It’s almost the end of the school year and for those unfortunate seniors out there, it may also be the end of college. (Wah Wah) The second most asked question (right after “what are you doing to do after you graduate?”), will be “what do you want for your graduation gift?” While my wise brother always claims that cash is king, the older generation often wants to give you something more tangible as a gift.

So here’s a list of things you should ask for so you don’t end up with five copies of Oh the Places You’ll Go:

Like a fun table, perhaps?

This awesome Bottle Cap Table is easy to make and will score you some major cool points from your friends, neighbors and maybe even your R.A. (as long as you don’t let him see you “collecting” bottle caps in your dry dorm). Plus, actually making the table is a party on its own: “Hey, let’s get a 12-pack of Miller Light. I have a craft project to do!”

What You’ll Need:
- Bottle caps
- Table
- Super glue (if the glue isn’t sticking well with the table, try contact cement)
- Resin (ex. Envirotex Lite)
- Masking Tape
- Aluminum foil
- Duct tape

Start Building!

1) Collect bottle caps. Ways to do this include befriending the neighborhood bartender, scouring the alleys behind bars, and buying microbrews based on how cool the caps look and not how good the beer tastes.

2) Pick a table. Head over to your neighborhood craft store, scour Craigslist or roam the streets for someone’s throwaways. Any size and shape will do.

3) Lay out your design. You could do anything from laying out similar caps in rows to creating an actual picture based on the colors.

4) Glue it down. Just remember that the bottle caps should be face down like on top of a bottle. Apply the glue generously around the edges of the cap and stick those suckers down. Make sure they’re really on there so they don’t move during the next step.

5) Wrap tape around the outside of the table. This is to make sure the glue and resin don’t run down the sides.

6) Build a barrier. Take a long piece of foil, fold it and build it up around the outside of the table (like a mini-fort) and duct-tape it on. This will build as a barrier to keep your resin from dripping all over your room.

7) Cover with resin. Follow the instructions inside the box on how to mix it then spread on a layer thick enough to cover the entire table and make an even surface.

8 ) Remove the barrier/tape, then let the table dry for 8-10 hours.

9) Put that table out on display, kick back with a beer (or some other beverage if you’re sick of the brewskis by now) and enjoy!

Ok, so we can’t fix those problems (try calling the R.A.), but we can make your room a little bit prettier and a lot bit more comfy! And all for next to nothing.

Your dorm room should be a much cooler home away from home; a safe sanctuary where you can study, play, and relax. A place where people can walk in, tell you how awesome it looks, then lounge on the floor eating cookie dough and talking about the other girls down the hall. And now you can have all that and more with our awesome find in Gonzalez and Smith’s book, Dorm Décor: The Zebra Felt Rug!

Materials:
Zebra rug template (download here)
2 yards (72″ wide) black felt
2 yards (72″ wide) orange felt
4 yards (72″ wide) cream felt
6′ x 2′ piece of 2″ grid pattern paper
Carbon paper and tracing wheel
Pencil
Scissors
Fabric Glue

Steps:

1. Using the zebra rug template, draw the zebra rug pattern onto the 2″ grid pattern paper. Draw a 2″ border around the edges and cut out the template around the outer edges.
2. Fold the black felt in half hot dog style, then lay the template over the carbon paper on top, placing the template’s straight edge even with the fold in the fabric. Following the instructions on the carbon paper (stripes and all!), trace the design onto the felt with the tracing wheel.
3. Remove the template and carbon paper. Pin the layers of felt together and cut out the design.
4. Repeat for the orange felt.
5. Lay the cream felt on the floor, then unfold the black felt piece and lay it flat on top of the cream felt. Pin in place.
6. Cut the cream layer the same size as the outer edge of the black felt. Glue the layers together with fabric glue.
7. Place the rug over the cream felt again and cut out another layer. Glue the layers together with fabric glue.
8. Flip the rug over and place the orange piece in place, matching the raw edges. Pin the layers in place and glue them together. (This allows you to have a black zebra rug on one side and an orange on the other! Your room will never be boring!)
9. Camp out on top of your new Tiger Felt Rug!

Lil’ Kim has DWTS wardrobe malfunction.

Orlando Bloom sure looks good in uniform.

Looking for the perfect white tee? Look no further.

Zac Efron is everywhere!

Love Tetris? How ’bout Tetris furniture?

Don’t ask how (no, I wasn’t Googling “chair sex,” or “furniture to do it on”), but I came across this site recently and was instantly intrigued.

The Tantra Chair is used to practice the amazingness of Kama Sutra. It’s shaped like a funky wave to help position yourself properly for ultimate pleasure. Don’t know anything about Kama Sutra? Well, you’re missing out. Lucky for you, the site also has a guide to tons of fun positions to enjoy on this lovely piece of furniture. (Warning: there is some nudity…and it’s kind of graphic.)

If I had the place and the money, and – oh yeah, the boyfriend – I would definitely invest in this contraption. Kama Sutra is already saucy enough, but throwing in a new toy (or chair) to aid the process just takes it to a whole new level! And it looks like a couch so you can definitely pass it off to your parents as some piece of artsy fartsy furniture you found on Craigslist.

Doing the nasty on a flat surfaced bed is so last year. This gift from the sex gods will have you in positions you never thought possible on a futon.

Ah, the Futon. The good ol’ Flip and F**k. The  piece of furniture that is really not so cute or comfortable and takes up so much space in your already tight dormroom quarters. But it is convenient. Really convenient.

Bet you didn’t know this, but cute futons do exist! You can be an interior decorator extraordinaire and still have a friend (or two) crash after a particularly rough bar night. Here are some of the hottest futons on the market!

1. Ikea’s Armchair Futon

This one folds up to an armchair position, so it’s not going to take up too much space. And it can fold out into a perfectly comfortable bed for that one friend who lives off campus and likes to crash. Choose a color that fits your room, and passers-by won’t even realize that you have an ugly futon in the middle of the room.

2. Innovations Spider Frame Futon

This cute little number isn’t clunky like the wooden-framed futons that take up way more space than necessary. Plus, the cute little arm cushions offer a splash of color to brighten your room.

3. Target’s Mali Flex Futon Combo

I’m a fan of silver myself, so I dig the sleek, silver metal frame. Plus, the ends fold up to create arm rests on your futon so it takes away from the standard “futon-esque” look, and more closely resembles a chic little loveseat. It includes pillows and cushions, comes in a variety of color combinations (try pink sundae stripe if you want to embrace your playful girliness), and all this can be yours for under $200! What are you waiting for?

4. Target’s Uptown Upholstered Futon

What I love about this is that it looks like a real couch, so when you graduate, get a job, and move into a swanky apartment that’s fitting for the sophisticated career woman you’ve become, this piece can come with you. The back adjusts to two positions, and it turns into a full size bed. Perfect for a suite, apartment, or your first guest room.

5. Futon Creation’s Studio Futon Sofa Set by Handy Living

There’s something about this bright red futon that makes me with I had a nice enough living room to put it in. Whereas some of the above futons have thin, metal arms that make them more appealing, this sofa has none, and I think it works. The skirting at the bottom is nice too, especially when you have to clean your room at the last minute and do the ol’ sweep-everything-under-the-rug (er, futon) trick.

Leave your own overheard convos in the comments.]

“Holy s***! What’s he doing?”

“He’s just playing video games.”

“He looks like he’s having a seizure! He looks possessed! I’ll never understand boys. They’re all like that. Possessed.”

A girl spills most of a box of cereal on her shirt:

“Oh god – I’m such a sand rat today!”

“Shakespeare? You know, he’s not bad. He’s had his moment in the sun. I think he needs to have his moment in the butt.”

A boy walks by a girl with a shaved head, then stops and does a double-take.

Boy: “Good evening, mister.“

Girl: (no reply)

Boy, after a beat: “I mean, what I’m saying is, you look like a boy.“

Girl: (no reply, walks away)

Boy: “God! Whatever!”

“You’ve got the whole room – the whole place is just covered in furniture! Like, you’ve got furniture everywhere, and you just have it in a pile. Like ‘what are we gonna do with this furniture.’ What was it, like, ‘I know! Let’s put a Christmas tree behind it, so nobody can ever see it!’ And didn’t someone steal that Christmas tree anyway? God, you guys are idiots.”

“Can I have an appletini? I’m at Applebees, and it’s my 21st birthday, and I want an appletini at Applebees.”

“Oh my god. She isn’t even drunk yet.”

“Okay. Got my career plan. I’ll be a motivational speaker. Companies will pay me so much money to wave my ass around on stage and make motorboat noises.”

“I hate applying to grad school. There are, like, four million degrees, and they all do something different, and if I f*** it up I’ll never have a job for the rest of my life. Can’t I just be a Ph. D. in ‘Hi, it’s nice to meet you’?”

“That’s why pandas can’t have sex! They have to wait around until someone in the world loves someone else enough, and then they just pop into existence!”

“I don’t want much for Christmas this year. I just want to be smarter.”

Aren’t you sick of your man going to Home Depot every weekend (word!) to buy more big-steel-things with levers and springs and stuff (uh-huh!) when he should be taking out the trash (snap, snap)?

Well the time has come, girls: Her Depot is here!

Her Depot – yes, I’m serious; that’s the moniker – is a “sister store” of the popular chain of home improvement stores…with a female twist!

Instead of purchasing important items like snowblowers and aluminum siding you can buy real home essentials like flowers, storage bins, furniture, flowers, super cute kitchen stuff, pottery and flowers.

Ladies love flowers – am I right, ladies?

**~~LaDiES niGhT!!~~**

Why only go to Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, Pier 1, Trader Joes, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target, Crate and Barrel, Meier & Frank and Macys when Her Depot can also aid you in your neverending quest for useless trinkets that find their way into the attic after a month?

Whateva, ladies – us fellas will be shopping at Home Depot, drinkin’ brews, watching football and calling our wives “the ol’ ball and chain” as always.

Let the Great Gender War begin.