Hah! What are the odds that your daughter has the only room-mate mom ther who could find that room arrangement too limiting? Love the avatar photo.
It’s all outrageous but I choked at the description of a thickly padded headboard. May be the only one in a dorm room anywhere. Best to your daughter; hoping the stuff is more the problem of roomie’s mother than the roomie.
Best reply ever.
My hat’s off to you @SuburbMom. I’ve enjoyed this thread and, like others, hope to see more pics.
I’ve shared pictures with my friends and some family members. Best response so far was “Don’t knock the pineapple. Seriously. Don’t knock it. It’s probably fragile.” 
Was I the only one envisioning a much bigger pineapple? Even a pineapple sized pineapple is silly in a dorm room.
I agree, good job keeping cool @SuburbMom! I’d love to see a pic of the pillow-strewn bed.
You’ve created a CC meme, you know, with the pineapple. Right up there with the clam fart.
Maybe the roommate grew up on a pineapple plantation on the Hawaii islands.
Ironically, the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality. You know, just not for the poor person who’s supposed to share the actual room. 
I really hope it isn’t and that, except for this, the roommate is okay…or spends a lot of time out of the room.
I did think to myself that I guess Tom Wolfe wasn’t exaggerating in “I Am Charlotte Simmons.” ( The roommate in that also brought a ton of stuff while Charlotte had next to nothing. )
Two guys in my class actually did the duct tape thing because they despised each other so much and had so many fights about “decorating,” which actually had more to do with the selection and placement of posters.
Our Move-in Stories:
D1’s dorm was very old and the rooms and furnishings very asymmetrical and therefore unequal. For that reason the school solemnly warned students and parents that no one is to start unpacking or claiming sides of the room or closet space or anything else until all parties have arrived and it can be mutually discussed. The girl (and her mother) across the hallway violated this, and so when the second mother and daughter showed up some hours later and found the first girl all moved in, a very loud screaming/shouting argument ensued. Not between the girls but between the mothers.
In D’s own room her new roommate was fine but her mother proved to be kind of bossy and kept insisting the furniture be arranged a certain way. The girls could see that objecting was fruitless so they simply obliged the mother until the other parents left, and then they rearranged everything to suit themselves. They got along fine. In fact they turned out to be BFFs and roomed together all four years.
In another room down the hallway one of the boys filled up an entire closet from floor to ceiling with packages of ramen noodles that he brought - enough to last the whole year I guess. D’s roommate had a similar approach with clothes. She had never done laundry in her life and didn’t intend to start now So she brought dozens and dozens (hundreds?) of extra t-shirts and sets of underwear and stuffed them all in her drawers and under her bed. She just kept changing to clean ones all semester long without ever laundering the worn ones. She had brought enough to last her to Thanksgiving when she hauled all that laundry home for her mother to wash and fold. She did this over and over - managing to last from one trip home to another for all four years of college. It was an odd quirk, but beyond that she was a great gal. We all liked her a lot. She’s grown up and married now so I assume she has learned how to wash laundry.
@travelnut “It’s all outrageous but I choked at the description of a thickly padded headboard. May be the only one in a dorm room anywhere.”
These are actually very common at SEC schools. I can honestly say that every girl we know at an SEC school has a headboard. (Not saying that everyone at SEC has them, just all of the girls we know.)
I hope this thread spawns others, in which parents post pictures of their kids’ over the top dorm decor, and tell stories about ill-behaved parents, you know, a sort of CC reality tv show.
I’ve got no stories to add–both of my kids ended up with great roommates. In fact, the only time I got teary at graduation was watching my D hug her first year roomie and close friend goodbye. I am so thankful they escaped the drama.
@sushiritto , then she should have brought an actual pineapple! Pineapples are useful as food. Ceramic ones, not so much!! 
And here I am dithering over whether my daughter will need one or two sets of towels!
@Scipio, can’t believe the mom was willling to do months worth of laundry. I sure wouldn’t have!
@SuburbMom I think your daughter will have it easy when it comes to gifts for the roommate. Pineapple Santa, pineapple salt and pepper shakers, some fingertip towels for the bathroom with pineapple appliques. All set.
Sadly, I don’t think you should give her any more throw pillows.
@Massmom, if I posted a pic of my son’s dorm room here, I’d have been arrested for allowing child neglect. HE.LIVED.IN.A.PIGSTY.
“can’t believe the mom was willling to do months worth of laundry. I sure wouldn’t have!”
I had a roommate that took his laundry home once a month and his parents took them to a laundry mat and had all of his shirts and slacks dry cleaned. He would come back with stacks of shirts neatly folded and his slacks on individual hangers. He really liked his creases and I had little drawer space.
My mom said her dorm would pick up everyone’s laundry and do it for them. They even ironed! I stayed in the same dorm, but we didn’t get that service. They did clean our rooms once a week, though. 
@tutumom2001 - forgive my ignorance and the hyperbole. Just find it over the top. Get that for someone else, the perspective could be totally different.
@MaineLonghorn My H went to Notre Dame in the all-male era and said they had daily maid service, laundry service, and a full meal plan. He figured the school was too afraid to find out what all the guys would do if left to their own devices.
Anyway this story is bound to be a CC classic – pineapple references have already made their way to other threads. I do hope for the sake of @SuburbMom daughter that the roommate turns out to be OK once things have settled down.