Gear Up for College (and Win $50,000 Towards Tuition) with eBay

By The Inside Source
August 19, 2011

Gear Up for College

This week, eBay launched a pretty unbelievable new campaign. Called "Gear Up for College," it invites college students to share original photographs of their dorm rooms for a chance to win one year of free college tuition, valued up to $50,000.

Here's how it works: Through September 9, aspiring interior designers can head to ebay.com/gearup or facebook.com/ebay and upload images of their dorm rooms for inclusion in a digital image gallery. eBay fans can vote on their favorites, and design expert Kelly Edwards (co-host of Style Network's "Tacky House" and HGTV's "Design on a Dime") will select a grand prize winner from the top 25 most popular entries. The grand prize winner will be awarded one year of free college tuition at up to $50,000.

Now we all know that decorating a dorm room can be challenging. There's the space issue (my freshman year, I shared a former utility closet with a roommate I'd never met until my first day of classes) along with the budget challenges that come with being on your own yet in school full time. But leave it to creative college kids to come up with intriguing interior design solutions—we had an inflatable chair that we'd blow up whenever we had friends over!

The Inside Source had the opportunity to sit down with Edwards, who offered a few of her own dorm room designs as inspiration, to get some expert small space design tips. And who better to speak with her, we thought, than Rebecca Orlov, blogger at loving.living.small (a site dedicated to spaces 1000-square-feet or less), who has guest posted for us before? Read below to find out what Rebecca has to say about her convo with Kelly.—Meredith Barnett, Editorial Director, The Inside Source

By Rebecca Orlov:

We all know that college is about hard work and hard play, so a dorm room should be a sweet refuge of comfort and style. Creating a home away from home that functions as part study hall, part relaxing home and part social pad is what it's about for college dorm dwellers.

With eBay launching a fabulous campaign this week called Gear Up for College, I had the pleasure of catching up with interior design expert and eBay Gear Up judge, Kelly Edwards, a woman with a talent for turning challenging rooms into comfortable havens and an expertise in repurposing items into gems. We chatted about the sweepstakes, design tips and small space tricks for creating your best college dorm room.

Gear Up for College encourages college-bound kids to express their best dorm room design, using eBay as a one-stop resource for finding awesome deals on cool, stylish and affordable back to school decor. Just upload and submit your dorm space to eBay's Gear up community, share your college home with your Facebook and Twitter communities and then vote away for a chance to win tons of goodies, including $50,000 towards tuition.

Gear Up for College

Inspiration college dorm rooms designed by Kelly Edwards

Kelly and I enjoyed speaking about small space dorm living and she shared that when it comes to a design vibe, college students can "have their own style and have fun!" It's your space, your home so make it feel great regardless of the size.

Embracing a few small space tips can definitely make a difference. Kelly suggests forgetting big chairs that take up space and getting a few floor pillows for your friends to lounge on when they visit. Place a large leaning mirror against the wall to open up the space; pick up some bed risers to give you more storage space underneath; and use furniture that does double duty, like a nightstand that can be used as a “dining” table.

When you are planning your small space, also consider your personal design style, says Kelly. Since the bed is the focal point in a dorm room, consider a duvet cover rather than a bed-in-a-bag, so you can change up your color style when you are in the mood. A cool, modern pendant light above your bed will add balance and shine, and go for a big, comfy rug, like a flokati, to make the smaller space appear bigger.

I write about small space living on my blog, loving. living. small. As a small space dweller myself, I love Kelly's tips and know they work in rooms with limited space. Another idea that we both recommend is to use furniture with floating legs instead of chunky ones, like a table or chair with long legs. I also suggest using your walls and going vertical: Create an accent wall using a set of matching frames to make your own art gallery featuring personal photos and artwork you love. It's a great way to express your personal style. One more tip: Keep an eye on what you use in your space. If you don't need it, then consider removing it to allow for more room.