Miniature Dorm Room

As seniors in high school, we are constantly encouraged to look to the future. Everyone wants to know what college we plan to attend and what we plan to study. In the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one thing we can control: the design of our future dorm room.

We made this miniature model of a dorm room to prepare to live efficiently in a small space. Taking into account the realities of campus life, such as living with a roommate and the necessity for study space, we created our ideal room layout that we can hopefully utilize as we transition into life at a university.

1. PLA filament for 3D printing (walls and floors)
2. Foam board (furniture and roof) (https://www.michaels.com/product/12-x-18-foam-sheet-by-creatology-10597609?srsltid=AfmBOoruaK-WbeECd3OvkNILSq3rS7pdqLVk6aaquECdvlwYuCypnz0pAXA&gPromoCode=JAN30OFF&gStoreCode=9182&gQT=2)
3. Scissors
4. Hot glue gun 
5. X-Acto knife
6. Fabric scraps (pillows, bedding, & stool cover)
7. Light circuit (ceiling lights)
8. Beads (lamp & pots)
9. Miniature decoration elements 
10. Mirror (https://www.michaels.com/product/mini-rectangle-mirror-by-make-market-10314344?srsltid=AfmBOooc-ncrfapdM0hf_fpAiBsqFZQy3v4pcUz8QIRDi5Hwbq7i_lcUEws&gPromoCode=JAN30OFF&gStoreCode=9182&gQT=1)
11. Books (https://www.michaels.com/product/miniatures-books-with-covers-by-make-market-10314361)

When we started this process, we chose to research basic dorm room and furniture sizes. In addition, we decided what necessary elements our room must contain, like beds, desks, chairs, and a wardrobe. We also wanted to include space for one door and one window.

After deciding on average rectangular dimensions for the room (18ft x 12ft x 9ft), we began to choose a spatially efficient layout. The room design we landed on allowed for two roommates to have their own space. We planned to “loft” (or raise) the beds for maximum storage opportunities.

Our next step was to choose how to create the walls and floor of our dorm room. While we debated using cardboard or wood, we eventually decided to 3D print our room for a sturdy structure. 

After deciding to print, the next step became 3D modeling. We used Autodesk Fusion 360 software to model the rectangular structure and leave space for a door and a window. The software requires the user to first design the structure in a 2D format, then “extrude” areas to render the design in three dimensions.

Once we had the model, we converted it into an .stl file and exported it to the printer, where it took a little under a day to complete.

Our next step was constructing furniture. We considered using different materials to create our furniture, but decided that a foam board would slow us to be the most precise with our measurements. 

With our predetermined dimensions we cut pieces of foam board using an X-Acto knife. Also, when cutting our pieces we have to allocate for the thickness of the foam board. Next, when we had all of our pieces, we used hot glue to put the furniture together into there 3D form. Next, with our predetermined layout, we hot glued the foam board furniture into their correct positions.

Decorating our dorm room and furniture allowed us to use our creativity. We got some mini decorations from Micheals like mini books and a mirror. We also repurposed a old doll house making kit which had supplies like fabric, beads, and small pieces of wood. Using hot glue we let our imagination take over well we constructed bedding, pillows, potted plants, light fixtures, and much more. 

An example would be the creation of our bedding. We picked which fabric we liked best then cut it to size and hot glued it to the foam board bed frame. Then we were able to hot glue little pillows and other decorations to the bed. Once all decorations were created we glued them into place to emulate a real life dorm room. 

In addition to our decorations inside the dorm room we also constructed a mini battery power light circuit to illuminate our dorm room. We cut out another piece of foam board and cut holes in it to put our lights through which represents the ceiling and built in lights. 

Overall the decorations brought the dorm room to life making it easier to see our vision and reasoning as to why our layout would be the best for a standard two person dorm room.