Sadie's Dorm Room Design & Reveal
We are back from dropping our daughter Sadie off at Western University. As any parent who has done this before knows, the university drop-off is the most bittersweet moment. You are so proud of your kid, and so excited for them on this huge milestone adventure, but at the same time you are grieving the end of an era. 18 years of raising this once baby into a strong independent teenager. It's a wild emotional roller coaster!
Back in Mid-July, I started channeling all of my feelings about Sadie going away to school into planning her dorm room. I created lists; I scoured the internet for cute bedding, artwork, and accessories. I felt like I was winning at dorm room planning when I bought the much coveted woozoo fan from our local Costco (I think I saw about 50 of them on move in day!). I became a little obsessed about making sure her room was perfect and that she had all.the.things.
But I didn’t realize why until I watched an instagram reel from one of my fave influencer/podcasters Kim Holderness (@theholdernessfamily) who shared that she also had experienced this room decorating/planning obsession. She pointed out that it was her nesting instinct kicking in. We always think about nesting as a new mom’s game but for me, this instinct came back twice as hard when launching my birds from the best!
In her emotional post, Kim shares “I brought so much stuff, I was so annoying to my husband and daughter…because…I brought too much stuff. I just wanted to make everything perfect” then she goes on to share this PSA to kids leaving home: “Kids, when your mom brings too much stuff to help you move in, just do like Mel Robbins and Let Them. Just let them. That’s how they show their love. Because you can do everything else yourself now.” Oh man did that post hit me hard and resonate deeply.
*takes quick break to have another cry
So thanks to Kim Holderness, I had a real ah-ha moment and understood why I was so caught up in planning Sadie’s dorm room. I was apparently nesting my way through this transition of Sadie leaving home. So I decided to lean into it and do what I know how to do best and create her a home away from home.
The Planning Phase
I would like to note that this was not my first dorm room decorating rodeo - my son Kallum started university several years ago and I helped him decorate and outfit his dorm room. He wasn't fussy about the design aspect of it all and it was a pretty simple process with him. Some navy bedding from our cabin, some twin xl sheets and some posters from the campus art sale and he was thrilled! It was different this time around, with Sadie being very into the esthetics and the planning.
Once we got her room assignment and photos of what her room would look like, we were off to the races!
Our dorm room design journey started out with Sadie sharing some inspo pics of things that she liked. I always think a great jumping off point for any bedroom is to pick a duvet cover or comforter, as it is a focal detail in the room. In a dorm room, I recommend using color and pattern to breathe life into what can feel like a cold, impersonal, institutional space.
Sadie fell in love with the Loveshack Fancy Pottery Barn line from Pottery Barn Teen. We were considering a duvet cover and sheets from the collection, as it was beautiful and high quality.
But then we found this dupe at target (we are lucky to live close to the border and visit Target quite easily) and went with that instead. We got the comforter set, 2 sheet sets and a coordinating throw pillow from Target - all for less than the Pottery Barn duvet cover alone, even with the exchange rate!
Once we had these items purchased, I do what I always do when planning any room design - I created a mood board collage. I added the bedding that we had purchased so we could add coordinating art work and accessories.
The design board went through many edits before we were done shopping, and it was so helpful to be able to add things that we liked to the collage as we went along, so we could make sure everything was working well together.
You can see that we sourced art, lighting and accessories to make this room stylish. We also made a list of practical items Sadie would need for her room, essentials like a mattress topper, mattress cover and a fridge. I created a shopping spreadsheet just like I would for a client project with all the details handy to make ordering streamlined.
The other thing that we planned ahead of time was the art work for Sadie's wall. She fell in love with this set from Funky Monkey Printables on Etsy. I found this set of gallery wall frames from IKEA and used canva to plan out which prints would go with which frame. Then I had the prints printed out at Londond Drugs in the proper sizes and packed them in our suitcase. The actual frames were on our IKEA list, to purchase upon arrival.
Add to Cart
Once we had a general design direction and a list of the items we wanted, we got busy shopping. Because we were travelling so far away, we had 3 shopping phases - the stuff we bought from home and packed into a suitcase (we checked 4 bags at the airport!) the stuff we had shipped to my cousin's house from Amazon (thank you Scott and Meredith!) and the stuff we bought when we got there.
What we brought with us:
Comforter (washed and packed into a magic bag to save space)
two sets of sheets
throw blanket
throw pillow
fairy lights with clips
photos and art prints (had these printed at our local london drugs
towels (we had extras at home)
shower caddy, shower shoes and robe
woozoo fan
power bars and cord plug-ins
cute over the door bow hooks
What we ordered and had shipped to London:
mattress topper
mattress cover
desk hutch
fridge shelf (we ended up not using this)
a fridge ordered for online pick-up at the local walmart (turns out this was not required, there were many fridges in stock at the store and we ended up exchanging for one half the price)
What we bought when we got there:
From IKEA:
pillows
a gallery frame set for our art prints
a rolling cart
some bins for under the bed
a lamp
some smaller storage bins for on the shelves
faux plants
garbage can (turns out we didn't need this)
From Walmart:
We made 3 trips to Walmart in a 24 hour period and I would like to give a shout out to my husband, who hates shopping, for not getting grumpy about this!
There was some family debate about whether we could squeeze the mini-fridge from Walmart into our already loaded down rental vehicle ahead of our move-in time slot. Two people in the car who shall remain nameless, thought maybe we could squeeze it in. Spoiler alert, we couldn't!I mean, look at the car!
Once we arrived at Walmart and looked at the size of the box holding the fridge, we accepted that we would have to make a second trip the next day. But while we were there, we grabbed some small essentials like hangers, a shoe rack, toiletries, storage baskets, laundry soap, first aid supplies, and command strips. Day 2 we made our second trip for the fridge and a few other items we realized we needed, like a light bulb, some batteries, some snacks and some extra storage baskets. Getting a student set up in a brand new city far away from home, from scratch is quite an endeavor and it seemed like we kept thinking of things that Sadie would need. It's just part of the process!
Walmart round 3 happened when we realized that I had accidentally thrown away all of the personal photos Sadie had printed our and brought with her to hang on her fairy lights in her room. Ooops! When I realized what I had done I felt so terrible!
Move In Day
After all the planning, shopping, packing, shipping and several very full car rides, we had finally arrived at the fun part — actually putting the room together! In Designer language we call this "Install Day"!
I have to hand it to Western, they really know how to welcome their first year students and make move-in extra special. You cue up in your car to move in to your dorm. When it's your turn, the hype squad circle your car chanting, and then they get the student out of the car.
"first year out of the car, firstyearoutofthecar!!" I will forever have that welcome chant stored deep in my brain! One student helper takes your "frosh" to the check-in zone to get their keys, and parents move the car to a designated unloading area. There are 1200 students in Sadie's dorm, so given the amount of people and stuff being moved in, I thought things were so well organized. There were "hype squad" older students helping unload the car and bring all the stuff to each student's room. Everyone was so friendly, so helpful and VERY HYPE!
Once we had all of our bags, bins and boxes moved up to Sadie's room, we gave everything a wipe down with clorox wipes and then got busy unpacking and setting up.
Steve was on assembly duty (the rolling cart, the desk hutch and the shoe rack), I was on decor install (making the bed, putting our art prints in frames) and Sadie started unpacking her clothes, shoes and toiletries. The three of us working together to get her settled in was so special, and a core memory I will cherish always.
We didn't finish the room on day 1, we got it about 80% of the way and definitely set up enough for Sadie to sleep there that night. Day two we went back to Walmart to pick up the fridge and a few miscellaneous items we realized we needed. Then back to the dorm for round 2. Everything was going great till the part were I realized I accidentally threw away the personal photos Sadie had printed off at home and brought with her. Walmart photo lab to the rescue bringing us back for our final task of putting up her pics. Then it was room complete! You can see the before and after reveal on my instagram account.
Saying Goodbye
The moment I had been dreading finally arrived. Saying goodbye to our girl. The only thing that made it somewhat bearable is that I truly feel like she is where she is meant to be, she is ready for this next chapter and I know she is going to have a wonderful year. New experiences, new people and lots of learning, figuring out her path. We couldn't be more proud of Sadie and excited for her. But I still cried buckets of tears on the way to the airport and especially during take off. Now I am counting down the days until she gets home for Thanksgiving. And in the meantime? She has given me carte blanche to tackle her room here at home, so plans for organizing and some light re-freshing are underway!
Thanks for reading!
xo, Kerri
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