I’ve been moving my oldest back to college into her new off-campus housing. Below you can see her leaving our house in the van, being greeted by her sweet landlord who she knows from church, her finished room along with some of her books, as well as the hall downstairs and some of her friends. If you want to see a “before” picture of her room you can click here when last spring we dropped off some stuff from her dorm before leaving for the summer.

We worked very hard cleaning up this room. This second floor room is enormous –15 x 17– which as about four times bigger than her room at home, and has really high ceilings. It had in it a lovely bed, a dresser, a chest, a comfy old rocking chair and two wonderful wardrobes.

With no desk available, the landlord offered two side tables and my husband bought and beautifully refinished a door to lay across them. It turned out this was too low so we cruised around Home Depot looking for a solution; we got sidewalk pavers to prop it up with some rubber above and below to protect the wood surfaces from the concrete. It works great; it almost feels like it is floating in a contemporary way, even though the wood is finished to match the old pieces.

We also bought two bookcases in a dark wood tone from IKEA which I assembled. My daughter’s bedspread from last year matches the velvet of the rocker: what is the likelihood of that? A closet in her room, that also holds the central air-conditioning handler, we made into a pantry. Then we hung three of my paintings, two mirrors, a bulletin board, along with our housewarming present: a framed photo that my daughter took in Kenya this summer. The overall effect is the nicest college room I’ve ever seen, a true sanctuary. Thank you God!