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This is part two of College Fashion’s “College Dorm Room Shopping” series. For the first part of the series, I focused on Dorm Room Bedding. Today I’m going to focus on Dorm Room Furnishings.
Furnishing a dorm room is easy because most of what you need will come with your room (desk, closet, bed, dresser). At the same time, it can also be tricky because you will be working with a very small space.
Talk to your roommate. You will save yourself a lot of time and money if you talk to your roommate about who’s bringing what for your room. You don’t want to get to school on move in day with two of everything. Trust me, there won’t be room for it all.
Check your college’s website. They will list what is going to come with your room as well as any items that are off-limits, so you will have a good picture of what’s missing and what you need to buy.
Invest in storage bins. You won’t realize how much stuff you have until you try and pack it up. Buy some good quality plastic storage bins and moving will be easier – plus, you’ll have a place to put everything!
Don’t get heavy furniture. It may seem obvious, but truly: the lighter the better. Don’t bring a huge hand-me-down wooden dresser that takes 3 people to lift. It’s much more of a hassle than you’re going to want to deal with.
Get lamps. Dorm rooms usually come equipped with one big fluorescent light that is supposed to provide lighting for the entire room. First of all, it’s usually not bright enough. Also, when your roommate wants to sleep but you have a paper to write, you’ll be happy to have a small desk lamp on your side of the room.
Buy a rug. There’s nothing cozy or homey about linoleum floors! I recommend investing in a good quality, durable rug for your floor to make your room more livable.
Cute Dorm Room Furnishings
Now that you know what to look for, here are some of my picks for some great dorm room furnishings you should consider.
This Insanely Aesthetic Minimal Nightstand
Chances are, your dorm will need a little nightstand. This simple little round one is made for unusual or tricky-to-furnish spaces. Plus, it’s super hip and will add some much-needed life to a basic space.
The Cozy Foldable Chair of Your Dreams
If you’ve got room for a chair, this well-designed, collapsable chair will do the trick. Trust me, you’re going to get very tired of sitting on your uncomfortable bed, so having a cozy alternative is great.
This cute little bed shelf attaches directly to your bed to give you extra space for your laptop, phone and beverage of choice. Since so many college students end up working from bed, this little Amazon find is an absolute must-have. Even better, it doesn’t require any tools to install!
A Chic (& Affordable) Desk Lamp
You’re going to need to buy some secondary lighting for your dorm, so why not make sure it adds style to your room? This pretty gold task lamp is everything you could ever want and it will even charge your devices.
This neutral knitted ottoman pouf is the perfect accent piece of seating for your dorm as you can move it around wherever you need it. Plus, it looks so cozy and will really make your dorm feel like home.
A Neutral Nightstand with Storage
Utilizing your space in the most efficient way possible is so incredibly important in a dorm. This white nightstand has character and charm… and an abundance of storage!
A Statement Rug
This busy, detailed rug is exactly what any dorm room needs; it’s colorful, funky, fun, and won’t show stains from spilled beverages and food!
OR, a White Rug That Actually Stays Clean
Alternatively, if your aesthetic dictates a white or cream colored rug, you absolutely need to get this one from Ruggable.
You can take off the top part of the rug and toss the entire thing in the washing machine so it’s a cinch to keep clean. Yes, you pay a bit more for this feature but it’s 100% worth it if you want a white rug that will stay clean through college.
Quality Storage Bins
Invest in quality storage bins. They may not be the most exciting things you’ll buy for your dorm adventure, but they will probably end up being your most cherished items. An organized life is a happy life.
An Aesthetic Over-the-Door Hanger
Get creative with your space! Who knew using a door could be such a fantastic place to hang scarves, jackets, purses, and bags? An over-the-door hanger is a necessity.
A Storage Ottoman for Seating & Containing Clutter
This multi-purpose ottoman can act as shoe storage, a mini coffee table, and seating for your friends when they come visit. Basically, it’s perfect in every way.
The Cutest Mini Plant Shelf in the World
This simple shelf will add a little flair to your space. Think of all the cute things you can put on it! Why not get two? Or three?
A Trash Can That’s Actually Cute
When you’re working with a small space, you won’t want a big trash can taking up valuable real estate. This colorful little gem from Amazon will do the trick and it’s covered so you don’t have to see the trash inside.
Check out the rest of the posts in the College Dorm Room Shopping series to get everything you need for a fabulous dorm:
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2007; it was completely updated and revamped in 2022 with new photos, products, and information.
Despite expecting her second bundle of joy, if anyone’s jet-setting the world, it certainly Rihanna who can’t sit still and has been in LA, New York, Paris and now Tokyo all within a month time frame.
The ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ singer, was spotted inside the famous Japanese ramen restaurant called ‘Ippudoa’ and posed with one of the waiters who looked overly zealous to have met the global superstar.
RiRi, served a fierce all black ensemble with an unreleased black sheer Savage x Fenty dress that is expected to drop on June 1, and is giving sex appeal vibes.
Photo Credit: IG Reproduction
The Barbadian singer layered her Savage X Fenty dress with an oversized black Balenciaga trench jacket that felt very biker inspired and was aesthetically pleasing to her ensemble. All she needed was a motorcycle to complete her edgy persona.
Photo Credit: IG Reproduction
She accessorized with black Balenciaga pointy-toe square knife embellished mules that showcased her ankle tats and opted for her signature Alien inspired shades by Gentle Monster.
It seem’s like the closer Rihanna gets to delivering, her maternity looks just get better and better and perhaps on her way to the delivery room, she’ll be spotted in an ultra stylish look from head-to-toe. Based on how she’s styling and profiling her adorable baby bump, we wouldn’t doubt it.
If you want to look like you’re part of the established upper crust, Matland encourages you to follow Roman Roy’s lead instead of Tom Wambsgans, which means aim for an effortless look, rather than one that feels contrived. Wambsgans joins the Roy family by dating and marrying the only daughter, Siobhan “Shiv” Roy. He’s portrayed as an outsider from the start, trying way too hard to fit in from the first moment we meet him in episode one. In fact, one of the only things all of the Roy children bond over during the series is criticizing Wambsgans’s fumbling sartorial attempts.
“The idea of matching your tie with your pocket square and suspenders is absolute nonsense. For anyone with real money, that would be an immediate giveaway that you’re posturing and trying desperately to show something,” Matland explained of the nuanced field of landmines that make up sartorial choices among the 0.001 percent. “People like Tom equate fashion with finance, and those two things have nothing in common. It’s also something as subtle as the width of a pinstripe on a suit. Tom’s is a little bit more pronounced whereas you would never see that on Kendall. If you saw a pinstripe it would be micro — on Tom, it’s just a stage too intense.”
On the other hand, Roman Roy, born into family wealth as the youngest son, dresses with a casual cocktail of confidence and disdain. Wambsgans’s clumsy attempts to dress the part often are the very reason he stands out, but Roy is the inverse of that. He can skip his tie, wrinkle his button-down shirt, and still look like he belongs. Anyone can buy an expensive suit, but only the likes of Roy can casually flex his wealth by wearing a six-figure outfit in the most carefree way possible.
Ever since Succession’s first episode, viewers have been trying to answer the show’s central question: who will get a kiss from daddy? In other words, who will succeed media titan Logan Roy at the helm of his empire? Battles have been fought, alliances have been broken, and Logan himself has breathed his last and been laid to rest. Now, as TV’s reigning drama draws to a close with its series finale, we finally know the surprising answer.
We entered season 4, episode 10, “With Open Eyes” expecting a showdown between Roy siblings at the board meeting on GoJo’s acquisition of Waystar Royco. Shiv is pro-GoJo, teaming with Lukas Matsson and expecting to be named the U.S. CEO of the conglomerate if the deal goes through. Kendall and Roman want to sabotage the deal, but Roman doesn’t know yet that Ken wants to go “reverse Viking” (as in Waystar acquires GoJo instead and Kendall rules as sole CEO.)
The episode begins with Kendall arriving to the office excited (perhaps he listened to more rap in the car ride in), until he learns he doesn’t have Stewy’s support. He’s trying to rally his allies for the board vote, but can he wrangle them all in by tomorrow’s meeting? He doesn’t even know where Roman stands, let alone where he is after he got beat up at a protest the night before. Nevertheless, he assures his advisor Tellis “I fucking got this.”
Shiv is also on a high. She thinks she has Stewy’s vote as well as a few others Kendall thought he secured. As she and Matsson prep, she floats the future of Tom’s role. She’s so eager for CEO that she’s ready to throw her estranged husband out with the trash, telling Matsson he’s “highly interchangeable.” But Matsson already appears less enthusiastic. Shiv’s mother, Caroline, calls from the Caribbean and revealing that Roman is with her. Shiv flies out to meet him, not really to comfort her brother but to campaign for his support.
On the plane, she hops on a call with Tom, who is still fretting about whether he’ll get fired. She says she’s trying to help him (sike!) then clumsily switches topics to their relationship. Is there anything else left in their marriage? she asks. Because it would be convenient if so—you know, for scheduling reasons. When she asks him, “Are you interested in a real relationship?” Tom says, “Honest to God, I don’t know, Shiv.”
Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) regroup.
HBO
Kendall, who has now acquired a “New Jess,” has learned of Roman’s whereabouts and will also fly to the Caribbean. Caroline warns, however, that Rome is “very fragile.” Sure enough, when Shiv arrives she finds her brother in a striped tee and shorts with stitches on his head. Roman’s nihilism is on full display when Kendall strides in to goad him back to work. “You don’t have it,” Roman tells him regarding the board votes. “You’re a clown,” he adds and walks off.
The Roy siblings continue their bickering as the sun sets in Barbados. Shiv gloats as presumed CEO and brainstorms jobs to her brothers. (Remember The Hundred?) Kendall asks Shiv if she knew that he has Stewy’s vote now, and that her new boss has been meeting with Lawrence Yee, CEO of Vaulter. (Remember Vaulter??) But Shiv would love for her brothers to support her at the helm for once. Besides, she only turned on them because they shut her out, so she doesn’t understand “why I’m the cunt here,” pardon the language. Kendall responds, “Cunt is as cunt does,” surely inspiring T-shirts, memes, and Twitter bios across the nation. Shiv gets to the bottom of it: “I played it better, so why don’t you take it like a man and eat it?”
Back in New York, Tom is at an art gallery with Matsson, barely hiding his paranoia with a bit of awkward small talk. Over dinner, Matsson has him make the case for keeping his job. Tom says he’s a simple manager with a “high tolerance for pain,” which we’ve observed throughout his marriage. Then Matsson drops a few bombs: Shiv is great, but he actually doesn’t need her. What’s worse, he wants to “fuck her a little bit” and it’s possible that under the right circumstances, she’d feel the same way. (Tom’s face falls here.) Matsson doesn’t want to deal with the trouble if that happens, lest he fall into another Ebba situation, so why not appoint Tom as CEO instead? Matsson is looking for a “pain sponge,” and Mr. Wambsgans is just that. But will he betray Shiv again?
Afterwards, Greg meets the Swedes for more drinks, this time with a translation app on hand. While eavesdropping, he learns that Shiv is no longer Matsson’s pick for CEO. He calls Kendall with the news in hopes that he’ll be rewarded with a better job if his plan goes through. Cousin Greg has come a long way from copying those cruise documents as blackmail.
Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) courts Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) for CEO.
HBO
Kendall derails Caroline’s dinner, which has turned into a business pitch by Peter’s friend anyway, to break the news to Shiv. She doesn’t believe it at first but is devastated when she finds a new draft of the takeover announcement where her name has been replaced with “[XXXX].” Now she wants to get back at Matsson, and Kendall has an opportunity to get Shiv’s support to block the deal. Tellis advises, however, that the three siblings propose a single leader to the board, to show a united front.
The fighting resumes. Roman says Logan chose him to be the successor during one of their final nights together. Shiv says she was picked at one point too. Kendall says Logan promised him the role when he was seven years old. He even implies that Roman isn’t emotionally up for the job following his breakdown at the funeral. When the three of them head to the beach together, the idea of King Kendall and “reverse Viking” is growing on Roman and Shiv. In classic sibling manner, they joke about murdering Kendall first, but then swim out to him to “anoint” him as their leader. Kendall actually smiles for once.
What follows is a sweet, childlike bonding session between the trio. The younger two prepare a “meal fit for a king” for their big bro to legitimize his anointing. They’re kids making a ruckus in the kitchen while mom is asleep, talking in silly voices, throwing bread (well “knobbies,” as Caroline calls them) at each other, and assembling an ungodly mix of ingredients into a blender for Kendall to drink. “It’s nice to see you agree on something other than what a terrible mother I am,” an awoken Caroline says, almost echoing our own thoughts. Kendall chugs the brown sludge of Tabasco, raw eggs, milk, Peter’s off-limits cheese, other atrocities, and a loogie of Shiv’s spit before Roman dumps the whole thing on his head. The next morning, they land back in NY and frantically make calls before stopping at Logan’s—now Connor and Willa’s—apartment.
The Roy siblings make a “meal fit for a king.”
HBO
There, the eldest Roy has arranged a system for loved ones to bid over Logan’s belongings. Willa, with amazing hair and paisley co-ords, is planning on a complete decor revamp. She and Connor will try going long-distance as she stays in New York to work on a play while he heads to Slovenia for ambassador duties. In the dining room, the Roys come across a rare, pleasant video of Logan. He’s reciting a list of every losing candidate in a U.S. presidential election at the table with Kerry (showing some PDA with her boss), Gerri, Karl, Frank, and Connor. His eldest does an impression of Logan saying “I’m a Little Teapot.” The whole group sings “Green Grow the Rushes, O.” His heirs tear up watching their father enjoy himself for once.
Shiv runs into Tom and shares that Matsson picked a new CEO. Tom pretends to be surprised, but when he suggests that Shiv should still vote for the deal, she picks up on his act. He doesn’t try to hide it this time. “It’s me,” he tells her, just so she’s aware. Disgusted, Shiv tells their brothers and they storm out to run their numbers. Meanwhile, Tom pulls Greg into the bathroom to scold him for leaking the info. He hits Greg, but Greg, for once, slaps him back. They scuffle in the powder room until Tom pulls away to alert Matsson that they have a big fucking problem.
At the Waystar offices, Karolina makes a move herself: She pitches to Shiv that after the deal, they should get rid of Hugo. (I’m not shocked by her ferocity, but I will say I’m impressed.) Kendall finally gets Stewy on his side with the promise of a chairman position. But Roman isn’t doing well. When he spots Gerri, he decides he doesn’t want to see anybody at all. He’d rather call in for the vote, especially since he’s self-conscious about his stitches. When Kendall approaches him, Roman says what’s really bothering him: “Why isn’t it me?” Kendall holds him while he sobs, but he embraces his brother so forcefully against his chest that his wound reopens.
Frank commences the board of directors meeting. Kendall delivers straightforward remarks bashing the GoJo deal. The vote goes around: Frank, Sonya, Diane, Sandi Sr., and Sandi Jr. vote yes. Kendall, Ewan, Dewi, Stewy, and Roman vote no. When it gets to Shiv, she steps out of the room to “have a moment.” Uh oh.
To Kendall’s horror and Roman’s bewilderment, Shiv has changed her mind. She confronts Kendall for always thinking he’s the most important one out of them, that it’s always about him. Kendall begs her not to turn back now. This job is the one thing he knows how to do, he says, which is actually quite sad. Shiv insists, “I don’t think you’d be good at it.” In fact, she brings up his past to prove her point. “You can’t be CEO, because you killed someone.” To that Kendall sputters, “Which?” which triggers Roman to demand clarification. Kendall denies the manslaughter, saying he just made it up to bond with his siblings. At this point, the expression on Roman and Shiv’s faces spell WTF?. Kendall continues to beg for Shiv to vote for him, and she continues to refuse. “I love you, but I cannot fucking stomach you,” she says. Now Roman is against him too, especially after that lie. “I’m the eldest boy!” Kendall shouts like a toddler in a tantrum, sending Shiv keeling over in laughter. (Somewhere, Connor is too.) Mind you, their fellow board members can hear and see them embarrass themselves through the conference room’s glass walls.
Things go from bad to disastrous when Roman plays his own dirty card, dropping that Logan used to say that Kendall’s kids aren’t his own. Even Shiv thinks this is too far. Kendall responds by trying to crush Roman’s face with his bare hands. Shiv tries to leave the room. Kendall tries to physically stop her. Roman pulls him away, reminding him that their sister is pregnant. Roman and Kendall physically fight in the conference room. Shiv heads back to the meeting to vote yes.
The GoJo deal becomes official.
HBO/ David M. Russell
As Kendall and Roman catch their breath, Kendall still tries to salvage his plan by approaching Frank, but Roman is done. Nothing matters anymore. “We are bullshit,” he tells his brother, and it’s hard not to agree. Despite the fandoms, fan cams, and thirsty tweets Succession has wrought, it reminds us that at their core, the Roys are horrible people. And they are, as their father once told them, not serious people. Watching them betray, fight, and wrestle each other at their place of work, I think of the Killmonger meme: Is this your king? Do any of them really deserve this? Clearly not.
Kendall still won’t accept defeat, though, so he walks back into the meeting to reconvene. But the vote is already final at 7-6; Waystar will sell to GoJo. CEO Tom Wambsgans walks in, chest out, with a few ideas of how he’ll structure his team. He wants to keep Karolina (sorry, Hugo) and Gerri, but fire Frank and Karl. Greg screwed his chances, but Tom won’t leave him out to dry. “I got you,” he tells him. Nero and Sporus forever.
After Roman begrudgingly poses with Matsson for a photo op, he grabs a drink at the bar and smiles to himself. It’s probably a relief to him to be out of the company. The millions he’s made from the GoJo sale don’t hurt either. Meanwhile, Shiv rides in the car home with Tom. She quietly congratulates him and lightly places her hand in his. As for Kendall, he walks toward the Hudson River with Colin a few paces behind. He sits down and stares at the water, letting reality sink in.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.