Off-Campus Housing Series Two: Your New Place (And What to Bring)
Part Six: Your Bedroom
BY DANIELLE LORENZ, MACINSIDERS
Last, but certainly not least in this series is your bedroom. It is without question the single most important room
in the house, because it's where you sleep. Or at least sleep some of the time, because we all sleep in classes sometimes. In case you missed the earlier articles, I wrote about the
bathroom,
the kitchen,
the laundry room, the
front closet, and the
common room. If you lived in residence this past year, a great deal of the things you brought will become useful again in your new place. If you did not live in residence or student housing before, I have a few suggestions of things you can bring to make your life a little bit more organized.
If you are like most university students, you are going to spend the most amount of time in your bedroom. Here you will do school work, study, get dressed, hang out, sleep and probably a whole bunch of other things. The size of your bedroom will unfortunately decide all of what you can do in your room, as well as what you can put in it.
The two most important items in your room will be your bed and desk. From there, anything else you can cram in is a bonus. And I really mean it. You may think having a double bed in a small room is a good idea, but it leaves little, if not any floor space. As sad as I am to say this, sometimes a single bed really is better. (But not when you are sharing it!!!) Some student bedrooms are quite small. But if you’re lucky, you may have scored a larger room. Regardless of the size, you want to find a variety of items that keep you organized and your room uncluttered.
This means closet organizers, shelving, small plastic drawer units, milk crates, storage that can go underneath the bed, small baskets, bookshelves, shoe racks, night tables, coat hooks, dressers etc. The key is to find everything at the cheapest price possible, unless you plan on buying a really nice set which will last you way into your adult years. Check out reuse-it centres, second-hand stores, family (sometimes they have stuff you can use in their basements or garages), IKEA, and discount department stores. You can also see what has been left behind by students who have moved out. Most leases are over as of May 1st, so abandoned furniture will show up the week before and after by the roadside. Just make sure you clean the hell out of it.
Your landlord may have given you permission to paint your room. If so, remember dark colours absorb more light, so you will need more artificial light to see by.
Contrastingly, dark colours absorb more light, so the sun won’t wake you up. Just make sure you know what the agreement for painting is before you do anything. Some landlords let you do anything, but others only let you use a few colours, or make you re-paint the room before you move out after your lease term expires. Same goes for putting holes in the wall. You don’t want to have to pay to get holes patched up when you leave.
As I have said in other articles about personal space, don’t under estimate your own decorative touch. Put up posters, artwork, signs, photos, three dimensional art, mirrors etc. This space is going to be yours for the next twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six or even forty-eight months. You don’t want it to not feel like your own. Buy obnoxiously coloured bed sheets if that’s what you like. Paint all your furniture black. Use chalkboard paint on your desk. Tie dye your curtains. Write inspirational quotes on the wall with marker. Do what you want; your parents can’t say that they won’t let it happen because you’re no longer living in their house (w00t!)!
Just remember at the end of all of it, you have to remove everything. Since I am now going the moving-out process, I wish I didn’t have as much crap as I do. It would make packing a hell of a lot easier than it is at the moment.
