darkhairedchica's Profile

whoa teal walls!! I don't think I could use so bold a color in 3 rooms. But it looks great!

also really nice work on the bathroom and kitchen. so impressive!!

favorite elements are a tie between "Our style: Nerdy" and the peephole.

This home is awesome. So charming and fun, and with an admirable philosophy of creative reuse. I've never been to Austin, but right now I want to move there!

Also, the photos themselves are really well done. I enjoyed the little peek into Cheyenne's life and friends. :)

I lived in a different dorm each year of college. We found ways to be creative... Here are some of my favorite ideas from my dorms:

My freshman year, I had cinderblock walls, but there was a thin metal rim around the top edge of the walls that was big enough to hold S-hooks. My dad and I went to a hardware store and bought metal strips which we mounted with S-hooks and stabilized along the wall with super-strong adhesive, to put bracketed shelving over my desk. It was really inexpensive and easy. Same idea would allow you to hang proper framed artwork...

Another year I had walls that could hold pushpins. I had a big green printed cloth over the entire wall (with tiny green Christmas lights artfully arranged behind it). It was an easy solution to being unable to paint the walls. I also hung a lantern from the ceiling and used a table lamp suspended upside down as a pendant light that did not require ceiling wiring.

Many of my friends hung blankets, quilts, or printed fabric on the walls as an alternative to paint.

Buying small furniture (shelves/nightstands, cute chairs, and lamps) breaks up the mandatory dorm furniture.

One friend put her bed on really high bed risers, installed pull-out shelves (like drawers, basically) under her bed, and she kept extra clothes and even her printer under there. Her mom sewed a long dust ruffle to cover the whole thing. It was a great way to decrease clutter while also hiding tacky bed risers.

It's not that hard to make a dorm room into a pleasant, livable space! I think lamps are key, because nothing ruins a space like fluorescent lighting.

Interesting comments re: grey paint. Last summer I had my fantastic camel-back sofa reupholstered in grey velvet, which I purchased at a fabric store where all the interior designers in my town shop. Not only did I have a hard time finding many options, the staff all commented on how that was a novel choice, because the trendy neutral at the time was still taupe and had been gradually moving from browns to taupes and greys were set to be next. I absolutely adore my grey walls that complement my couch... but here I was thinking I was ahead of the mainstream decorators! Clearly not in the AT world. Ha.