Is a Designer Dorm Room Actually Worth It? | #44
Return on Design
In this episode of Return on Design, hosts Rachel Niederhofer and Justin explore the growing trend of professionally designed college dorm r
Key takeaways
- A dorm room is more than just a sleeping space—it functions as a bedroom, study area, kitchenette, lounge, and virtual classroom all within 100–150 square feet.
Main topics
- The multifunctional nature of modern college dorm rooms
- Strategic space planning in small spaces
Notable quotes
"A dorm room is actually just a complex problem that you're having to solve from a design standpoint."
Conclusion
While not every student needs a professional designer, investing in thoughtful design—whether through
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) I can't emphasize that enough. It's not just, oh my gosh, you've spent X amount of money and it's just a dorm room. You've got to kind of think in deeper layers and people's needs are different. People's desires are different. And again, too, it's not you spent X amount on a dorm room, especially when strategically we have pieces and source things that are going to go far beyond that dorm room. Welcome to Return on Design. the podcast where beauty meets strategy and interiors become assets that perform. I'm your host, Rachel Niederhofer, designer, investor, and builder of high-impact spaces that deliver real results. Alongside my husband, I run both a design firm and a real estate investment company, where I live at the intersection of creativity and ROI every day. Each week, I'll be unpacking what most people overlook. Speaker 1 (0:55) how strategic design decisions can grow your investment, elevate your lifestyle, and unlock the full potential of your property. You'll get real tools, proven strategies, and unfiltered conversations with industry experts who are doing it right. So if you're ready to invest with purpose and leverage design as a powerful tool, this podcast is for you. Designer dorm rooms are everywhere right now and people have a lot to say about it. Yeah, they're asking questions like, why would you hire a designer? Is this excessive? And having just done a dorm design and install ourselves, I definitely have some thoughts on this subject. And so that's what we're going to be talking about today. Not the notion that everyone needs to have a designer for their dorm because they don't. No. But rather why this trend proves something that we've been talking about all along. Speaker 1 (1:42) And that is that design has value far beyond just making something beautiful. So let's dive right in. I'm excited to dissect this subject. I'm sure you are. So let me ask you, Justin, why is this so controversial? Well, I think in many ways, you know, the college dorm room was meant to be something temporary. It was just a space. It never was given that much thought. Yeah, and I think... you know, in this new age of social media, there's sort of this expectation where people can kind of show behind the scenes of what they're doing, their process of moving in and just getting a lot of attention. But I want to, you know, defend designers specifically around this because when you're moving into a dorm, you know, as a freshman, especially, this is the first time that you're really Speaker 1 (2:40) becoming independent or the next phase of becoming independent where you're not living at home. You don't have the room, the space that you did before. And you really have to figure out basically how to live in a studio apartment. Yeah. If you're lucky, I mean, some of them are shared studio apartments. Yeah. And you're talking maybe 100, 150 square feet. And people, that can be overwhelming because people don't know. Speaker 1 (3:09) Number one, how they're even going to function in there, where they're going to put all of their stuff. And designers are actually really good at space planning and being strategic around how to maximize the space and make it as efficient as possible. So what you're saying is like a dorm room is actually just a complex problem that you're having to solve from a design standpoint. So what are you solving in that? Yeah. And I like that you brought up the problem because remember, Speaker 1 (3:38) we always want to establish a goal because we are solving a problem. Like I said, we just did a dorm design and installer. I designed it, you know, we executed the install together. And so we're fresh off the press of what this is really like and what it's really about. And it's still a very personal, unique process when you're designing it. Because yes, a dorm has constraints, but to your point, some people share a room, some people have their own room. And that, Speaker 1 (4:06) Information is important when you start addressing like, okay, what are we trying to achieve? Which, okay, obviously you're going to be living in here, but do you have, are you in an apartment dorm? Is there a kitchen? Is there some shared space that allows you to cook? Questions like this help you determine what all do we need this room to do from a functionality standpoint? And I think that can touch back to, you know, kind of, What you were talking about earlier, like traditionally, that dorm room was just where you went and you might have done some studying, you slept. But now the way colleges are, it's shifted. I mean, students are actually taking online courses from their dorm rooms plus in class. Yeah. So we're asking that room, that room that we traditionally just looked at from a. Speaker 1 (4:59) It's almost just your bedroom to go to sleep and maybe do some studying too. It's now a functional office. It's your kitchen. It's your bathroom. It's your sleep space. It's got so many more things to do now. I think it's actually introduced more issues and more reason for that strategic design that is necessary. This specific dorm we designed, I designed, it's an apartment dorm. So they did have a little kitchenette, but one of the goals for the client was still to have her own. So we included the mini fridge, we included the functional kitchenette, if you will, within. And we still wanted it to have the beautiful aesthetic, but establishing those goals up front, knowing, okay, yes, she's got online classes. So we have a little bit of a hybrid model to be able to sit down and have a makeup vanity space. Speaker 1 (5:55) to be able to have a lounge section. And you're thinking, well, how in the world are you going to get all of these things into one room? Yeah. And that is where, you know, this complex design problem narrative really gets introduced because it is, it can be complex and it can also be very overwhelming for somebody like a mom, especially this is your first time. You're sending your kid to college, you know, maybe you didn't go to college or maybe you didn't have to live in the dorm. And so just the unknown, I mean, there's a lot of factors of why you would want to bring an expert in to help you assess and evaluate and make sure that. Speaker 1 (6:36) You know, you're positioning your kid with all the needs that they have or that they're going to need. I can't emphasize this enough, but logistical coordination of what designers really do. Let's just circle back to this whole controversy narrative of, you know, people throwing out numbers like, oh, you're spent $20,000 on your dorm design. That becomes the headline of topic. But what people don't understand is it's not. You know, our return on design concept is not just about financial return. There's an emotional and experiential return in how you're actually investing in design. And what a designer really does is add a tremendous amount of value logistically as well. So you're talking about all the preparation that goes into identifying the goal and really establishing the needs, helping. Speaker 1 (7:30) kind of cut through the overwhelm of like, yes, we're going to make it pretty, but what do we actually need to make sure we have in this room? All the product sourcing, once you get the design established. Yeah. And I think that's really important there in sourcing the right products, because like