L OCAL LIVING
District
7 DC FROM THE CHAT Less is more: Introduction to dorm room design theory
Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, right, co-founder of the Apartment Therapy group of blogs, was the guest last week on our Home Front online Q&A. Below is an edited excerpt.
I am an upperclassman, and while I don’t want to spend a ton, I do want my dorm room to be organized, tasteful and mature. What do you suggest? The main thing about a college room is that it is like a one-room home, and it gets used a lot. Therefore putting too much into it is usually a big problem. I recommend keeping your possessions highly edited and thinking about your room as a refuge. Use the library to do your studying. Also, include personal art and items you care about. Too many dorms look like they were purchased right out of Target.
there are some guidelines I use. 1. Coffee-table size: This type of
carpet will identify the center of your room, add some softness underfoot and go up to or near the front legs of your major seating pieces. 2. Room size: This type of
carpet will get all of your major seating furniture onto it and define the whole room. I like this when you can do it. It’s more luxurious and adds a great deal of opportunity in the coloring and pattern of your rug. It is more expensive though!
APARTMENT THERAPY
What are the guidelines for determining the best size for an area rug for a 12-by-22-foot living room? This is totally up to you, but
I have a room that is curved with seven windows. It’s a gorgeous view, but I can’t figure out what to put on the walls. Four of the windows are very close together, but the others are spread out such that there are four stretches where I could hang something. Is it better to have four matching prints? I’ve had a little experience with
curved wall windows and found that it’s been better to concentrate on hanging curtains in such a way that they fill the space between the windows and highlight the height of the windows, rather than distracting with artwork.
In our small, very rule-constricted rental, we have several boxes of things we don’t use very often (china and a few odds and ends) in a corner. We also have several plastic tubs for clothes that don’t fit in our single closet. Stuff is bursting at the seams, but none of it is expendable because we hope to someday move it to a bigger space. Is there a solution other than boxes? Yes and no. Remember that
carrying all that weight so that you can be happy in the future is a big price to pay right now. I have found over time that: A. People don’t move as soon as they expect they will (i.e., they
stay put longer). B. Holding on to stuff for future utility is not very efficient. C. As your life changes, your
stuff generally changes, so that holding on to old stuff is sort of like not allowing your life to change. I do understand that there is a
difference between a clutterbug and a person who just wants to find a way to store some very important pieces. This is what I recommend. 1. Let go of as much as you can,
putting an emphasis on the quality of your life right now. 2. Take the rest and put it in
storage either at a parent’s home or a storage rental facility. After you’ve done that, consider if paying for that storage is worth it!
Remember, even when you move to a bigger space, it’s lovely to have it be open and full of possibility for new things to come into your life. And you don’t need much.
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THE WASHINGTON POST • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
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