১৯ আগস্ট, ২০২৫

"More than three-quarters of [University of Georgia 46 freshman girls'] rooms were decorated in... a 'LoveShackFancy Southern mishmash.'"

"(The luxury brand LoveShackFancy’s dorm decor includes a $225 shower curtain and a $115 heart-shaped throw pillow.) [The resident assistant] said she hasn’t seen professional interior decorators on the halls, but she watched in awe as parents took three to four hours to set up their daughters’ rooms.... The flouncy decorators, she said, are typically extroverts who plan to be a part of Greek life on campus, and they come to college to befriend similar people. A minimalist decorator, on the other hand, is 'maybe doing a major that is a little bit more analytical, or is into more niche activities.' She added, '... they really won’t interact, even on the floor.'..."

From "The over-the-top world of luxury dorm decorating/Wallpaper, custom headboards and $469 mattress toppers aren’t the norm in college rooms. But they are everywhere on TikTok" (WaPo).

This is how it looks on TikTok:
@ashley.jernigan Dorm tour Mom edition 😜 #collegetips #dormroom #collegedorm #haul #russellhall #russellhall #dormmom #dormhaul #dormdecor #dormessentials #rush #rush ♬ original sound - Ashley Jernigan

I can't imagine wanting so many things in your little dorm room. It's almost as if Mom wanted to stuff it full of childish things so her little girl would be padded and protected from anything that might change her. I'm imagining a new TikTok trend where the girl rebels and transforms the room, like Michelle Pfeiffer becoming Catwoman in "Batman Returns":


Selina, this is your mother. Call me....

৯০টি মন্তব্য:

Lazarus বলেছেন...

Sororities are back. Like Sydney Sweeney they become symbols in a culture war. Not sure how I feel about that.

Big Mike বলেছেন...

Sororities are back.

Did they ever really leave?

Inga বলেছেন...

Some people have money to burn.

Ann Althouse বলেছেন...

"Sororities are back...."

The article made it sound as though young women were vying for position in sororities through interior decoration in freshman dorm rooms — a method learned on TikTok.

I would think these efforts would open up a girl to mockery. Who knows if you're doing this right or if you're adopting the wrong latest trends or showing your lack of sophistication and originality. Once the competition begins in this mode, who knows where this will go?

But I wondered is there any room left in the room, room for the girl?

Narr বলেছেন...

Lazarus says, "Sororities are back. Like Sydney Sweeney they become symbols in a culture war."

Haven't they always been that?

boatbuilder বলেছেন...

I don't think this is anything new. Hell, before she trashed the place, Michelle Pfieffer's apartment was similarly decorated.

JRoberts বলেছেন...

I'm curious what the daughter's academic major is.

On second thought, are we entirely certain the occupant is a daughter?

Ann Althouse বলেছেন...

When I moved into a dorm, in 1969, nobody's parents were involved in dorm decoration. I was at the Residential College at Michigan, and it would not have been socially good at all to have your mother helping you decorate the room. The idea is funny to me, even now.

The key to decorating your dorm room back then was having some excellent posters. Other than that, the big move was to take the mattress off the bed frame, put the bed frame in storage, and have the hippie-style bed, the mattress on the floor. And there was a store that had a lot of hippie items, notable incense, wind chimes, and the ubiquitous "Indian" bedspread.

boatbuilder বলেছেন...

I would think these efforts would open up a girl to mockery. Who knows if you're doing this right or if you're adopting the wrong latest trends or showing your lack of sophistication and originality. Once the competition begins in this mode, who knows where this will go?

The history of women, in a nutshell.

Hell, I'm starting to sound like rhhardin.

reader বলেছেন...

So, quick question. Isn’t the “vanity area” actually supposed to be the desk? You know, for like, studying? No wonder the two groups don’t interact much. In the 80’s people would assume such individuals were there for their MRS degree. Now maybe they’re networking?

jaydub বলেছেন...

Impressive RA with his/her uncanny insight into the thoughts and intentions of the dorm residents and their mothers! The RA universe must have greatly improved since I was living in a college dorm in 1963 - 64. The RA I remember was pretty much invisible and basically worthless.

RideSpaceMountain বলেছেন...

All I know is this won't affect America's flailing fecundity.

R C Belaire বলেছেন...

When I lived in a dorm in the late 60s, I had an AM/FM clock radio. Period.

FredSays বলেছেন...

What did her daughter want?

Ann Althouse বলেছেন...

"On second thought, are we entirely certain the occupant is a daughter?"

I'm speculating about male reactions to that room. Maybe:

1. The man who would look at all that frippery and genuinely wish he could become embedded in the way of life it seems to represent: Daughters are loved!

2. The man who looks with disdain at the low quality of the decoration and wants nothing of whatever this is.

3. The man who imagines he's located a true and unspoiled female and hopes to figure out how to lure her somewhere else.

4. ...

Peachy বলেছেন...

that poor girl is going to get beat up.

Ron Winkleheimer বলেছেন...

"Other than that, the big move was to take the mattress off the bed frame, put the bed frame in storage, and have the hippie-style bed, the mattress on the floor."

So people were eliminating under the bed storage space?

Just this once I won't post a link to Cartman's opinion on hippies.

jaydub বলেছেন...

My rising junior grandson at Georgia Tech lives in an off-campus apartment because there is no room in the dorms. He allowed his mother and father to see the apartment when they helped him move in yesterday, but they had no input as to decorating. My daughter did allow that she now knows what happened to the stuff that is missing from her house.

Peachy বলেছেন...

I could not sleep up high like that. Hot air rises.

Not to be mean to mom ... might be funny if the 2 girls who live in that dorm, quietly de-baby girl the room and turn it into a something more adult-like. and then film it. (sorry mom)

Dogma and Pony Show বলেছেন...

I don't object to the money and time they put into it, just the decor itself. Yuck! It looks like a room that a 5-year-old would have.

mezzrow বলেছেন...

"What a boress this is." - typical Indiana U. freshman mid-70s

chuck বলেছেন...

The South shall rise again. I don't think this is new.

Ron Winkleheimer বলেছেন...

I can't find a clip, but there was a scene in Northern Exposure where one of the characters is constipated and the Dr. examines the guys restroom which was decorated by the constipated guy's wife in a very girly fashion. Upon seeing it the Dr. declares that no man could poop in that room.

Big Mike বলেছেন...

Twenty plus years ago the wife and were helping our handicapped son get set up in his freshman dorm in a small liberal arts college here in Virginia. On an orientation trip I had measured the combined desk/bookshelf and concluded that it needed a spacer to elevate the shelves so he could fit a port extender and decent-sized monitor beneath it.

So that’s what we brought — a laptop upgraded from the minimum specs the college recommended, the spacer I had built, a port extender, a keyboard, mouse, mouse pad and monitor, an old and small portable TV (CRT) thst had been lying around the house, and his books and clothes. And even that was problematic to fit in a room that I recollect as virtually submicroscopic.

So imagine my shock when the wife and I pulled into the dorm parking area and saw a father unloading from his SUV a full size upholstered arm chair for his daughter’s room.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne বলেছেন...

Ann Althouse said...

I'm speculating about male reactions to that room. Maybe:
.
.
.
4. ...


4. Authentic male response: "OMG, TITTIES!"

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene বলেছেন...

My roomie (a Business Administration major) and I (a journalism major) once decided to go minimalist with our dorm decor. We took down EVERYthing from the walls, stripped the room so that it looked as if it were unoccupied. Then we built a wall-- ceiling to floor-- that bisected the room using copies of the student newspaper. We were bored and likely high . (BGSU, 1976)

Ron Winkleheimer বলেছেন...

its in season 4, episode 20 - ChatGPT can be very useful

Warren Dorn বলেছেন...

Although we'd never post it on social media (because that is insane,) my daughter completed her first year at UGA and the dorm room design was over the top. Wife spent 2.5 days on the actual sorority room this month for the start of her 2nd year. This is real...and I get the sense it's about the moms more than the daughters.

Dr Weevil বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
NorthOfTheOneOhOne বলেছেন...

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Upon seeing it the Dr. declares that no man could poop in that room.

Jack Nicholson in "About Schmidt". There's a scene where Schmidt, after his wife's death, walks in to their overdecorated master bathroom and urinates over everything in revenge. She'd expected him to pee sitting down during the entirety of their marriage to protect the decor.

Dr Weevil বলেছেন...

jaydub (10:03am):
Thanks! You just reminded me. Fifty or so years ago, my parents and elderly grandmother visited my sister in college. (Dorm or apartment? I forget.) Parents, who'd visited before, asked her to take down her favorite poster before grandma arrived. It depicted a very pregnant young woman in a Girl Scout uniform, with a big smile, labeled 'Be Prepared'. She took it down, just for grandma.

bagoh20 বলেছেন...

Halfway through that I was on the verge of physical violence and bugged out just in time to avoid severely harming myself with my EDC. Somewhere a husband is in absolute bliss with his wife out of town decorating a dorm room and counting down the hours until her return.

Big Mike বলেছেন...

FWIW, my impression is that sororities are stronger in southern universities. (And that the girls tend to be more girly.)

john mosby বলেছেন...

Those mothers must really miss their daughters. They must need comforting. Is there a support group or anything?

Asking for a friend.

RR
JSM

RAH বলেছেন...

Ugh So childish. I would get rid of the curtains around that silly kitchen area. Where is the room for books and desk to study. My university in 1975 did not have sororities, only fraternities.

Danno বলেছেন...

I have seen several recent articles on this over-the-top sorority thing. The articles covered colleges in the South that have a large Greek presence and are about the girls of elite families that send their girls to college for a Mrs. degree.

Quaestor বলেছেন...

Oh, yeah. Great. Thumbs up.

Now, which comes first, the degree or the baby murdering?

Big Mike বলেছেন...

...and I get the sense it's about the moms more than the daughters.

Not to mention daddies and high school science fair projects! I once asked my company’s CTO whether he provided input to his kids’ science projects. He answered that no other kid’s father was going to beat his kid’s father.

(And FWIW, the Washington metro area has a great many female scientists who doubtlessly also help their children with science projects.)

Left Bank of the Charles বলেছেন...

“Residential College at Michigan”

East Quad? If so, you were close enough to the sororities on Hill Street to see what that was about.

I don’t know that the competition has heightened. A mom decorating her daughter’s dorm room comes in the same category as a mom wearing white to her daughter’s wedding.

The daughter has a relatively simple remedy. Take pictures, take it all down, put it back up when mom comes to visit.

Birches বলেছেন...

LoveShackFancy planted this article for publicity and promotional purposes. Notice that the RA said girls were decorating in a mishmash which means they were decorating in a Southern style that exists in lots of places that aren't LoveShackFancy. Just searching for Southern chic dorm room gets hits from Pottery Barn which looks exactly like LSF (but LSF was the first hit, giving another clue that they're putting a lot of money into advertising).

Dr Weevil বলেছেন...

Having taught at a flagship state university in the Deep South ~30 years ago, I can say that sororities seemed to do more good than harm, and fraternities more harm than good. Too bad it would be discriminatory for a college to ban fraternities and encourage sororities.

The specific good they did was to encourage good study habits. At least some sororities - the ones the Latin majors belonged to - had study sessions every night or every week night (I forget). For two hours after dinner, the girls sat around the dining room table together doing their homework and class readings. Social pressure really helped them keep their grades, and (more important) their learning, up to standard.

The only Latin major who had ever been in a fraternity said they kicked him out his first semester when he was arrested for driving around with several unregistered guns in his back seat (?!?) - he was not the least bit thuggish in person, if you're wondering.

rehajm বলেছেন...

That room doesn’t move the needle at Ole Miss or Alabama…

rehajm বলেছেন...

Peachy is right. Freshman year we tried to stack our beds but those antique radiators can't be controlled. It was thirty degrees warmer seven feet off the floor. I melted…

n.n বলেছেন...

A dollhouse. A micro-home away from home. Comfie and efficient.

rehajm বলেছেন...

…and you people are right that this could backfire. If she’s cute by midterms good chance she’s going to her grad school boyfriend’s place for anal on fridays…

Joe Bar বলেছেন...

i see nothing in that room geared towards serious study. However, I am biased. My "dorm" room was subject to inspection at any time, and scheduled detailed inspections every Saturday morning. "SAMI."

Iman বলেছেন...

Tin roof! Rusted!!!

MB বলেছেন...

Inga said...
Some people have money to burn.

8/19/25, 9:35 AM


Some are going to be using their student loan money.

Howard বলেছেন...

Not terribly surprising since one of the big hits of the band from Athens Georgia, home of the University of Georgia, the B-52's was Love Shack. It's not a stretch to think that it was a favorite band among the parents of the current crop of UGA dorm inhabitants.

RCOCEAN II বলেছেন...

4. Is this an 18 y.o. woman or 10 year old girl?

Narr বলেছেন...

In my experience frats and sororities exist at state schools only as means to show whose daddy has money and whose doesn't.

I imagine that at the Ivies they exist only as means to show whose daddy has shitloads of money and whose doesn't.

RCOCEAN II বলেছেন...

I'd be in the dorm room of the "serious girls who don't interact much".

FullMoon বলেছেন...

Look like a Barbie Playhouse.

FullMoon বলেছেন...

Georgia men's dorms decorated with guns, knives, bowas and arrows, and MAGA Trump posters for balance.

Lazarus বলেছেন...

It looks like she got her design ideas from "Modern Doily" magazine.

The problem with culture wars is they leave a lot of hostages in enemy territory. I'd feel more affinity with students who were actually trying to study than with sororitarians who are working on their dance routines and putting fluffy curtains and antimacassars on everything.

Ann Althouse বলেছেন...

"So people were eliminating under the bed storage space?"

Imagine: We didn't have possessions. It was easy.

PM বলেছেন...

I kinda decorated dorm rooms at college - cleaned them during the school year and painted them in the summer.

RCOCEAN II বলেছেন...

Why isn't WaPo doing stories on what's in the dorm rooms of Yale or Howard University?

mccullough বলেছেন...

UGA is 58% female. It’s a girl’s school with a football team

n.n বলেছেন...

The fairer sex has a cute complex. This is how you can have a woman and girl, too, without the awkward social dissonance of underage commitment (pun intended).

tommyesq বলেছেন...

4. Is this an 18 y.o. woman or 10 year old girl?

Worst part is, I don't know if you are referring to the student or the mother!

Johnula বলেছেন...

I can't even...

If a girl took me back to her dorm room and it looked like that, I'd walk right back out, never to return. Well, after a few drinks, I guess. And a bit of fraternizing... Um, sororinizing?

Seriously, though. This whole decor screams "Dodge this bullet". Both the insane amount of parental control and the implied acceptance on the girl's part.

But what do I know. I'm partial to girls who own sleeping bags and a bicycle, and love to cook from scratch. I married one.

n.n বলেছেন...

My doctor has a PhD, an MD, and Mrs degrees with children. With the right-minded Mr, ladies, you, too, can have it all. Oh, and she's a walker, slim and fit.

Freeman Hunt বলেছেন...

Moved one into a dorm yesterday. He and roommate both brought navy and gray bedding and no decorations.

Josephbleau বলেছেন...

"On second thought, are we entirely certain the occupant is a daughter?"

I'm speculating about male reactions to that room. Maybe:

5. No beer in the little fridge.

Freeman Hunt বলেছেন...

I wonder if the girl will actually keep her room like that. I doubt it.

Josephbleau বলেছেন...

"So people were eliminating under the bed storage space?"

Eeeuu. Just like San Francisco.

Tina Trent বলেছেন...

Peachy: you've obviously never seen a sorority at UGA. In fact, this one looks pretty utilitarian to me. Still, the students seem hard-working and polite. Even the grunge kids are polite.

I hope mom doesn't check out the school library, though. The last time I was doing research there, the entrance floor computer kiosks were full of junkies shooting up and dozing off. Admittedly, this was summer break, a decade ago. Maybe they're not allowed to be on campus when classes are in session. Still, it's a public school, so they might not be allowed to kick the human vermin out. It was pretty surprising for a rural, small-town, prestige campus, though the local elected officials are mostly unhinged ranting Marxist types.

It's a mix of things. You have the lace curtains, and then you have a much-arrested-and-released illegal Biden immigrant raping and killing a nursing student out for a jog. I wonder if LoveShackFancy sells pink mace cannisters.

Freeman Hunt বলেছেন...

"Having taught at a flagship state university in the Deep South ~30 years ago, I can say that sororities seemed to do more good than harm, and fraternities more harm than good."

I think this is generally true. I never had any interest in being in a sorority, but my impression is that they generally discourage destructive behavior while fraternities generally encourage it.

Peachy বলেছেন...

That does not appear Love Shack to me. It looks baby doll.
Perhaps the parents way to keep it innocent... for reasons.

I spent a short time in a dorm room a million years ago. I hated it.
thrown together with a complete stranger. The room sucked too - and we were not allowed to do anything to it. It was dreadful.
I still do not understand why this is a good idea - no matter how fancy you decorate the place. Is it conducive to studying? NO way.

Fred Drinkwater বলেছেন...

Hmm. Mid 70s. Dorm room decoration: a carpet remnant my roomie and I hauled in from a store on University Ave. And a movie poster for "Casablanca" and a poster of "Water Lilies".

But that year the whole building residents painted murals on all of the interior hallways.

Skeptical Voter বলেছেন...

Three fourths of the girl's dorm rooms---that's market penetration! Of course when I was in the "university of infantry" for Basic and AIT at Ft. Polk, all of the barracks rooms were "decorated" just alike. Now that is real market penetration.

JIM বলেছেন...

In my bedroom I had an Indian print spread hung from the ceiling to cover the ceiling light.
I remember when my sister went off to college, UCSB, and we all helped move her "stuff" into the dorm. What she did with it was up to her.
I've been following the LLWS that is being mostly covered by ESPN. It's now unwatchable. The kids mimic the antics of the pro's down to the most trivial facial tic. I blame the smart phone. And celebrity culture. Which is the vibe I felt watching Dorm Room makeover Mom. Adorable, not.

rehajm বলেছেন...

Imagine: We didn't have possessions. It was easy.

You’re not the only one…

loudogblog বলেছেন...

I actually stayed in the dorms for a few semesters in college. The first thing is that you can only do minimal decoration because of space and the fact that you might be in another dorm room next semester. I also didn't spend a lot of time in my dorm room because I was out doing things. And any decoration that you put in your dorm room should reflect you. It kind of defeats the point if you pay someone else to decorate your dorm room.

And I feel this has to be said: Some people have way too much money; so they just waste it on dumb stuff like this.

Tina Trent বলেছেন...

Being tidy and non-vegetarian, I moved off campus as fast as I could, though I can still recall the distinctive funk of patchouli oil, damp leather sandals, moldy bongs, and clove cigarettes.

Ron Winkleheimer বলেছেন...

" I can say that sororities seemed to do more good than harm, and fraternities more harm than good."

Many decades ago I was a paperboy with a route that included large numbers of off campus housing for a mid-size private college. Interspersed in that were a fair number of fraternities and sororities. This was back when paperboys went around on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday morning collecting the money owed. So I saw a lot. I remember one fraternity that had been written up in the local paper for abandoning hazing and having their pledges do charity work. A couple of nights later I saw them sneaking their pledges out the back of the fraternity house into cars, while hooded and having their hands tied behind their back. At the sorority houses the women would try to mess with my head by answering the door scantily clad when I came to collect for the paper.

Rabel বলেছেন...

I'm gonna speculate that some of you fellas have never been in an 18yo girl's bedroom. Even when you were 18.

Anyway, here's that shower curtain if you want to start a redecorating project.

Aggie বলেছেন...

$10,000 to decorate a dorm room? My dorm was cinderblock construction with steam heat radiators, 3 to a room, communal bathrooms down the hall, girls to the west, boys to the east. My daughter was in the honors dorm when she was going to a private college that has about 85% of student in a frat or sorority. Big Greek Life campus, but even at the honors dorm, the ambulances rolled every weekend for alcohol poisoning or more exotic ODs. She'd had enough after a year of that crap and made a good change.

I think too many parents have fallen into the 'please your child' trap, and too many kids are smarter than their parents when it comes to being manipulative. College life has become 5 or 6 years of summer camp.

Mr. T. বলেছেন...

The fact that it wasn't covered with transurrectionist and hamas flags, with banners saying "Free Casey Goonan! Death to Jews! Long live the Intifada! Death to whitey! CASTRATE! MEN ARE WOMEN IF THEY FEELZ LIKE IT! WE'RE QUEER, WE'RE HERE AND WE'RE COMING FOR YOUR CHILDREN! " is the greatest crime in the eyes of the WashPOSt.

Ann Althouse বলেছেন...

“ East Quad? If so, you were close enough to the sororities on Hill Street to see what that was about.”

They could just as well have been on the other side of the world. No, we did not see them. Their old world was dead.

JaimeRoberto বলেছেন...

"Mom, go home. You're embarrassing me." That would be my daughter's reaction thankfully.

JustSomeOldDude বলেছেন...

I really don't want to hear anyone whining about student loan forgiveness anymore.

Peachy বলেছেন...

Mr. T places this in proper perspective.

lonejustice বলেছেন...

It seemed like half the guys on my dormitory floor had black light posters decorating the walls in their rooms. Then again, about half of the guys were also pretty regular stoners.

Rocco বলেছেন...

mccullough said...
UGA is 58% female.

That’s right in line with the national average.

Josephbleau বলেছেন...

It’s not an “Indian Print”. It’s a “Tapestry.”

Josephbleau বলেছেন...

My dear wife told me bout living in a coed dorm in Northwestern. She had a single room next to a girl in a partial body cast. All night long; Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump.

Josephbleau বলেছেন...

“They could just as well have been on the other side of the world. No, we did not see them. Their old world was dead.”

The words of a veteran cleaning up the detritus, before lifting to the ship for a week of hard liberty.

RCOCEAN II বলেছেন...

staying in the dorms for over one year, was the biggest mistake I ever made. An off campus apartment with one roomate was so much better. No more cafeteria food. No more obnoxious dorm mates. No more feeling like you're 16 y.o. at summer camp with a counselor. Freedom. Adulthood.

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