the essential dorm decorating guide for moms

You know you are a design dork when your daughter says her future college roommates are planning on a pink and light blue color palette for their dorm room and your immediate response is “As in the Pantone colors of the year 2016?” instead of “Sounds great, Honey. Let’s go shopping.” I’m just saying that may have happened to me last week and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t judge.

Everyone is getting on the dorm room decorating band wagon these days. Dorm room decorating – like other forms of trend decorating – is big business. Target has its back to school section, of course, as do teen standbys like Urban Outfitters and PB Teen, but even more traditionally full service furniture and décor sources are getting in the mix. This month’s Better Homes and Gardens has a small feature about dorm décor from the 1962 at the very back. For better or for worse, we’ve come a long way in what is available to decorate dorm rooms. Planning ahead and “matching” with dorm mates is a thing now. There are even dedicated dorm décor websites (check out Dormify and Room 422). It’s all I can do not to pull out one of those, “In my day, we…” Honestly. Anyone else just go to Bed Bath and Beyond, buy some twin XL sheets, and call it a day?

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I'm in between homes at the moment (modern southern bungalow week 36)

The good news is that we are FINALLY moving out of this beige wonderland of an apartment. Honestly, this place depresses me to even think about.

The bad news is that we are not moving into our house because it will not be ready until July 16 at the earliest, on which date we will be out of town watching our youngest kids play golf. That’s a sentence I never thought I would say out loud. Anyway, on Sunday, we scheduled the movers for next Monday, we’ve reserved a storage unit for a month (please, please let us only need it for a month!!), and we are taking off for parts unknown next week. So maybe we are taking off to parts known. Let’s not get too picky, ok?

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watching family television that isn't disney

“If the Fab 5 came to our house, Antoni wouldn’t have much to do but Tan would go crazy with your closet,” my 8-year-old son told me yesterday while seeing no irony at all in his wardrobe choice of graphic tee and sweat shorts.

The twins and I have been watching Queer Eye together over the last week. “Wait, what?”, you say. Is that even appropriate for 8-year-olds? As my daughter would say, don’t judge a book by its cover. And really, that is the basis of the whole show. Every episode seeks to help people find their own confidence so that they can go out into the world and be who they were meant to be. Sounds a bit like the Hallmark channel? In large respects, it is. But so so much cooler. And with sometimes inappropriate to 8-year-olds but over their heads so whatever humor. We are totally on this bandwagon. 

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all about window treatments

I’m going to be honest (when am I not?): when it comes to window treatments, the amount I know could fit in a thimble. It’s possible that I know just a tiny little bit more than the average bear, but that’s where it stops. I can identify your basic types of pleats in drapes, and if pressed, could probably explain the difference between a few types of valances. I know that silk isn’t a great option for windows because it disintegrates with sun exposure (this is why you will always see silk drapes with solid liners) and I know that UV film is an excellent idea for windows that get a lot of sun because they protect your furniture without changing the view. After that, I’m pretty much out. My lack of knowledge in this area is mostly because I love an open window and I hate fussy so it doesn’t even occur to me to add window treatments. This statement is full sacrilege in decorator world. Window treatments, like hardware, finish the room. Everyone knows that.

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decorating our modern southern bungalow (modern southern bungalow week 34)

I want you to read this quote from a 1986 New York Times article about the late design superhero Albert Hadley:

“While Hadley always has his design principles firmly in mind, he also understands that interiors are for living, and that they should be enjoyed by the people who live in them, rather than reflect an idea of perfection imposed by a decorator.”

For some of you, 1986 doesn't even register. I may well have said the article was from 1886. For others, 1986 was all about dancing to Madonna in your bedroom and Top Gun and posters on your closet wall. Whatever. Suspending your age for a minute, what was true about design 32 years ago is still true about design today. Interiors are for living. Albert Hadley understood that. It would behoove us to remember this idea in the age of Pinterest and Instagram.

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