#62...dorm daze

This past weekend, I went to Austin to help my cousin get settled for her freshman year at The University of Texas. It has been quite a number of years since I have stepped foot inside a dorm, and walking through the halls, all of the smells, study lounges, community bathrooms, and tight living quarters brought me right back. Her dorm was built in 1969, and the wooden furnishings have a real mid-century vibe, including a bed that slides in and out to convert from couch to bed.


Inspired by the book House Proud by Danielle Proud, I made the bean bag cube pictured above for Natalie's dorm room. (You can never have enough seating right?).....The book gives good instruction on making and filling the cube. The corners are the trickiest part, as three seams have to come together, and require careful machine stitching and then some corner clipping to make sure they turn nicely.

dorm room before

This is the bland, blank dorm room before. And below is Natalie's new pad. Besides the cool bedding, rug, and cute cube, we added the striped background to her giant bulletin board using a $2 vinyl tablecloth cut to size, and some colorful thumbtacks for a border. Additionally, the backrest of the couch was made of a scratchy, vinyl fabric, and was kind of gross from all of the years of use. Using a $5 clearanced linen-like drapery panel and a glue gun, I reupholstered the back bench cushion. Natalie can just rip off the upholstery when she moves out at the end of the year. Hopefully, her cheerful new digs will get her in study mode, bringing her lots of schoolwork success!