Moving for college can be one of the most exciting -- and stressful -- times in a young person's life. Meeting roommates, finding classrooms, trying dining hall food are just some of the experiences.
Feeling comfortable in your dorm room, even if it's the size of a shoebox, is crucial. With the help of a few online sites, you can make sure your new digs are unique and filled with things you love.
Planning your space: Designyourdorm.com takes the guesswork out of moving into a small space. The interactive website features the dorm layouts of more than 140 colleges and universities nationwide. The 3-D versions allow you to virtually add furniture, rugs and decorations to see how the room will look. In addition to finding out if your futon will fit, this site allows your roommates to access the design so you can plan together. Because it's also a shopping site, you can buy the pieces you've virtually placed in the room and have them shipped directly to your college.
Making it your own: For many people, moving into a dorm room means one thing: a trip to Ikea. While Ikea features low-price, easy-to-assemble furniture, most come in only a few colors -- black, white and sometimes red. The folks at Thisismykea.com have come up with a way to spruce up your Ikea purchases by offering slip covers for much of Ikea's inventory. If you don't like any of the designs available, you can come up with your own and upload it to the site (jpg-format art with high resolution is required). If other people decide to use your design, you'll make a little money every time it's downloaded.
