<p>D is going to be in Ridgecrest West, but we’ve never actually been in the rooms, so only have the pictures on the UA website to go by. I’m looking for suggestions on what would be nice decorating touches for the living room area.</p>
<p>From looking at the pictures online, I was wondering if cushion covers for the couch would be good. Looks like the decorated room they show may have those. It’s hard to tell. The undecorated room has some brown faux leather looking cushions.</p>
<p>I like the area rug and lamps, so we’ll get those.</p>
<p>How do we hang the curtains? I vaguely remember reading about tension rods. Is that right? If anyone has window dimensions, that would be helpful. Also, do all the windows come with mini blinds?</p>
<p>Any other suggestions would be great. We’ll be arriving in Birmingham about 5 days before we head to Tuscaloosa for move in and will do most if not all of our shopping there, so no chance of seeing the room before we go shopping.</p>
<p>My D had a room in Ridegcrest South I believe for Bama bound. She will live in the same dorm a few floors lower. I am hoping the rooms will get a fresh coat of paint before move in because the room she used had patched places on the walls. The windows had mini blinds, but that very little room for a tension rod. We are planning bright colors to offset the total drabness of the room. She is planning several posters and pictures plus a throw rug becasue she likes plush rugs.</p>
<p>they hung a rod in DD’s room with 3m strips somehow. </p>
<p>there is one type of rod that will work as designed, but i don’t think it will hold much weight.</p>
<p>if i were doing it i woud get a rod that stretched all the way across the room (a piece of conduit pipe from home depot) and wedge it up there at the top of the wall. then hang full length curtains made out of burlap or something similar on both sides of the window.</p>
<p>if you can make any art - make it on canvases as they are light and can hang easily with 3m strips.</p>
<p>the rooms in ridgecrest are very brown. brown carpet, brown furniture and yellowish walls. so adding color is a welcome addition. idk what the color scheme is in the other dorms but i would imagine it may be similar. </p>
<p>pillow covers for the couches would be nice, but idk how easy that woud be to do coming from hawaii. maybe canvas or drop cloths and duct tape would work. i saw some college guys recover all their furniture on a tv show once. they used fabric and duct tape and it seemed to hold up well for them. just make sure the duct tape doesn’t show! or use safety pins. that might work.</p>
<p>you can see if the other girls are interested in decorating the living area at all. we were, but the other girls in my daughters room were not. then they went on the first week and bought these awful curtains!!! and that kind of ended the decorating bug. if the other girls are not that interested, then offer to do it and see if they want to help out. if not, just do it! seems silly to have such a nice dorm and do nothing at all as far as decorating it (even if the decorations might be minimal.) also, some of the other kids may not have the same financial situation as you do and my not have any extra money to spend on things like decorating. that was the case in my DD’s room. two of the girls didn’t really have any extra money to spend, so there was no money to be put toward decorating.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input. I’m having trouble visualizing your conduit pipe idea, but my mom is queen of home decorating shows, so maybe if I show her a picture she’ll come up with some ideas. I guess I should put 3m strips on my list. D’s two best friends are the roommates and we all plan on spitting up things. They’re in touch with the fourth girl, so I’ll make sure they see if she has any suggestions. Maybe she’s going there for Bama Bound and can get us some measurements.</p>
<p>If anyone has the measurements for those couch cushions, let me know. I would like to pick up some Hawaiian print covers which are easy to find here, but don’t want to lug them all that way if they won’t fit.</p>
<p>just a conduit pipe with rubber caps (kind of like what goes on the end of crutches) on the end. then wedge it up there like you do a shower curtain rod. does that make sense? we do that to put up temporary rods on wash day to hang up clothes in the doorway by the laundry room. you get it cut a little short and then make it fit tightly enough by adding pennies or nickels or whatever fits under the rubber caps. i think they give the all the measurements you will need for that on the website (ceiling height, window size, room size).</p>
<p>my DD might have a friend there in summer school now. i can ask her where he is staying and if he can help with measurements.</p>
<p>Okay, I get it. I guess it just seemed kinda long to me to stretch across the whole room. I found the window dimensions on the web site. Thanks! The duct tape idea cracks me up, but, hey, it may work. Wish I could bring my mom along to do this. She’s way better at it than I am.</p>
<p>as long as your conduit is long enough it wold work. we did this to set up a curtain to block off a room for a party at a friends house. worked just as planned. no damage to the walls. no hardware needed! : )</p>
<p>yeah the duct tape idea is a little weird, but i have seen it done and it actually worked. : ) for the dorm room you don’t really want to have to spend a lot of money (or i don’t). so you gotta be creative!</p>