by Abbie Long

Question: It’s my daughter’s first year away at college and she is homesick.

She is living on campus and asked me to help decorate her room. She loves the outdoors and anything to do with animals.

Do you have any decorating suggestions? Her roommate is never there and neither of us are creative.

 

Answer: Welcome to the jungle. You open the door to the sounds of chirping birds and to the wonderful smell of tropical flowers.

As a complete and total sensory experience this becomes your daughter’s new home away from home, bringing her the outside inside upon the backs of many beautiful animals.

As you and your daughter work together to create this new, uplifting and fun environment, each decorative detail holds opportunity to lift her spirits, give her comfort and make her room her new safe “nest.”

What honor you must feel that she asked for your help.

Depending upon the size of the room, you may be able to implement one or two of the following ideas, but your daughter will appreciate even your smallest contribution.

Let’s start by creating her jungle floor through the use of artificial turf. This material is available at any home improvement store and upon request, can be cut to size. Go prepared with your measurements and let the store help you. This is not an easy material to cut.

A wonderful solution for jungle walls is camouflage netting. This material comes in large pieces and has 3-D leaf-like foliage that is very lightweight, strong and durable. It can be purchased at any military surplus store or even from walmart.com if not on the shelf.

Drape the nets on the walls using stick-on-wall or ceiling hooks. These hooks are available at any hardware, office supply, party or discount store.

Also use pictures or posters of animals indigenous to the jungle. Some images should reflect animals in motion to signify activity rather than inactivity; we don’t want her falling asleep while trying to do homework.

You can even alternate one black and white picture with one picture full of color for variety. To make posters, go to blockposters.com and have the images you want to convert ready.

This free website allows you to convert any image into any size poster by segmenting the image into multiple 8- by 10-inche pieces that can then be put together to form a complete image.

Once you have your prints, get a piece of foam board from any craft supply store and mount the paper using spray adhesive. Spray both the foam board and back of the poster and then mount for the most permanent bond.

For hanging the posters, use two stick-on wall hooks at the two bottom corners and just rest the poster in them. No frames or nails are needed for this project.

To create the impression of overgrowth and swirling animals against a beautiful sky, start by painting the ceiling blue and suspending artificial greenery. Extra large palm leaves work great with fishing line from stick-on ceiling hooks.

The artificial greenery can be purchased from any floral or craft supply store or online.

Next for some color, go to a party supply store for several sets of very colorful spirit-lifting costume butterfly wings and hang them amongst the overhead greenery.

We are touring the jungle in a Jeep. To convert her bed into a Jeep, go to the junkyard or use eBay to get a few, if not all of the following items — an old tire, a tail pipe with or without a muffler, two headlights and taillights, and a steering wheel.

Mount the tire and two taillights on one end of the bed to look like the back of the Jeep and then mount the two headlights and steering wheel on the other end of the bed for the front of the Jeep.

For the final touch get a couple of seat belts with buckles and receivers to cinch snugly around her pillows.

Don’t forget the nature sound CD and plug in aromatherapy to complete her jungle experience. If you decide for less labor intensive yet still exciting decorating options, visit dormco.com and dormify.com, which specialize in dorm decorations.

As her room transforms into one of life and inspiration, I would however caution against the use of any type of artificial fur. This type of material may evoke negative emotions for any person with a deep passion for animal rescue.

You want your daughter to smile to feel free from the pressures of college life, and become renewed and uplifted every time she enters her room. Her jungle habitat will not only be a great conversation piece for the people she will begin to meet, but also an ever present retreat to remind her of her family’s love.

Thanks for the memories, mom.

Abbie Long is a Franklin native and advice columnist for The Tidewater News. Submit your questions to askabbie@tidewaternews.com.