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Dorm Room Style
By Elizabeth Bland
Perspectives Editor

Stylistically frustrated students may grumble about the prison cell-sized dorms here, but with a little innovation it’s possible to create a home out of our mini abodes.

If cars in our parking lots are any indication of students’ spending abilities, then one would logically expect our living spaces to be furnished in the latest styles.

Students interviewed for this article, though, have managed to create Lexus—quality rooms with Peugot—priced decorations.

Junior Leigh Zick has a room worthy of Mary Kay lady pink cadillac status—complete with a "princess" sign, curtains draped around her bed, an overstuffed chair and enough pastel colors to satisfy an Easter bunny’s color palette. Juniors Alan English and Richard Wilkerson’s Kitchin House dorm—decked out with a built-in countertop/bar, glass shelving and coffee table—has conversion-van versatility.

Sophomores Lea Ternes and Swell Armstrong garner beach buggy acclaim with their Hawaiian hideaway in North campus.

Sophomore Laurie Dimmock’s Davis House room, with a comfy couch, sturdy loft, and artistic details, has the sophistication and reliability of a Volvo.

In order to create their dorm rooms of distinction students salvaged used couches from Goodwill, searched Target for inexpensive accents and surveyed the Home Depot for cheap building materials.

English built his bar out of a $25 Formica countertop and two-by-fours, used glass shelving units left over from his parent’s bridal and formal shop’s display cases to store his 50-plus picture frames, re-upholstered an uncle’s couch with velour fabric and brought a coffee table he’d built at the age of 10. "Most of the stuff (in their room) is collected from Richard and I being abroad," English said. "I re-upholstered the couch with my dad before freshman year and I’ve had the couch since I was five."

English has become a dorm decorating guru of sorts—he’s lived in confined spaces for five years, first at the North Carolina School of Science and Math and now here — although he’s had to adapt to the smaller room dimensions at the university. "My dorm at the School of Science and Math was two times as big. I had to literally cut my carpet in half (to fit it in the room here)," he said.

Ternes and Armstrong’s coordinated chamber makes the most of North Residence Hall’s high ceilings and built-in shelving units.

The two have earned a reputation as budding interior decorators. "People stop us on the Quad and ask to see our room saying, ‘We’ve heard your room is really cool!’" Ternes said.

The ample loft houses Armstrong’s bed and still has room left over to hold her books and computer. Armstrong’s mother was the mastermind behind the room’s inventive use of space — she used a bed flipped up against the wall to hold a VCR and Nintendo and made color-coordinated curtains to dress up the window.

The room, which according to Ternes sleeps six comfortably, is a fun and functional space. "We’re both really decorative and everything has a place," Armstrong said.

Zick, a Winston-Salem resident, credits the close proximity to her house as the impetus behind her decorating design. "I had most of the stuff already," she said.

"It was easy to get it here." The curtains around her bed serve as a separation between the sleep and work functions of the room and the overstuffed armchair is a relaxing alternative to the school-issued chair. "I thought it would differentiate the rest of the room. I like the window right next to my bed," Zick said. "It cheers me up to sit in class and know I can go back to my cozy room."

Dimmock, with her construction-minded father’s help, created a sturdy loft, leaving room for a love-seat-sized couch tucked underneath.

She bought the couch at Goodwill for $30 and slip-covered it with queen size yellow sheets from Linens-N-Things.

Dimmock’s mother also added to the ambience of the room with white curtains of her own creation.

The Winston-Salem area offers a number of decorating destinations.

Ron Leak, an assistant manager at the University Parkway Target, notices an increase in sales when colleges are in session.

"The corporation pushes the products for students and prices them for students," he said.

Target, the Mecca of budget shoppers, caters to college sensibilities. "We carry crates, lamps, everything you could think of for a dorm room," Leak said.

Pier 1 Imports on Hanes Mall Boulevard offers discounts to students with a college I.D. in September.

"During September we offer a 15 percent discount. Sales (to college students) really increase in September and over Christmas break," Lacey Siddon, a Pier 1 sales associate said.

Whether your dorm room resembles a Yugo car or boasts Bentley-quality decorations, remember that bragging rights lie only a Target or Goodwill trip away.