Dorm Sweet DormSidetracked Sisters

Picture from the Eau Claire newspaper

My first dorm room was really something to see. During summer orientation, Janelle, our moms, and I went to Eau Claire to get the lay of the land and much to my delight, they gave us a floor plan of our dorm room. By the time we had driven the 3 hours home, I already had it all figured out where everything was going to go (complete with measurements).

Dad and Clem building the bunk beds

The first thing that had to go was the gaudy gold vinyl curtains! Thinking back, I have no idea where we stored them during the year until we had to put them back up. Instead, we put up gauzy white sheer curtains. The next thing was coordinating quilts on the bunk beds. Janelle’s had a wedgewood blue border with mauve, tan and blue patchwork in the middle and mine had a mauve border with blue, tan, and mauve patchwork in the middle. (I personally made both quilts for Janelle and myself) I also made little stuffed clowns to go on our beds. Mine was wearing pink with a blue nose and hers was wearing blue with a pink nose. (I still have my clown 30 years later)

All accessories were either pink or blue – candles, lamps, baskets, and even the fish tank.

It took our families an entire weekend to complete the transformation. The dads carpeted the entire room with blue carpeting that we got from the family furniture store. Along one wall was a tan loveseat with little mauve and blue flowers on it which also came from the store. Across the room from the loveseat was the set of bunk beds that our dads built. We reupholstered the desk chairs and bolsters in pink and/or blue according to whose side of the room it was.

The dads took a 3 shelf unit and cut each side at a 45-degree angle so it would fit under the window while still allowing us to get our desk chairs out. An old steamer trunk was in the middle of the room for additional storage in addition to being our coffee table. Next to the loveseat was our mini-fridge which also doubled as an end table and held a mauve-colored lamp.

Janelle and I on the loveseat

Finally – above the shelves on top of our desks was a plank that ran from one side of the room to the other and held various knick-knacks and plants. The best part was there was even a stained glass window hanging from the plank with a pinkish background and pretty white flowers on it.

Everyone would always ooh and aah about our room and say how much it looked like home. We actually had our room featured in the local Eau Claire newspaper! That room was truly one of a kind.