3 Interior Designers Makeover The Same College Dorm Room

[Narrator] These three interior designers

have been given a photograph of an empty college dorm room.

They have free rein to design it in any way they please.

My name is Laura.

My design style is modern, tailored, and classic.

My name is Patrick and my style is exuberant,

charismatic, and colorful.

I'm Xavier and my design style is purposeful, narrative,

and full of life.

[Narrator] No clients, no restrictions, just blank space.

Okay, so my first impressions of this dorm room are...

Thank God, I'm not in college. [chuckles]

That's very standard, it's very uninspiring.

This is a place where people are coming

to get inspired to learn and it's kind of a bummer

that dorm rooms don't reflect that.

I understand that dorm rooms

are notoriously bland and boring.

However, we can definitely do better here.

Everything that you do to it has to be able to be removed

at the end of the year

but that's a long time and you wanna make it your own,

and you wanna make it feel like an inspiring place

that really reflects your personality.

[light classical music]

First of all, I'd like to eliminate the idea

of these bunk beds.

Nobody wants to climb up and down into a bunk bed

every night or morning.

I don't like bunk beds.

I always feel like I'm gonna roll right out of them

and onto the floor in the middle of the night.

If you have a space that is on the smaller side,

creating different places to be

can actually make it feel more spacious.

So even though in this original space,

they did have a lot of functionality,

in that you have your bed and you have your desk

and is all in one place,

it feels juvenile and it feels cramped.

It's not very graceful, it's not very mature, sophisticated.

If we can spread it out

and make it feel more sort of luxurious.

I think that we can make a much better space

for these two college students.

I'm gonna kind of try to dismantle these bunk beds,

and most college bunk beds are actually, you know,

made up of some parts that are stacked.

You can usually unscrew them

and then move this lower part of the bed down to the ground.

So that's exactly what we're gonna do.

If we actually put a bed on each side,

we can upholster a headboard along the back

and along the top and then we can have lots

of pillows on here and just really make it feel so lovely.

And you can see already that now

it's almost like, a lounge space,

more so than just for sleeping.

It's for hanging out.

And then we can put a desk on each side

and just kind of continue that sense of symmetry

that makes it feel very calm.

If you have a daybed and then you have a desk separately,

there's more places to be in the room.

Rather than the two bunk beds,

I think it'd be a great idea to have upholstered pair

of daybeds that face one another

to create sort of a living room atmosphere when need be.

I love the idea of just a plain simple tuxedo,

custom-made daybed with some drawers underneath

for extra storage.

And thought that this fabric

which has got great utility to it,

it's a synthetic but feels like a velvet is a great color.

So I just imagined two people forced to share a room

with completely opposite aesthetic sensibilities.

On one side, the punk, one side the princess

to use some tropes.

And then I also thought picturing these

as being maybe art school students.

What would it be like if they had to DIY all the decor

in their room?

On one side, we're gonna create a wire frame form

out of some sort of, like, chicken wire

or other kind of wire mesh.

And we're gonna cover that in plaster.

So we're gonna create a four poster bed

with really tall, long spiky posts at all four sides.

And that will be able to just, you know,

chip away and remove at the end of the year.

On the other side,

we're gonna utilize the student's sewing skills

and slip cover the entire bed

in this kind of beautiful gold, myrrh velvet material.

And then we're gonna trim that out with a beautiful,

like light blue piping and tassels at all four corners.

So the second thing I wanted to address

was to have proper like workstation.

I'd love to see a desk that sits by the window.

There's a beautiful view out there

and I think you'd wanna be as close to that as possible.

I love birch veneer.

I think it's a really natural, beautiful product.

And I chose some white file cabinets from West Elm.

I would love to figure out some way to make

that HVAC unit feel more integrated into the room.

So I'd actually like to continue that same surface

behind both beds as a built-in shelf basically.

And so as you're lying in bed,

you could put a glass of water back there,

you could put a book or something like that.

These students are obviously very handy

so they can create their own desks.

On one side, I'm gonna build a desk out of plywood.

I'm gonna stain that plywood with kind of,

like, a dark black stain to pick up the grain

of the plywood.

And then I'm gonna wash it over with some colors.

Now for the desk chair on this side,

a very common first year art school project

is to make a cardboard chair.

So obviously, we need to have a cardboard chair.

On the other side, I decided to create kind of,

like a nice floating desk with some nice gold chain

up to the top.

Obviously, knowing this student, they're gonna slip cover it

in the gold fabric with the tassels and the trimmings.

And for the desk chair there,

I used one of the ash pillow chairs,

which is kind of a fun little, like, poofy chair

in a very like beachy red stripe.

Paired with the desk I chose two Panton chairs

from Design Within Reach.

It's light, it's playful, and can be moved

around the room easily.

I thought it was a great combination

with these two round tables from MoMA

and can also be taken with you on your next journey.

I would love to bring in a really interesting chair.

Something sculptural, has a beautiful profile.

I'm thinking specifically of these chairs

from a Baltimore maker called Crump and Kwash.

They have a really cool rounded back

and an upholstered seat.

If we have something in that space

that feels really special,

I think it really goes a long way

to making those college students

feel like they have a unique space

that is intentional and that they feel can really be a space

that they can call their own.

[light music]

So in my college I had concrete block walls [chuckles]

and concrete floor, which you know,

in a sort of minimalist way could be cool

but it just kind of felt cold and industrial.

Floor in my dorm was like that, you know,

horrible vinyl tile.

I think it was like a speckled gray. Everything was gray.

Pattern on the floor brings me back to my first days

at school thinking how am I gonna make it through here?

There's nothing warm or inviting about it.

It feels like a place that I can't wait to get away from.

And we can't do anything permanent thing with the floors.

We can't rip these out and put in something more attractive.

But we can put down a beautiful rug

and I would love to get a really cool vintage rug

is going to automatically give some personality

and some great texture to the space.

They're super sustainable 'cause they already exist.

A really big rug that continues over the entire floor

actually makes the room feel more spacious.

When you have a tiny rug, it sort of feels

like a little floating island in the middle of the space.

It makes it feel like your room isn't big enough

or that the rug isn't big enough.

When I was in school in Providence,

we had a lot of discount warehouses and one of them

was a big discount carpet warehouse

where you could actually buy, you know, big squares

of carpets or length of carpets were pretty cheap.

Both of these students are taking a trip probably

in separate Ubers to go to the carpet place.

And on one side we're gonna do,

like, really sort of beautiful red carpet,

classic kind of regal to sort of like compliment this kind

of fancier side of the room.

And then on the other side I want to do,

like a really rough kind of, like, high pile black shag

carpeting that's gonna create this like fun, you know,

furry ground to stand on.

I definitely wanted to cover these bare floors

with something that was cozy and utilitarian.

I partnered with Aronson's carpet, my go-to resource

for squares of broad loom wool

that we could then piece together

to create a grid-like interesting pattern on the floor

reminiscent of farmland from the bird's eye view

when you fly over.

[light music]

We have to think of a way to address the design

without being too permanent.

And one of the great hacks that I love

is to actually do an upholstered wall with liquid starch.

If you haven't heard of this before,

it's actually really cool.

So you just paint the wall with liquid starch,

you put your fabric on and then you paint

on more liquid starch, you get a little mini squeegee

and you squeeze out all of that liquid starch

and then it just dries,

perfectly maintaining the original texture.

And in this case, I think I would love to do something

with a really kind of fun but simple pattern

where you can still feel like you can add more personality

to the room.

And the best part is that you can take the fabric down

and you can wash it and use it again.

So it's zero waste and really inexpensive.

And if I can do it, you can do it.

So I'm imagining these two roommates

and their boring aesthetics.

On the left side, there's this one reference image

that I found of Andy Warhol's studio sometime

in the '70s or '80s.

He had covered the entire thing, wall ceiling,

every piece of furniture in tinfoil.

I thought, what better material than tinfoil

that you can get at the grocery store

and you can kind of cover anything with it.

So I'm having this student cover all of the walls

in the ceiling in tinfoil and I'm gonna attach it

with this aluminum foil tape

which you can also get at the hardware store

and it's gonna create this amazing reflective,

you know, super cool, wrinkly texture.

But then also with this kind of structure of a grid

that I'm gonna create with the aluminum foil tape.

On the other side, I think we have, you know,

maybe a textile major or a fashion major, somebody new

who knows how to work their way around a sewing machine.

And so they're gonna go to the fabric store,

I'm gonna have them get a really beautiful,

peachy colored silk velvet,

something with a lot of sheen to it.

And I'm gonna have them make a drapery

that's gonna hang from the ceiling all the way

around the walls of that space.

I thought it'd be great to bring wallpaper

from a company called Muse.

It's a non-permanent wallpaper and I thought that the use

of the world map would be a great idea

to bring these students' attention to the world outside them

and to think globally.

So I decided to wrap onto all the walls and the ceiling,

and right over that AC unit.

By wrapping walls in a ceiling in the same paper,

I always feel like the eye travels further

and the volume becomes larger.

This little heater box that stuck on this back wall,

they're both gonna kind of create a little bit

of a slip cover for this with a probably a cutout

around the vent so that the air can still come out.

So on the one side, probably, like, a green faux fur,

and then on the other side continuing using that velvet

from the curtains from the drapery.

[light music]

This light is an unfortunate thing. [chuckles]

The placement, it bothers me that it's off center.

It's one of those horrible like fluorescent ceiling lights

and it's very clearly on one side of the room.

That pesky light that we couldn't change.

One of my favorite designers, lighting designers

is Ingo Maurer.

It tried to emulate one of his fixtures

by taking three layers, white transparent fabric

and suspending them in a gradation form down

so that it looked sort of like a cloud.

I think in order to address this light on the ceiling,

I would love to have a fabric sort of canopy

that sits over the light fixture is gonna distract

from the fact that it's actually off center.

This canopy can actually be the same width of the window

so that it can feel nice and symmetrical.

Not only does it improve the look of the light fixture

but it actually will improve the way that light

is sort of diffused throughout the whole room.

I just had him paint kind of a relief

of a grasping hand on there which is a little scary,

little punk, little, like, horror movie.

I think that would be a kind of fun antagonistic gesture

to the space next door.

So for the other lighting on this half of the space,

I wanted to, you know, echo this kind

of like human body part element theme.

I got these two kind of like desk Ikea lamps

that are little globes and had them painted as eyeballs.

So there's kind of like these eyeballs coming off

of the wall.

The cords just kind of trailed down and plug it

into the outlet down there.

That gives another little spooky horror show,

punk element to that lighting scheme.

On the other side, I made this like kind of fun obelisk out

of just a wire frame and some wax canvas

and that we would use as a lampshade basically

over whatever light base you could get from Ikea

that'll kind of create a fun little glow.

But then it's also this kind of very formal,

beautiful, pointy form that will sit on top

of the kind of a cool half column plaster, a side table.

We would love to put sconces, plug-in sconces

'cause we can't do anything hardwired

that can mount right on the wall

so that each student can have access to light

and then they can have even more floor space

because they won't need like side table

to put a proper lamp on.

Over the workstation desk,

I chose two Jean Prouve Petit Potence light fixtures

that are industrial, clean, and easy to use.

I thought that it was a great pairing with the Prouve

to mix the GL day lights that are really colorful and fun.

They're playful, they're youthful,

they're also highly indestructible.

[graphics whooshing]

[light music]

The last thing, it's kind of like the jewelry of the room

is the decor.

And I would love to have on this daybed lots

of beautiful pillows and beautiful fabrics.

And I'd love to also do some plants flanking the windows.

We could have some really cool wall planters.

Plants over time can sort of drape and trickle down

and really feel very welcoming

as you're walking into the space.

If you are in college and you're not necessarily

in your room very much, something like a pothos

is gonna be perfect for a wall hanging

because they actually put up with a lot,

they're very forgiving but they also drape really well

and they don't necessarily need as much direct light

as other plants do.

And then they also will not die on you immediately

if you forget to water them when you go home for Christmas.

I also wanna add cork that runs along the perimeter

of the desk for mood boards or for reminders.

Cork is a great material.

It's easy, breezy, inexpensive, looks great.

The window shade, I thought it would be great

to use bamboo roll up.

They're easy, they're classic, inexpensive, pallet wise,

tone wise was really nice with the desktop and the cork.

On the daybeds, I chose some pottery barn,

white cotton quilted blankets that can be easily washed

and paired those with Paul Smith striped pillows

in this yellow, and blue, and orange.

It has great movement.

I definitely thought that we needed some shelving in here.

So I decided to use Vitsoe shelving,

one of my favorite systems designed by Dieter Rams in white.

They're great because they're an investment

but you can take them with you

once you're completed your college studies.

So our very element of this room is sort of already decor.

This is just starting out this semester.

Just imagine what's gonna happen by the end of the semester.

It's gonna be even crazier.

The one thing I did wanna add is something reflective,

some mirror I think.

And on this side, a very traditional mirror element

and a lot of very fancy old houses

is this kind of like beautiful gilt convex mirror

that you would see, you know, at the top of a staircase

or about a mantle.

We can't afford that because we're college students here.

So I found this convex traffic mirror

that you'll often see driving to look around the corner.

So it kind of accomplishes the same thing.

It's got a really nice red frame around it

and I think it looks perfect in this space.

[light music]

So I love how this design is coming together.

I would want this to be my dorm room.

I'm quite jealous that it can't be my dorm room.

It feels really warm.

It feels like a home away from home,

which is really what I think a college student

is looking for.

And yet it feels open and light enough

that each student could bring their own personality

and they can put their own artwork up on the walls.

So looking at this, ultimately it's a little crazy

but I actually think these two halves kind of speak

to each other in more ways than one.

And I think they actually kind of work together,

even though they are so completely different.

Every single thing in this space, you could buy

at Dale Store, The Fabric Store

at Home Depot pretty accessible to a college student.

Maybe you need a little modest budget to do it.

I think these students are obviously so different

as evidenced by their competing halves of the room.

They probably start off the semester day one in conflict

but I'm pretty sure they end up in love with each other.

Overall, I think the dorm room feels academic, global,

interesting, and soothing at the same time.

My hope is that this room makes these students dream,

think outside themselves

and how they might make their imprint on the world.

[gentle music]

Wow. Oh.

Oh my god, now we're talking-

I love it. The dorm room.

Amazing. These are the best.

That is something.

What's happening on your wall?

[Xavier chuckles] What's going on?

Okay. Yeah. [Laura laughs]

'Cause a lot, a lot. What's going on?

Yeah. Like Xavier here.

[Laura chuckles]

Okay, so you don't get to pick your roommate.

I mean, I didn't at least. Right.

But the princess and the punk,

what would happen if they just couldn't compromise at all?

And so just, I decided to split it down the middle.

[Laura] Yeah.

I love this map thing that you've got.

You know, I felt like let these kids look out

into the world. Yeah.

And imagine where they want to go,

where they want to travel and experience.

And I guess I envisioned like two little twins-

[all chuckle]

going off to college and they'd be exactly on the same bed.

You both did something very clever

with the light, I think.

It was off center. That's awful.

And it was just like, ugh.

So yeah, similar to Patrick, I draped fabric over it

to kind of create, like, a cloud-like effect above you.

[Xavier] That's beautiful.

And then the walls are actually upholstered in a fabric.

And I love the idea of like creating, like, a daybed.

I think we kind of both did the daybed thing. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's, you know, invites you

to treat your room not just like a bedroom,

but to sit and have conversation.

My actual dorm room was kind of just sad

and small, and dark.

[Patrick] Yeah.

I never spent any time in mine.

Yeah, well, that's the thing-

Yeah, yeah.

You don't end up staying there

'cause you're just like, Well, I don't wanna be here.

This is, you know. Get me out.

Mine had a view out to the highway.

[Laura laughs]

so depressing.

It's like really inspiring. Yeah.

[chuckles] I thought you were gonna say something else.

I thought you were gonna say a view out

to something like nice these.

No? No.

These will had a nice view actually.

They didn't have a nice view.