PrintWhen they arrive at college, most students are concerned about leaving home, making new friends, and choosing classes. There are other students, such as myself, who worry more about their living situation. Personal space and storage are difficult to come by when you live in a double or a triple, but not impossible.
As a freshman—excuse me, first-year—at Barnard, I remember one of the girls on my hall in Sulzberger complaining about living in a double because she had had a single when she was at boarding school. I told her to get over it because I was making do, though I had my own large room at home.
It’s very difficult living with somebody you’ve never met before, which I’ve done for the three years I’ve been here. Add a cramped room, and things can get tense. But there are always ways to find personal space and storage in small rooms.
My roommate and I had a simple rule to maintain our respective personal space: stick to your own side of the room. You could have taken a ruler down the room’s center—my side was completely messy, hers completely clean. This was furthered by the fact that I sprained my ankle badly during my freshman year, and, as it became too much of a hassle to put everything away, everything went on the floor. It was easier to reach my things that way.
The only advice I can give on finding personal space in a double or triple is to leave the confines of the room and find somewhere else to hang out or study. Maybe that’s why Butler is so popular.
In the room, though, I feel it’s better to have a “my side” and “your side” agreement, as it’s a rare set of friends who don’t mind having their belongings mix. This plan has worked for the three years I’ve been here, with few problems.
There was plenty of storage room during my first year, and I only began experimenting in storage techniques during my second year. As a sophomore, I had the best double a person could get. I lived in an A Suite in 600 with a resident adviser, which may sound bad, but really wasn’t. My double was huge—not as large as my room at home, but still a step up from my first year at Barnard. Plus, I could see my room in a scene of Enchanted, which I was very excited about.
Such a large room meant my roommate and I each had our own corners that we could decorate to suit our needs. I had movie posters, while my roommate had comic books, colorful paper flowers, and pictures of her friends. It was a nice room to come home to. Plus we had a kitchen and a dining room. If we really didn’t want to be in the room, there was somewhere else in the suite that we could go without the hassle of schlepping to Butler.
The suite also had three extra closets in the hallway. My plan to maximize the space was to have as little as possible in my room and store everything else elsewhere. The heavy coats and boots went in one closet, thereby giving me more room in my own. The refrigerator went into an area my suitemates and I referred to as “Fridge City,” my towels and robe were in a second closet next to the bathroom, and I stored extra suitcases and boxes in a third closet that had shelving to accommodate large items. I bought risers for my bed and stored my trunks under there.
I realize, however, that the insane amount of storage I had my sophomore year is not normal for either Columbia or Barnard students. To cope with that sad fact, I highly recommend risers to anyone who has a bed that can accommodate them. Risers maximize under-bed space, where it’s possible to store a lot. During my sophomore year, I had bedposts, but this year I have slats, and I can still use my risers. It’s a bit tricky, but it works. I store two trunks, three plastic bins, a suitcase, and a filing cabinet under my bed.
Trunks, or other kinds of boxes, are a great resource, because they can be used as storage for things such as out-of-season clothes, or in-season clothes that you refuse to wear. When they are under the bed, you forget all about them.
My sophomore year, I bought extra shelving that now sits above my bed on stilt-like posts. I don’t really use it much—if it fell down, it would crash onto my head—but it’s good for odds and ends. These extra shelves are great for books, and I maximize my study time by cutting down on the two seconds it takes to walk to my bookshelf and find the books I need.
Other useful places for storage are those areas above tall furniture, such as closets and bookshelves. During my first year, when I wasn’t able to raise my bed because of built-in drawers, I used the top of my closet to store my trunks and a suitcase. I also have over-the-door hooks for hats and scarves, and I have removable hooks on the sides of furniture for things like purses and keys—that way I never misplace them. Since my room this year is so much smaller than the room I had during my sophomore year, every little trick helps.
A smaller room also means less personal space, but I’ve dealt with this: I put up a Berlin Wall between my roommate and myself. Literally. When the German department was handing out pamphlet replicas of the Berlin Wall in fall 2009, they said to put it between you and your neighbor for 28 years. So I did. We still haven’t decided who is West Germany and who is East Germany, but at least it keeps the sides of the room clear.
Now, though, as I prepare to move out for my third time, I have to come up with a way to store all my stuff. What do I take home? What can I leave here? What will I need for the summer? Do I really need all these papers? There are so many questions that I must ask myself before packing.
Next year I have a large single in a suite that is the four-person equivalent of my sophomore living situation. That means lots of room for all, and all the personal space I could ever want! I plan to use all my storage tricks again, and to try to make my room less dorm-like. But the first thing I’m going to do when I get home is lie down on my floor, arms spread wide and legs extended, and revel in the feeling of not being able to touch any furniture.