Getting privacy in a dorm room

[Night Elf]

Cross posted on the College board

 

My dd found the idea to hang curtains from the bottom of her lofted bed to enclose the under-the-bed space. How would I do that? I'm assuming it's just a mattress on a wooden frame. Any ideas?

[regentrude]

My DD used a cord to hang a fabric shower curtain in front of  a wall recess that served as a closet, but had no doors.

 

[Wabi Sabi]

I'd use a tension rod. If you can't find one that is long enough look at the shower curtain rods. 

[nd293]

You could look for stretch curtain wire which will come with hooks (that screw into the curtain wire) and eyes (that screw into a wooden part of the bed). That's what we did for the lower bed of ds's bunk bed when dd needed to share with him for a month.

 

ETA: it is hard to 'unscrew' the hooks from the curtain wire if you mess up the length, although it can be done. It is best to put the curtains onto the cord before you stretch to measure the length as the weight of curtains will stretch the cord and they will sag if you cut first without the weight of the curtains.

 

Ikea sells 'non-stretch' curtain wire but attaching it to the bed might be more of an issue.

Edited July 24, 2016 by nd293

[Guest]

Cross posted on the College board

 

My dd found the idea to hang curtains from the bottom of her lofted bed to enclose the under-the-bed space. How would I do that? I'm assuming it's just a mattress on a wooden frame. Any ideas?

Is this to be a little "cave" for DD? Or is this to screen the belongings under the lofted bed?

 

You could safety pin a sheet or curtain from the matress.

[The Girls' Mom]

I second the shower curtain rod idea.  I'd done that before with a bunk bed.  I would be careful about screwing anything into the wood of the bunk, as I'm pretty sure that would be against the policy.  

[Night Elf]

Is this to be a little "cave" for DD? Or is this to screen the belongings under the lofted bed?

 

You could safety pin a sheet or curtain from the matress.

 

A cave. She's going to have her desk under the bed so she won't have a place to lay down or anything. I think she just wants the illusion of being alone. Her roommate is chatty too. We're wondering if she'll be quiet when dd is behind her curtain. Dd is hopeful! haha

[Guest]

A cave. She's going to have her desk under the bed so she won't have a place to lay down or anything. I think she just wants the illusion of being alone. Her roommate is chatty too. We're wondering if she'll be quiet when dd is behind her curtain. Dd is hopeful! haha

I see; then I assume she will loft the bed as far up as it goes. Are the outlets arranged in such a way that this will work? She may need a power strip, maybe.

 

It looks like a tension rod is what some people use; I did a quick Google search. Like a shower curtain tension rod, but I guess it depends how wide the supports for the bed are. A shower curtain would probably also make a good curtain for the cave.

[JFSinIL]

She may also want to line the bottom edge of her bed with a cut-open pool noodle or other bit of thick foam - ds bonked his head a few times until we sent him something.  This is what I had Amazon send him years ago...   https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KXGI9S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Nan in Mass]

If she,s lofted her bed, she might be able to tuck a sheet under the mattress and let it hang down to make a curtain. Heahones might help guard against the chatty roommate.

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

If she,s lofted her bed, she might be able to tuck a sheet under the mattress and let it hang down to make a curtain. Heahones might help guard against the chatty roommate.

 

Nan

[KarenNC]

Well, they sell a pop up bed tent, but it may be too big for a lofted bed and may look odder than a curtain. https://www.amazon.com/Privacy-Pop-PP-BLACK-TWIN-Bed-Tent/dp/B006XBJ3UI 

 

As to shower curtains, I'd want to make sure it was fabric rather than vinyl for air circulation (which may be obvious, but thought I'd mention as my daughter tends to be literal at unexpected times and might not think about the difference). 

 

Googling "privacy for dorm room" gave lots of different ideas for various ways to gain more privacy.

[OneStepAtATime]

Besides adjusting the bed, is there a way she could talk to her roommate about having "quiet time" each day?  Maybe proactively discuss in a pleasant way that she needs "quiet time" and when she is in her desk area with the curtain down she would very much appreciate not being interrupted?  Not everyone "gets" needing quiet time or needing space.  Without discussion the roommate may not have a clue she is causing issues.

[Vida Winter]

Depending on whether she wants to draw back the curtain, she could simply nail it to the loft beam.

[KungFuPanda]

I'd go easy and low tech. A couple sheets (because they breath better than plastic), command hooks, and large safety pins. The safety pins act as curtain rings and just hook on the command hooks. A tension rod will fall all the time and get annoying, but would be a nice idea on the sides that won't move.

[Night Elf]

Depending on whether she wants to draw back the curtain, she could simply nail it to the loft beam.

 

That wouldn't work. We can't mess with the frame of the bed. She can't even use thumbtacks in the walls.

[Night Elf]

Ok, we just looked at Walmart. We're able to get a shower rod that fits the length of the bed and a rod pocket curtain. We did check and the pocket is big enough for the shower rod. It won't be the most pretty setup, but it should do the job. She found curtains that matched her quilt so we went with that instead of a shower curtain. We also got the curtains at 63", thinking it may not go all the way down to the floor but that's better than having to worry about pinning up the hem if she had gotten a shower curtain. Naturally the bed dimensions on the housing website only give length and width, not the height of the bed.

 

But yes, we're putting the mattress up as high as it will go. Her roommate is doing the same and is putting a futon couch under her bed.

[JFSinIL]

If she is going to need true quiet for study, she might benefit from some sound-reducing headphones, too. No dorm is quiet - if the roomie is quiet what about the kids next door or down the hall? Trekking to library not always feasible.

[justasque]

Be sure to check the dorm rules about hanging "curtains" or other swaths of fabric.  Some schools do not allow this, for fire-safety reasons.

I second the suggestion of noise-canceling headphones.