What is Some Good Dorm Room Furniture?

Good dorm room furniture doesn't have to include a duct-taped beanbag chair and a dozen "borrowed" milk crates anymore. Dorm room furniture in general needs to be compact, multi-functional and damage-resistant, but that doesn't mean it cannot express a student's individual tastes and style. Before shopping for any dorm room furniture, however, it often pays to visit the space itself and learn your limitations. A typical dorm room may already have some rudimentary furniture such as a desk, chair and bed, and the available living space may have to be divided amongst several roommates.

One of the most essential pieces of dorm room furniture is a corner computer desk. The corner of a room is often one of the most difficult areas to fill, and the standard desk provided by the school may not be optimally designed for computer use. A corner computer workstation would provide an organized area for a PC and all of its peripherals, plus some storage space for paper supplies and books. By using a corner space as a computer workstation, the rest of the floor space can be used for other dorm room furniture.

Another good piece of dorm room furniture to consider is a video or gamers' chair. This type of legless chair is designed to provide support while playing video games or watching movies on a DVD or VCR. It has foam padding for comfort and a curved design for rocking. Although sitting in such a chair may take some adjustment, it does provide much more lumbar support and stability than the traditional beanbag chair. A gamers' chair takes up less space than a beanbag chair as well.

For storage needs, there are better forms of dorm room furniture than the standard illicit collection of plastic milk crates. A coffee table with storage drawers may provide a student with a place to eat meals, store extra books and papers and use a laptop computer. A portable television cart could help dorm room occupants organize and store their CDs, DVDs and videogame cartridges. There are also modular storage units available which expand on the idea of the milk crates of yore. These storage cubes often interconnect to form even larger storage units, and can also be easily installed in otherwise unusable spaces behind other dorm room furniture.

Dorm room furniture can also be a way for students to express their individuality. Secondhand or thrift store furniture can always be reworked into something useful as well as decorative. Small dresser drawers could be repainted, or decoupaged with paper cut-outs or magazine clippings. Some dorm room furniture could be strictly ornamental, such as a salvaged neon sign or other oversized advertising gimmicks. Netting can also be strategically hung from the ceiling to provide additional storage space or just to display eclectic art objects.

When it comes to finding good dorm room furniture, parents and their newly independent offspring may have to strike a balance between functionality and individual expression. Some pieces of furniture, such as a corner computer desk, may have to be purchased new and assembled in the room in order to assure safe construction. Other dorm room furniture such as chairs, tables and lamps may be acquired by the student himself as time and finances allow. Since many students only spend a few years living in college dormitories, they should keep one eye on their long-term furniture needs and shop as wisely as possible.