We have a lot of people in our fam in the college age bracket. They're all doing really well as they embark on their new adult lives, and we're super proud of them. As they prepare to go back to school or head into new digs, I was inspired to try my hand at a dormish take on our own bedroom. Of course, it's a rare dorm that boasts a queen bed, but otherwise, I strove for authenticity. (If the Pottery Barn-inspired room was semi-contrived, this is wholly contrived. I'm soaking it in).

So dorms, if I remember correctly, are all about giant Bob Marley posters, concealed storage, and having every aspect of your life crammed into one 10 x 10 area. So again, striving for authenticity, I set up a coffee zone on the right-hand end table (which is the bench that lived at the foot of our bed in this styling) and put some kitchenware in the lower section. I also brought in Lou's free wardrobe rack for more clothing storage, and set up a study planning area on the low dresser. Finally, I added a small table (a plant stand + lazy susan) and chair at the foot of the bed to create a lap top zone.

In general, living small anywhere, but especially in a dorm, is about embracing the fact that your space has to work hard. As usual, I think in zones, so this room is divided, roughly, into zones for studying/working, planning, getting ready, sleeping and eating. Shall we check them out?

1. Dresser Styling This surface serves as the study organizational zone. The black chalk board (I wrote a little weekly calendar on it) leaning against the wall is a sheet of black foam core. The bulletin board was $3 at Goodwill/Target, but Target's now selling them in different colorways.. It's actually got real photos of me, circa college, on it, thanks to a recent clean out of my parents' basement. Authenticity.

2. Wardrobe. Here's Lou's wardrobe rack, which clearly has pretty good application in a tiny space. It offers not just space for clothes, but frees up drawer space for towels and such, so I thought it was  no brainer. Next to it is a white metal basket I recently got from Marshall's for $7, stocked with backpacks and purses.

3. Curtains. These white panels are from our living room and belong to our homeowners - I think Ikea. I had tried and passed on these in here before, but now I think they really work. And it's not like curtains are all that common in a dorm, so the white seemed like the right call, as they're fading away a bit.

4. Tall Dresser Styling. I added a mirror, some jewelry and makeup storage here, since you can't really cede surface space to purely decorative items in a dorm. The mirror is a tray we use in the living room ($3 Target clearance some time ago). The jewelry storage is all Goodwill finds: an acrylic necklace organizer for $7, a white vase to hold earrings for $2 and a clear class cube with love on the sides for $1.

5. Headboard & Art. The headboard got books -- I even dug up a 501 French Verbs 101 book to keep with the theme -- book ended by two lions I got for free on the street. There's a framed whale (made by yours truly), and my Don't Forget to be Awesome sign seemed appropriate. (Side note: When I was in college, I wrote "'A Witty Saying Proves Nothing' - Voltaire" on my dorm room door's requisite white board. In a sea of whiteboard quotes, I thought that was really clever, let me tell you. I fully intended to write it somewhere for this look and forgot. Lame). The art above the bed is a couple of postcards and maps that I taped to the wall. No drilling holes in dorm walls, obviously, and also it's college, y'all.

6. Nightstand. I picked up this bench on the street, seen here as an actual bench. By standing it on its side, I got a nice place for a coffee zone, and I slid a wee plant stand ($4 from Target) inside to serve as a shelf for pots, pans, and packaged food. Sorry the pics don't show that very well.

7. Pillows. Those bright floral pillowcases are from the dollar store. I thought they were a crazy steal at $4 for 2 (spoiler alert: They weren't. Future post, y'all). The red pillows are from the Goodwill Target section for $6 each. You can see them here. Ditto with the teal pillow, which is turned around here. You can also see it here.

8. Bedspread. A $9 tablecloth from Ikea layered on top of our white duvet cover. This ended up working really well with those pillow cases - the blues are a close to perfect match, and I love the simplicity of this blue design on the bed.

9. Rug. A bright rag rug that migrates our house. Got it for $5 from a yard sale early this summer.

8. Laptop nook. The red chair's moved around the room again and again. The plant stand is new, ($7.48 Target clearance) and I'm in the process of making it over for the family room. In the meantime, this lazy susan of the homeowner's stood in for a place to rest the computer.

I'm really happy with this little trip down dormy lane! Though it's not a style I'm currently striving for, I think any time you plop a coffee pot next to a bed and it still looks pretty good is for the win. I didn't buy anything specifically for this look, so I was really happy when it all came together. I like putting the surfaces to good use, and by providing everything with a place it doesn't feel overwhelming (though admittedly, more stuff is crammed in here than in our other stylings, bu that's the nature of this one). In particular, that random Ikea tablecloth, which I bought solely to use the white fabric in a project, really played MVP to give the whole thing a simplified, dormy vibe. And it occurs to me that I'm digging pretty deep into this bag of tricks: I used a tablecloth with a tapestry vibe (very similar to this) on my own dorm bed.

So you college/studio bound lads and lassies - any tricks you use in your space that you care to share? If you're not sure what's going on here, we're doing a master bedroom style exploration. So far, we've come up with these looks: