From Dorm Room To Tailgate, Get Back To Campus

MOORESVILLE, N.C., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- It seems like just yesterday that you packed up the station wagon with college-life necessities, hung posters in your dorm room and began roaming around campus. Fast forward and it's time to take your college-bound teen to school and get them settled for freshmen year. Today's higher education living arrangements haven't changed much over the years and move in day still includes limited time, limited cash, and an empty, off-white canvas of a room dotted with nothing but pallid, school-issued furniture. What have changed are the expanded offerings in small space storage and organization product design.

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First, contact the school or university to get a list of required and prohibited items. Once armed with your list, discuss how your college-bound teen would like to decorate the room and coordinate with their roommate to avoid bringing duplicate furniture, decor items and appliances. Dorm rooms are often tiny, so be sure to take advantage of every inch of storage space with Real Organized 12 gallon clear lidded crates (#62653, $6.47 each). Space-saving appliances like the Frigidaire Compact Refrigerator (#235879, $199.99) and GE Countertop Microwave (#265884, $59.98) will also ensure your teen stays well fed if dining hall food doesn't quite match up to your home-cooked meals.

Visit Lowes.com/backtocampus for more great solutions to your small space dilemmas, pre-arrival checklists for the dorm room and information on great Lowe's services like free carpet cutting. Check out the Campus Kickoff Contest on Facebook (facebook.com/lowes), where students list the top 10 reasons why Lowe's should outfit their dorm room with style - and you pick the winner! Your vote decides which lucky student will win the top prize of a $500Lowe's gift card plus a dorm room prize bundle.

If your son or daughter will be attending a school nearby, the best excuse to visit your favorite freshman is fall football Saturdays. There's nothing like kicking off the season in style with the latest grills like the Weber Smokey Joe Portable Charcoal Grill (#297996, $29.70) or Weber Q-120 Portable Gas Grill (#297992, $179). Be sure to pick up folding tables and chairs, a plastic tub to put your drinks on ice, a portable canopy and trash bags to keep your favorite alma mater's campus tidy.

If you can't make it to the big game, you can still create a stadium-like atmosphere in the comfort of your own backyard. Add a fire pit next to the grill and install outdoor speakers to get the play-by-play as if you were cheering from the stands. It's the next best thing to being there.

For more information about moving students onto campus and tailgating like a pro, visit LowesCreativeideas.com/Tailgating, Lowes.com/backtocampus or Lowe's stores in the United States and Canada.

About Lowe's

With fiscal year 2008 sales of $48.2 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE(R) 50 company that serves approximately 14 million customers a week at more than 1,675 home improvement stores in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.