Dorm design dilemma

Kim wrote us hoping we could help her with a design dilemma: "I am a uni student living on campus. My uni room is quite large and easily fits a king sized bed, a bar fridge, a bedside table and two tables. I am looking for an ethnic and minimal look (if that even exists). The walls are the real ugly dorm room walls. I have tried covering two of them up with pictures but am left with one really large blank wall. Any more pictures will definitively defeat the minimal look I'm going for. Any suggestions?? The room currently has a burgundy Thai bedspread with silk cushions, Turkish carpet and a Moroccan inspired lantern. Any help is appreciated!!"

Kim - your room sounds gorgeous so far! I have a couple of suggestions for you - an ornate wood mirror, carved wooden panels, a fab piece of fabric simply tacked up, or a big (but flat) tropical plant. Below are some photos of ethnic bedrooms and a couple living rooms for inspiration. We'd love to see photos of the room once completed!

Gaelle Le Boulicaut	Gaelle Le Boulicaut
PointClickHome	indigo design
Selina Lake	Canadian House and Home
Muriel Brandolini	Heather Cameron
Gaelle Le Boulicaut	House of Pictures
Living at Home	Domino
Johnny Bouchier	Marie Claire Maison

Sacrifices

HGTV

Daphne wrote us with an interesting and common problem: "So, I have a happy dilemma, but a dilemma nonetheless. The BF and I are taking the plunge, and he's in the process of moving in with me now. He's pretty content to let me handle the decor, but I want him to feel like he lives here, too. So ... rock posters? I need to see some inspiring photos of ways to keep a bedroom looking sophisticated and elegant with rock poster. Yikes. So far, I am thinking of painting room light gray and framing the posters with carved wood frames painted glossy black. Maybe it will be dramatic. Any ideas?"

For starters your idea is a good one. But I love grey walls and anything in a glossy black frame. Maybe these rock posters you have to deal with aren't as bad as some of us may be imagining. But based on the fact that we don't know what they look like, I have a couple of ideas and a bunch of photos that might help. I don't think you can go wrong painting the walls dark, which would go with the hard edge of a rock poster, or you can glam it up using flocked wallpaper. If you don't want to go dark, then just funk up the room with fun colours and textures, and make it a quirky, eclectic space where you'd expect the unexpected (like a rock poster...in a bedroom). A thin black frame is classic and would work as well as a wooden glossy black one too, or if the posters turn out to have some good colours you can use as accents in the room, maybe thin coloured frames, like yellow or red. P.S. I could only find one photo with a rock poster featured. :)

Kenneth Brown	Style at Home
Elle Decoration	Peter Rüssman
Alison Spear	Wayne Vincent
Jeff Andrews	Ngoc Minh Ngo
Greg Natale	House to Home

Lerche Design

Can't see the forest for the trees ...

Francis Smith Photography

Or the furniture for the plants! Laurel emailed with her design dilemma. "Have you ever done a post of cool rooms that includes large dramatic houseplants? I just staggered home carrying a 6' fishtail palm and am looking for ideas -- a big mirror on the wall behind it is as far as I've gotten in my thinking." I've pulled a few from the files Laurel and while only one features a large mirror (great idea) they all have something in common - the 2 "Cs", containers and care. Dress your palm in a fabulous pot and lavish it with attention. Nothing looks worse than a tatty plastic pot or a tree that has dropped half its leaves from neglect. I love plants in the house although I must admit I'm more a fern on the bathroom window girl. Good luck with your palm. Have you given it a name yet?

Anson Smart Photography

Francis Smith	Bruce Bierman Design
Paul Whicheloe	Tria Giovan

Pieter Estersohn

Redmond Aldrich	bodron+fruit
Alexandra Rowley Photographs	Caldwell Beebe Interiors
Alan Tanksley	Caldwell Beebe Interiors

Sue Rohrer