Inspiring looks to make your school home work

Students returning to the barren barracks commonly referred to as dorm rooms have enough occupying their brains without contemplating the arrangement of furniture, picking paint colors, or thinking about what to hang on their walls. But among the students content to toss their bed-in-a-bag sheet set over a school-issued mattress, there is a subset that will agonize over the smallest details of the dorms this week.

"I spent so much money on my dorm room when I was in school," says 22-year-old Todd Mann, a recent University of Massachusetts Amherst grad. "My roommate thought I was crazy, but I wanted to live in a place where I was comfortable. Before I painted, my room looked like a 1950s state hospital ward."

Not everyone has the time or talent to make over a dorm room, so we've enlisted three interior designers to give students (and non-students) an inspirational start. Each designer was given a student profile and asked to sketch a dream dorm room. This is what they produced. - CHRISTOPHER MUTHER

Chrisicos Interiors, Boston.
The brief: Design a dorm room for a sophomore elementary-education major. She likes bright colors, follows fashion, collects shoes, and has a green thumb.
Get the look: "Artwork can be inexpensive as the set of the four canvases above the bed shows. They provide color with very little cost. The desk chair can be pulled up to the center lime and mango hourglass-shaped table for reading, socializing, and in-room dining. The hourglass table, the bedside table, and the umbrella stand are cost-effective, stylish, and green. They have an unfinished natural look."

Interior designer and host of "Work That Room" on Fine Living.
The brief: Design a dorm room for a freshman graphic design major who likes patterns and bold geometric shapes. She's also a yoga nut and collects T-shirts.
Get the look: "Display a T-shirt collection by running wooden dowel or curtain rods through the sleeves kimono-style and hang with curtain hardware," Lowell says. "Stack shelf units at the end of the bed to create a room divider and fill with closed storage. Continue the room divider effect by separating pictures or colorful cardstock with string or yarn which adds height and drama to a small room."

Rachel Reider Interiors, Boston.
The brief: Design a dorm room for a junior architecture major. He's concerned about the environment, likes cycling, and DJs in his spare time.
Get the look: "The space is divided into two sections: private and public. The bed, dressers, and desk area get pushed to the back wall of the room, leaving the majority of the space open and flexible. Although there is no visual division between the two spaces, the blue accent wall helps to define the private space. Furniture, such as the desk on wheels and the cork side table, can be moved around so the space can easily adapt. I created a mini living wall of plants behind the TV to purify the air, removing toxins."