Students have a wealth of options when designing their dorm rooms.

College: a time of big deci­sions.

Over 1,000 incoming fresh­men anticipate the day when their housing announcements come. They have many questions when they arrive. How close to The Union am I? Is this the dorm with the buffet? One key question is ‘How are we going to arrange our room?’

The residence halls are set up in a way that is already conve­nient. Both bunks are low to the ground, the dressers are in the closet and the desks are closest to the window. Many students loft the beds and keep everything where it is. Which is perfect to for a futon under one bunk, and a television under the other.

But that’s boring! There are many other ways that students can arrange and style their rooms so that it functions well, and looks awesome.

There’s the classic ‘L’ shape that involves one bed lofted up against the window, while the other is lofted up against the wall, hence the ‘L’.. The rest of the furniture provided can pretty much go anywhere from there. Another popular style of room is the bunked beds. Where the two beds are bunked together by the window. Sometimes students like to set the lower bunk high enough so that the two dressers can fit underneath, clearing up a lot of space for other things.

There are also a select few stu­dents that style their rooms dif­ferently than everyone else. In room 213, freshmen Meagan Burns and Christina Wald­ner have made their room a colorful paradise. The room is 15 feet 8 inches by 11 feet 6 inches. When someone first walks in, they will see a wall of color from curtains hang­ing down off the ceiling. The two desks are both in identi­cal spots ornamented with fake flowers and pictures. Past the wall of curtains is a makeshift living space with a futon, a flat screen TV, storage bins and an iPod dock.

A room this awesome doesn’t cost much either.

“I’d say we spent about $150,” Burns said. “We tried to bar­gain shop.”

A couple of dorm must-haves include a futon, pictures with friends and furniture that comes with storage (like a footrest that doubles as a storage bin). A couple things you should leave at home are candles, your pets (except fish) and weapons.

The residence halls are part of the college experience, and they are also your home for the first two years at SDSU.

“Just have fun and get creative with it,” Waldner said. “Bright colors are a good thing, too.”