My son moves into his college dorm in a month, and we’ve been preparing for some time now, trying to think of everything he may need, and slowly purchasing along the way.

The Design

As you might expect, we first started with the design of his room—he’ll be sharing a dorm with a roommate, but will have a private room, plus a shared living room and bathroom. Some months back, he had pointed out some bed sheets he loved, and the design came together from there. He’s studying Astronomy, so he wanted touches of space in his bedroom. He also loves darker colors, especially blue, so we opted for some choices that would reflect his aesthetic. My favorite piece is his bedside table (all other furniture is provided)—which does double duty as extra storage. We opted for the vinyl option, for easy care. An oversized pinboard coupled with the Ikea pegboard ensure plenty of space for photos, important documents hey may reference, and any other fun/nostalgic details. My other favorite piece in his room is the checkered rug, I love the touch of green it adds and how it talks to the squares in the bedsheets without being overly matchy.

His living room is pretty simple. The couch and chair set provided are blue and orange, so tried to ground those rather loudish colors with deeper navys and blues, browns and caramels. He’s taking a few items from home that I don’t use, and we just added the rug, one more pillow, and a large coffee table bowl for remotes and other knick knacks.

The Essentials

Wow—there are so many things, big and small, needed. Everything from nail clippers and sponges, to microwaves and printers. I have a huge list we’ve been ticking off from, and sharing some of those things below. Again, some of the items we already have (plates & other accessories), but most we had to purchase. We’re also hoping a lot of these items he’s able to take into an apartment his second year, so thoughtfully decided which products we wanted to spend a bit more on, and which we really just needed the basics.

One small moving tip: grab yourselves some of those large Ikea (or similar type) bags. You can super stuff those bags with clothes and other items, and they are super easy to carry… or load them onto a push cart to easily get from car to room.