College is said to be one of the greatest times of our lives. Our living situations on the other hand… not so much.
In addition to getting tired of run-of-the-mill college merch, we’re becoming increasingly disgruntled with our dorms, and some are willing to splurge in order to improve these spaces. One of college’s main trade offs is the subpar living conditions, but historically, students have accepted this. After all, it’s only four years. But recently, this has changed.
As students moved into college over the course of the last month, Danielle Braff showed just how important dorm decor is in her New York Times piece, “Tuition: $9,400. Dorm Room Interior Designer: $10,000?” While the headline is a bit shocking, this checks out with students today. In fact, Braff cites a National Retail Federation report that “college students spent about $87 billion,” which is nearly double the $48 billion they spent ten years ago.
This trend has particularly caught on with female students in southern states. Braff’s piece examines the work of designer Eden Bowen Montgomery, who noticed that dorms needed an upgrade during her freshman year at Ole Miss, leading her to found Essentials With Eden before she graduated. Montgomery had over 200 clients this year, and charges a lofty $10,000 a room. These interiors are more than picking the right pieces to complement the room and getting the standard dorm room essentials—they’re a complete makeover. Many of her clients want “custom bedding and drapery, a fancy cabinet to hide the mini-fridge and microwave, wallpaper and a matching headboard.” Others are more outlandish: one client’s dorm was transformed into a rainforest.
We suspect you’re not looking to live in a recreation of the Amazon, and Crew Dog’s roots lie in the northeast. These designer rooms are trickling elsewhere in the country and catering to a variety of aesthetics, for example a modern NYC and farm-style Texas rooms featured in a New York Post article.
Designer dorms demonstrate how important self-expression and comfort are to us. These rooms transcend the limits of traditional undergraduate residential life, and as the bespoke collegiate wave spreads, it’s evident that we will go the extra mile to tailor these four years to our uniqueness. We want our individuality to shine in a sea of uniformity.
Crew Dog is built on this exact aspect of the collegiate experience. We’re driven to hone in on what makes college special—the people, the traditions, the spirit—and create bold designs that students are proud to wear. In the past, students might have coped, thinking it’s just four years, I can manage, but now, we want to maximize this time in our lives.
Maybe these over-the-top dorms are just a trend that’ll die down in a few years. Maybe they won’t outgrow their southern origins. Maybe freshmen will embrace the classic college residential experience. But considering what the modern student wants during this incredible time in our lives, designer dorms might be a fad that’s just getting started.