Everyone is aware that one of the biggest issues on campus is the severe lack of space in dorm rooms. Especially people who live in Angelou, which is one of the most outdated dorms on campus, where the rooms are very miniscule. You can barely house six people in a dorm! I should know; I hardly have any wiggle room to move around. That is, until I changed the layout to take full advantage of my sardine can.

When I first started my quest, I tried to think of what I could do to open up the space.

Right off the bat, it becomes apparent that the furniture takes up the most space. So how do you get rid of your furniture? Well, you can’t; you’ll get in trouble. But there are some ways to make it take up less space. One could simply make a leaning furniture tower. You could put the desk at the end of the bed so your feet have room to move, with the dresser on top, and the bookshelf on top of that. But if that doesn’t suit you, then you can just raise your bed. Lofting is very underrated at Wake Forest. Forget the wardrobe; this is the door to Narnia. You want a man/woman cave? Or a wide open floor to dump a new load of laundry on? This is how you do it.

Lofting your bed is the answer. If you want a nice place to study, you can put your desk under there, and maybe even a bean bag if you’d like. Are you feeling antisocial or do you need to study for that test in that class, ya know, the one where you have no idea what’s going on? You can use a blanket as a curtain to seclude yourself from the world and even string some lights up on the bed posts and the bottom of the wall. Decorate with some posters, pictures or artwork on the walls. You can even use the extra pole left to hang up wet clothes, lights, you name it.

With the desk under the bed, you can take the stacked dresser and bookshelf from earlier and stick it next to the bed, so the top becomes a night stand. Although you have long arms like a sloth, you can pick up and drop off knick-knacks onto desk under your bed. So if you want more open space you can put your dresser, bookshelf and desk under the bed instead of having a night stand.

You may not agree with my decoration techniques and have already decided on keeping your bed where it’s at, but take in this last, and most important, reason. Not only does lofting your bed give you more open space, but it puts you closer to the WiFi server. So if you’re trying to submit something on Sakai that’s due in three minutes and the connection is failing you, you’re close enough to slap some sense into it. Now you’ll have almost the entire area open, all thanks to lofting your bed.

Yes, lofting your bed can free up space faster than Hermione can say Wingardium Leviosa, but if that’s too much work for you, there are other options as well. The windowsill can be a great place to put more decorations, Post-it notes, books or other little things. The top of the microwave can hold food or cooking items. You can even maximize space further by putting all the books you had to buy (but only needed for one week of class) in the extra space in the fridge or freezer.

Another great little secret is to buy one of the little carts with drawers, and put this by the fridge to carry the mounds of extra food or other items. You can even put bags, or in my case my flute, on the top of the cart. Spaces in between furniture, like the dresser and desk, can house a trash can or backpack or hide stacks of laundry.

Now with all the new free space, you can open up a mini golf course in your room and make some serious bank. Happy lofting and happy golfing.