It is not exactly an apartment, but it is not exactly a dorm room either.
Although many large campuses have suite style apartments, the small liberal arts college where your daughter attends does not have all of the amenities that you might find in other places. In fact, large campus suite style apartments come so well furnished that the goal is to keep students from moving large pieces of furniture in and out. On your daughter’s small Louisiana campus they use the term “furnished” rather loosely. You have the normal desks, chairs, and twin size beds in the sleeping space. The kitchen area, however, is pretty bare. And while you do not want to spend a lot of money on furniture that will likely live a rather hard life, you do want to make sure that your daughter has some nice things to help fill her space.
You have the chance to travel to the campus at the end of this school year and you would love to help her locate some pieces that she could use when she move into this not-quite-an-apartment-not-quite-a-dorm-room. You have spent some time looking at what are called furniture components. They look like they might be the perfect solution. You can purchase a couple of pieces of living room furniture that she can break into sectionals and use in a variety of ways. The wall panels and custom drawers like they might also be an option. Being able to buy some of the small furniture components now while they are available seems to make sense, and then you can add the larger pieces in the fall when she is finally able to move into her new space.
The fact that your daughter will only have one roommate next year and the fact that both girls will have their own bathroom and bedroom means that you are more willing to invest in some nicer accessories.
Are You Getting Ready to Help Furnish Your College Student’s First Apartment?
In a time when many empty nesters are moving their college students in and out various dorm rooms and apartments, these same parents often find themselves redecorating or redesigning their own homes as well. As a couple makes plans to look at new furniture, for instance, it is sometimes easier to buy a nice new set when you know that some of your older pieces might find a home in a college dorm room or apartment.
Older modular furniture components can be broken into sectionals and worked into small study areas or even smaller dorm rooms, or they can be kept as a group and moved into a college graduates first ever apartment. Making use of use cabinet components in a different space also makes redecorating more affordable. When, for example, you update your kitchen cabinets and find a way to move your older cabinets to the garage for storage or into the basement for a new craft room you can feel a little bit better about springing for the nicer and more expensive styles.
Consider some of these facts and figures about furniture components and home decorating industry. Who knows, you might get motivated to make some changes to the most used spaces in your home:
- 35% of remodeling projects involved whole home renovations.
- 82.7% is the average return on investment (ROI) of even a minor kitchen remodel.
- 54% of future buyers are willing to pay more for a home with hardwood floors.
- 69% of all home construction jobs requested were for kitchen remodeling. According to a National Association of Home Builders survey, this makes kitchen remodeling the second most popular request.
- Even more popular than kitchen remodels, however, are the 78% of renovations that are done on bathrooms. According to a National Association of Home Builders survey, bathroom remodeling is the job most requested for home reconstruction projects.
- Cabinets typically come in standard sizes. For instance, base cabinets are 24 inches deep and 36 inches tall. On some semi-custom and custom applications, the depth may be increased to as much as 27 inches. For ease of use, most base cabinetry rests atop a four-inch recessed riser that is often called a toe kick.
Are you ready to make your remodeling plans?