly brown box transformed into a photography installation.
Along with the illuminated poster for atmospherics, a three-bulb ‘50s-styled pole lamp adds task lighting for studying at the desk or reading in bed.
Black linens, including a stitched pleather curtain panel with the tabs cut off for a bedspread, form a solid ground for faux-fur pillows that complement the flokati on the floor. A tall, minimal-care dracena in a plain white planter adds a finishing touch of organic, sensitive-guy charm.
Angelica’s room requires less rearranging but more physical labor. The reed fencing must be cut to fit around doorframes, fire alarms and sprinklers, seamed and gently staple-gunned to the walls to minimize any damage to the surface.
Placing her dressers under the bed frees up a wall that is also papered, using the same technique as in Rob’s room, in a bold stripe of pink, red and pale greens. The paper is also used to cover the armoire on that wall, causing it to “disappear” while providing a corner against which she can prop floor pillows.
These cushions, in a patchwork Indian print, pick up the room’s neutral tones and add a shot of turquoise and red that matches the painted wicker table. A floor lamp with a long, natural-colored paper shade casts a soft glow.
The bed, perched atop dressers to allow maximum use of floor space, offers a chance to incorporate Angelica’s favorite colors -- red and green -- in a way that stays true to the rustic yet exotic theme.
The secret to working with opposing colors -- particularly those associated with a holiday -- is in balancing tones. In this case, khaki-colored sheets provide enough earthiness to withstand the pungency of pillowcases and blankets in a shade of red that also mixes well with the neutral walls and animal-print pillows.
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DAY 7: The unveiling
The buzz in Fluor Tower is drowning out the hum of the fluorescent lights. Everyone is milling around waiting for Rob to open his door. When he does, he is floored. Walking into his room, all he can do is say, “Wow, amazing” over and over again. He inspects each new item and detail. “What’s this for?” he asks, examining a black-and-white vase perched on his TV. “A plant?”
Soon the room fills with other students. “Sick,” the guys of the coed floor say, offering a collegiate compliment. “This is tight.” Young women who also live on the floor take note of the faux-leather bedspread and giggle. “I have no excuse for not having a girlfriend now,” says Rob.
On Angelica’s floor, students -- their interest piqued by the scraps of reed fencing parked outside her door -- have been “accidentally” dropping by to see their resident advisor, just to get a peek of her room.
When the time finally comes, Angelica is nearly speechless, looking around to see if it’s really still her room. Her Shakira picture? Check. Her pair of zebra footstools? Check, check. Green and red linens? “I would never have thought of doing that,” she says.
There’s a chorus of appreciative gasps from the students on her floor, who are not too shy to ask for their own makeover or, it turns out, to abscond with one of the leftover rolls of reed fencing.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Where the $800 went
A breakdown of the cost of remaking the dorm rooms:
ANGELICA’S WILDLIFE PRESERVE
*--* Wall and Floor covering Cost Store Reed fencing, two rolls $79.90 Sunset Nursery (L.A.) Wrapping paper (25 yards) $62.50 Pulp (L.A.) Split bamboo floor mat $199.99 Linens ‘N Things Furnishings Wicker table $50.00 IKEA Floor lamp with paper shade $44.99 IKEA Sari floor pillows (5) $200.00 Pier One Candles (2) $26.00 Pier One White drinking glasses (4) $5.96 IKEA Bedding Faux fur throw $69.99 Linens ‘N Things Khaki twin cotton sheets $24.99 Linens ‘N Things Red polar fleece blanket $4.99 Linen Outlet Tiger pillow $7.99 Linen Outlet Red cotton pillowcases $5.98 IKEA TOTAL $783.28
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ROB’S WILDLIFE PAD
*--* Wall and floor covering Cost Store Wrapping paper $35.00 Atmospheres Flokati rug $99.00 Pier One Furnishings Lumber for light box for $63.17 Terry Lumber poster 2 lighting strips for $53.75 Home Depot poster Plexiglass for poster $143.58 Gavrieli Plastics (N. Hollywood) Lack side table in red $9.99 IKEA Kallax coffee table $79.00 IKEA Vago black plastic chairs $39.98 IKEA (2) Storage boxes (5) $34.95 IKEA Red glasses (4) $5.96 IKEA Dinner plates (2) $7.98 IKEA Vase $2.99 IKEA Dracena houseplant $24.99 Sunset Nursery Planter $29.99 IKEA Bedding Polar fleece leopard $5.99 Linen Outlet blanket Leopard-print neck rolls $11.98 Linen Outlet (2) Faux silver fox throw $14.99 Linen Outlet pillow Black cotton twin sheets $23.98 Linens ‘N Things Pillowcase $19.99 Linens ‘N Things Pleather bedspread $49.99 Linens ‘N Things Fur throw pillows $39.98 Linens ‘N Things TOTAL $797.23
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Note: Prices do not include sales tax, labor or installation supplies.
Source: Adamo DiGregorio
