After two years at Samford University outside Birmingham, Alabama, Chattanoogan Kayden Hughes, 20, says she’s starting her junior year feeling a little less compelled about her dorm-room decor.
“It’s definitely mattered less and less as the years have gone on,” says the 2022 Collegedale Academy graduate, who is majoring in interior design. “I don’t spend as much time in my dorm as I thought I would. But I still want it to look cute and put-together.”
Especially being three hours away from her family, “I still want to make [the room] home, in a sense,” she says.
But as she prepared for move-in day 2024, Hughes was sure only that she wanted her new dorm room to have gold accents and that she would be returning with a peace-sign figurine that has sentimental value.