Heading off to school this weekend? Know anyone who is? Your homework: check out our brand spankin’ new Modern College & Dorm category for all the looks that will school your classmates. Be sure to major in modernism!

Dear Becky,

My roommate grew up in a naked house, and thus is very comfortable lettin’ it all hang out all day long. How can I avoid the view?

Signed,
Afraid to Open My Eyes

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Ever ask yourself, “what’s it for”?

In our marketing research for our new Modern College & Dorm category, we ran into a lot of confusion out there. We’d show one group of students a chair, for example, and the consensus was that they’d use the chair for kickin’ it. We’d show another group of students the same chair, and that second group would insist that they’d use the chair for chillin’. And still a third group — our control — would opt for keepin’ it real in the chair.

These responses left us perplexed. We regrouped back at the office and had to do some real soul-searching. We knew that a lot of our furniture was multifunctional, but it was asking an awful lot for a single college student to use one piece for both kickin’ it and chillin’. Chillin’ and keepin’ it real? Even more difficult. And kickin’ it and keepin’ it real? Forget it — nearly impossible given the limitations in current bent-ply and MDF manufacturing techniques.

Granted, some DWR-ites were running their mouth at an SF party recently and let it slip to my business partner Sina that they have prototyped a new chair that can indeed serve to kick it, keep it real, and chill. I remain skeptical. They said the same thing about the Barcelona chair once, but look what happened to that — so many reproductions it’s impossible to keep it real. I’ll believe it when I see it. Until then, we’ve pulled together this Design Public guide to help you through your furnishing.

Please use it as a guideline and be careful not to use our furniture for something other than for what it was intended.

View our guide to Kickin’ It, Chillin’ and Keepin’ It Real.

With Labor Day just around the corner, we’re going to roll out some great college and dorm options. Over the next few days we’ll sprinkle some decorating tricks, humor, and great solutions into our blog — be sure to check back frequently.

What’s first on our list? Inspiration. Look at your dorm room. Does it lack character? Are you face-to-face with cinder-block walls and bunk beds? If you had a washbasin in your room, would people mistake it for the state penitentiary?

Consider adding some cool dorm furniture and accessories to your space. We’ve created a new section on our site, Inspiration: College, and filled it with enough high-design, affordable options to get your creative right brain thinking of how you can differentiate your space and assert your own style. And the options are versatile — they’ll work well for a first apartment, college or dorm.

Like what you see? Set up a wishlist and try to bring together some products to create a great space.

Links:
View our Modern College & Dorm category
View our College & Dorm Inspirations feature
Create a wishlist

Ah, College Living.

For me that meant a fourth floor walk-up dorm room double with no A/C and no cross-breeze in humid central Virginia, and after that, crappy apartments with crappier furniture. Everyone I knew had a hand-me-down brown plaid ’70′s sofas from someone’s parents’ moldy basement and side tables fashioned from yeasty empty kegs.

Granted, we were all strapped for cash – I used to write checks for 49 cents for blue books and charge a can of soda due to lack of actual cash. However, cardboard drawers, plastic milk crates, hazardous clip lamps and hideous shelves made of concrete blocks and rough boards still cost money, and were useless throw-away furniture.

You may as well invest a little more money in some quality items that you will be able to use long after graduation. You will be able to save some money by having people over to a presentable place instead of going out. If you are in University Housing, crappy furniture will likely be provided for you, but you can make your space much more livable with fresh accessories.

We’ve assembled a few lists of possibilities for your dorm room, living room, kitchen and study areas. You may see an item or two you didn’t realize you needed, or you may furnish the whole place. Either way, have fun browsing. It is possible to make your college digs as cushy and comfortable as any crib owned by Russell Simmons.