How to Create Privacy around Dorm Room Bed

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As a home stager, I have never before worked on a dorm room. But as the mother of a daughter going off to college for the first time, I was excited to use my skills in a new way. Growing up with her own room, she was nervous to no longer have any privacy and requested curtains around her lofted bed. I unsuccessfully scoured Pinterest for ideas that would help fulfill her request without screwing anything into walls or ceilings as the dorm rules prohibit. It took a couple of tries to get it right, but now I’m happy to share with you how to do it!

First of all, you need the exact height of the room. College websites often provide this dimension, but if you can take it yourself to be sure, that’s ideal. You will need 3 pieces of 2×2 dimensional lumber that are 1″ shorter than the ceiling height. (Helpful Hint: 2x2s are actually 1.5″ x 1.5″) My daughter’s room was 9’10” high, so we needed 2x2s that were 9’9″ high. Now, here’s the tricky part. At most home improvement stores, you can only get 2x2s that are 8′ high. So, we had to buy 2x4s that were 10′ long and cut 3″ off, then rip them down on a table saw to create 2 pieces that were 1.5″ x 1.5″ x 9’9″. If you don’t have a table saw or know someone that does, you can often pay for them to be cut down for you at the store.

Once you have your 2x2s, sand them down really well so there are no splinters or sharp edges. Then give them a few coats of paint. We wanted ours to be white, but black would have worked well, too, to tie in with the bedframes that were already black. These are ready to be packed up to head to college!

Now for the draperies. We decided on a darker colored black-out drapery so that either roommate could have lights on in the room without waking the other. We also wanted the grommet style draperies so they were easy to pull open and shut. You could use tab backed if you want. I would stay away from the rod pocket style as the rod I suggest might be too big for them to move easily. You will need the measurement from the ceiling to the bottom of the mattress (with the mattress lofted to the height your son or daughter want it). If you’re lucky, you can purchase draperies that are the right height. They typically come in lengths of 63″, 84″ or 96″. Most likely, you will not need longer than 63″ and will have to hem them to the correct length. If you don’t sew, you can take them anywhere that does alterations or you can use iron-on hemming tape. This is also helpful if you can’t get the dimension before move in day. Just bring a scissors and iron with you to do the hemming after arriving. You will also want to make sure the combined width of the draperies you purchase is greater than 120″ which will cover 2 sides of an XL Twin Bed.

Now, you just need to gather the rest of your supplies. You want to purchase rods that are adjustable and have an integrated bracket that can be screwed to the lumber we talked about earlier. Because the beds are lofted, they move slightly when your child is climbing into them so this will be the most secure way to install the draperies. You will need one rod that can adjust to greater than 80″ for the long side of the bed and one that is greater than 40″ for the short side of the bed. We used white, but silver would be great, too.

You will also need zip ties or cable ties. We used 11″ ties which were not quite long enough, so we had to put two of them together for each location we secured. I would suggest 14″ ties in the same color you painted the boards.

Now, pack up to head to college. Make sure you have 3 – 2x2s, 4 hemmed drapery panels, one long rod, one short rod, 9 – 14″ long zip ties, drill with Phillips bit or Phillips screwdriver, scissors, and possibly hemming tape and an iron.

Once you arrive at the dorm, the first step is to secure the 3 boards to the uprights of the lofted bed. Use the zip ties to secure them at the top, middle and bottom of each upright.

Next, put the draperies on the rods, adjust them to be the correct length for each side of the bed and have someone hold them in place as you secure them to each bed post. Note that I put one full curtain on the short rod, then half of the next curtain rod on the short rod and half on the long rod and 2 more on the long rod. This hides the top of the uprights and keeps there from being a light/privacy gap at the uprights. Also note that when putting the draperies on the rod, make sure the edge of the drapery is facing the back when you put the rod through the first hole, or you will see the lining of the drapery from the outside.

If you want to take it a step further, you can add more things to the uprights that you’ve now secured. We added hooks for my daughter’s purse and backpack, which were too heavy for the 3M hooks you only use on dorm room walls.

We actually put 4 uprights on my daughter’s bed so that we could add a cross piece and a small wood shelf for a lamp next to the futon:

We already had a lot of the pieces we put in my daughter’s dorm room, but if you’re looking for some comparable pieces to what we used, here are some recommendations:

On the other side of the room, we also added draperies over the closets by hanging 96″ long sheers on shower tension rods. And my daughter loves her shoes, so the shoe rack was a must!