ebgb500's Profile

Don't worry about your roommate's style. Half the fun of dorm living is meshing your style with your roommates. Sometimes the two styles blend seamlessly, but it's more fun when you can pick out each's distinct style in the shared room. I would also like to warn you against going with so many neutrals. Dorms are famously drab empty spaces. You'll be lucky if your walls are white rather than as stained, dingy offwhite. The floors will be some gross dark color to hide the various stains. I would suggest picking richer colors to bring into the room. Reds, blues, greens, etc. You don't have to go crazy with the color if that's not your thing, but at least include a couple of accent pieces to brighten the space up.

Finally, I find it best to wait on buying any organizational systems for dorms until after you've gotten there, started to unpack and have a chance to realize what you need and what you have space for. You may buy those magazine/paper folders only to show up and find they don't fit the height of your bookshelf, that you don't need that trash can because there's one included for both you and your roommate, or that what you really should have spent your money on was a set of plastic drawers because you're room only comes with mini dressers.

I was gifted a tool kit that included a *purple floral* screwdriver when I went away to college. Everyone who has ever borrowed that screwdriver has made fun of it, but 9 years later I still have it. Decorated tools may be a bit rediculous, but it certainly ensures a speedy return!

I bought that same table from target 2 summers ago.

I live in a small city apartment and am car free. I find it such a hassle to get to the store for necessities like these. I buy in bulk (often online) and stash the extras in the space above my kitchen cabinets. Out of the way, barely noticeable, and completely convenient.

The best solution I've found is a top entry litterbox. I splurged on the ModCat and it was SO worth it. The biggest problem I had was that my cat would manage to kick huge piles of litter out of the box as she was digging, resulting in litter all over my bedroom floor--yuck! As for smell, I use the Fresh Step clay litter and haven't had a problem as long as it's cleaned weekly. But it was the top entry ModCat that saved me.

How about a small window fan that you place in the window to the laundry room?

I would suggest looking for Baltimore based articles or blogs. The city has plenty of this stuff (called "formstone" here) in a range of patterns and color schemes MUCH worse than yours. Plenty of Baltimore houses have painted over their formstone exteriors (I've seen some cleanly removed too), and they look fine despite the texture. Here are a few examples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/81748855@N04/7550968124/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/81748855@N04/7551026682/ and a Baltimore Sun article on painting formstone.

Also, if this is actually real stone instead of an imitation, you could consider staining the stone instead. I stumbled across this tutorial for staining brick the other day, and am sure you could apply the same idea to your house's exterior. http://askannamoseley.com/2011/10/how-to-stain-brick/

I have almost the same red sofa! I have one of the original Obama Hope posters which we used for color pallet inspiration of red, steel blue, and cream/gold. The living room walls have a deep blue/grey accent wall with a light neutral on the other walls. Most of our accents have red, blue, or touches of gold. Our coffee table is an old steamer trunk. We also have a green yard sale wing back that has bits of gold and red in the weave.

I agree with Polly in Salem. I think you should paint the walls a yellow. Not too bright, but with a hint of orange in it. I also second the suggestion of round art on the brick wall and bringing in more organic shapes

"Sunny" in DC apparently means basement unit