<p>My son will be in RCS-N in a couple of weeks and I have a few ???s as I shop - plus items I want him to coordinate with roommates if possible.</p>
<p>1) What can you use on the walls to hang posters? I just keep seeing comments about no more than 4 holes, no command strips, etc - what CAN you use?</p>
<p>2) For BamaBound I noticed the suite was mostly carpeted - was that true in the bathroom/kitchen areas as well? Can’t remember for rug buying purposes.</p>
<p>3) Is there vacuums they can use occasionally or should we plan on bringing an electric broom or something? A mop?</p>
<p>4) There is a shower curtain already there - correct? I think it is just a liner but these are boys - he doesn’t care - that’s good enough for him.</p>
<p>5) We need to supply a kitchen wastebasket - correct? </p>
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<li>we used plenty of command strips and had NO issues removing them. ticky tack putty, but sometimes it melts when the heat is on and the posters fall down.</li>
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<p>2.no carpet in the kitchen or bathroom. you could use a rug in the living area and the bedroom, mostly for color. not really necessary. the rug we put in got FILTHY. not sure if that improved the looks of the place or not.</p>
<p>3.you will need your own vac or you will have to borrow. i got one from walmart last year ($32) and it works great. a broom for the tile. i don’t think our girls had a mop.</p>
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<li><p>there is a heavy white shower curtain, nothing else needed unless you want pretty! : )</p></li>
<li><p>yes. and this is one of the things that people have said may be hard to find in town. idk</p></li>
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<p>slippy - we didn’t us a single nail in our daughters room. but we did use command strips. and there were no nail holes in the wall when we got there either.</p>
<p>1) We used command strips last year to hang at least 7 different things in son’s room, plus command strip hooks in the bathroom for hanging towels. We assumed they were allowed.</p>
<p>2) As I recall, the bathroom and kitchen are tiled, not carpet. We got rugs for the bathroom. </p>
<p>3) No vacuums are provided. One of my son’s suite mates brought a little vacuum cleaner and that is what they used. I am bringing one down for my son this year.</p>
<p>4) The provided shower curtain/liner worked fine for our son.</p>
<p>5) We purchased wastebaskets for our son’s room, the bathroom, and the kitchen (one for recycling and one for trash)</p>
<p>6) Also purchased a dish drainer and scrub brush for dishes, and a paper towel hanger for above the sink (used command strips to mount the paper towel hanger).</p>
<p>They also have a few vacuums downstairs that you can borrow from the RAs if need be. Just don’t count on using them for space bags–they don’t have a detachable hose. I lived there last year and used command strips. Some paint tore off the first one I took off at the end of the year because I didn’t have the hang of it yet though. Went to Home Depot and got matching paint, and it wasn’t a problem.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, it is not tile in the kitchen and bathroom, it is linoleum squares. You will need your own vacuum and one with a hose is best for bags and cleaning blinds. Swifter dusters are really good, the kind with the handle. You will need several garbage cans, one for bedroom, kitchen and the bathroom. Bath mats are nice for placing in front of the shower and the vanity, use the kind that they can put in the wash. Don’t forget heat resistant potholders (in case they cook). The shower stall is some type of acrylic material and some bathroom cleaners make this type of material slippery, so be careful what you use, rinse well after cleaning. A swifter mop with throw away pads is an easy cleaning choice for the kitchen/bath floor.</p>
<p>1)We also used several command strips last year; D did not have any problems at move out with damaged walls, I think the first she took down took a little paint off but no repercussion as far as being signed off on at the end of semester. Just be sure your student takes the time to note any scratches, missing paint and nail holes on their intake sheet upon move-in. Her bedroom did have several small nail holes –more than four- when she moved in. I think she and husband used a couple small nails besides the command strips. Moving the beds up/down can scratch up the walls a bit if not perfectly careful –we found magic erasers worked great to remove. Speaking of adjusting bed height –a rubber hammer came in real handy.</p>
<p>2)Per robotbldmon it is linoleum tiles in kitchen and BR, I would suggest the wet swiffer also for maintenance. For rugs – you may like one outside the shower, one at shared sink, an entrance rug upon coming into room to wipe feet on rainy days and if your child likes - one at kitchen sink. Keep in mind other roommates may not be cooperative in cleaning responsibilities so if your child likes the rugs they may be the one being sure they are laundered. Again robotbldmoms suggestion of the washable bath mats is a good idea. D did wash her BR rugs in the machines without any issue.</p>
<p>3) I would suggest having a vacuum for the suite and it is nice to have a handheld for quick clean-ups in your own room and in the bathroom for quick clean up of stray hairs and/or long haired girls who shed when blow drying to be courteous. They do have vacuums you can borrow at the main desk. I had an experience with a couple that hadn’t been maintained (emptied) got it up to D’s room turned it on and dirt flew everywhere and then wouldn’t click back to not keep blowing; second they gave me I had to empty 'cause I knew to check. They are pretty cheap models-need frequent emptying…If you don’t have your own just take the time while at the desk to see if it has been maintained before taking to your room so you don’t have the added headache of cleaning up an additional mess :)D now has a nice Kenmore canister to take that I picked up off craigslist besides her hand-held. </p>
<p>4)The shower curtain is thick that is up there –plain white. D did get a theme one she liked instead and also preferred to have a handheld shower head vs. the stationary that comes in the shower - it was easy to switch out. We just put the shower curtain that was there into a plastic bag and shower head into a zip lock and put under the main sink –when she moved out she just switched it all back no problem. </p>
<p>5)Wastebaskets : Good to have one in bedroom, one at shared sink, one in the toilet area, one for kitchen along with a recycle one – do they give the kids the recycle one? I know D had one but honestly don’t recall if she or one of roommates purchased or if it was provided. </p>
<p>A side note: Please take the time prior to sending your kids off to live with other’s to talk about living courteously with others in the common areas. In my opinion each student should expect to share cleaning responsibilities with their roommates as part of the college experience. Understanding that shared responsibility is a part of living with other’s ahead of time (vs. being clueless because it was all done for you at home or creating issues by refusing to discuss shared cleaning duties or not working out a cleaning schedule with your roommates in the shared areas) will go a long way in positive roommate relationships.</p>
<p>Also, it was easier to scrub the shower floor with an actual scrub brush.</p>
<p>I bought this last year for D’s window in RW. It worked well. We hung a blackout curtain on it. This year she is in RCS-N. Hopefully the dimensions are similar. The rod is 28" to 48". Can anyone confirm the bedroom window size in RCS-N?</p>
<p>1.Wastebaskets for kitchen- is there room for them in the room or do they need to fit in a cabinet? If in a cabinet, what size works?</p>
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<li><p>Do regular shower curtains hang long enough to prevent water from coming out of stall? If you use your own shower curtain do you need your own hooks?</p></li>
<li><p>The washable shower mats- do you mean the towel-like ones? I typically put these over the side of the tub to dry, is there a place to do this in the dorms?</p></li>
<li><p>Is there enough room in the showers in RCS-N for shampoos and soaps or do we need one of those over the shower head caddies?</p></li>
<li><p>Thinking we will just do a valance on the bedroom window. Anyone ever use command hooks to hang the rod and if so did it work?</p></li>
<li><p>Do kids ever hang things on the outside of the suite door or do these things get stolen?</p></li>
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<p>1 - there is room for them to sit between the fridge and the door. we had one that was bigger than would fit in a cabinet.</p>
<p>2 - regular shower curtains work fine. i don’t remember if the included curtain had hooks or not. we used hooks we brought with us.</p>
<p>3 - shower mats … not a very good place to hang those up. in my daughters room there were two towel bars, one over the toilet and one across from the toilet. they could use more towel bars.</p>
<p>4 - there is not much room for shampoo bottles, but my dd and her roomie did without one of the shower head caddies for two years, so not exactly necessary but possibly nice. the kids are generally kind of pigs. i am not sure they would use a shower head caddy if there was one there. that is something you can easily pick up there is you decide you need it later.</p>
<p>5 - yes to the command hook valence, but in my daughters room, it kept falling down. idk why.</p>
<p>6 - i have not noticed as many things hanging outside the doors as in the olden days. i think kids just text each other now instead of leaving notes. if you want to do this, i am sure it would be fine.</p>
<p>Regarding the shower curtain, last year D was in Riverside East. The provided curtain had its own rings/hooks and there were “double sided”. The girls left the liner type one up and then hung a decorative one on the the other side of the hook. Don’t know if RCS-N has the same type of shower hooks.</p>
<p>Oh, the shower in Riverside was small so they did use a shower caddy.</p>
<p>The RCS-S room I was in for BB had the “double sided” shower curtain hooks so you could add a decorative curtain to the liner without additional rings or hooks.</p>
<p>On the curtains, they have less expensive ones at Walmart, Target etc but this is one item I’d urge you to go to the store and see in person before you buy as the quality and thickness of the fabrics vary greatly.</p>