WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - University of Florida junior Catherine Coccia figures she's got dorm decor down. The Palm Beach Gardens resident is preparing for her third year of on-campus living in Gainesville and has learned the tricks of transforming the white concrete-block walls and linoleum floors of UF's dormitories into something more livable.

Her first rule? Disguise and hide.

"My roommates and I are in an apartment dorm this year, and the couch is the ugliest thing ever," says the dietetics major. "So we're getting a tapestry throw to make it look better, with matching throw pillows and a tablecloth."

Later this month, Carrie List will graduate from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton with a degree in criminal justice and, after four years of residence-hall life, an honorary degree in dorm-room decorating.

As a resident adviser, List found she needed to create a cozy spot for students who regularly drop by to visit in a room with all the luxurious dimensions of a jail cell.

"I have an air mattress, a yoga ball that people sit on and one of those convertible chairs that turns into a bed," says List. "I keep a lot of pillows around for comfort."

Though List lived in her room a year before deciding to make it "totally crazy," she recalls many dorm denizens who appear the first day of freshman year toting coordinating room ensembles.

Coccia recalls a friend of hers who arrived on campus with "everything matching perfectly," who was then confronted with a roommate who had brought her own, substantially different, dorm-room ensemble.

"They were both cute but it looked like two separate rooms," says Coccia.

Collages of photos and posters are a popular way to personalize a room, say students at both schools, but they advise being careful about what you use to adhere them to the walls. (Schools generally require students to repair peeled and chipped paint or face repair fees.)

A reusable adhesive such as Fun Tak will hold posters and small photos, though as the enforcer of dorm maintenance rules, List favors blue painter's tape: "It holds pretty well and won't hurt the paint."

For Feleke Kassegn, an FAU senior who's majoring in international business, dorm-room essentials are whatever allow two people to cohabit in the same tiny space without driving each other nuts.

He suggests packing headphones with extra-long cords ... and giving a set to your roommate.

If that doesn't work, "ear plugs, definitely," Kassegn insists.

Since many students arrive on campus with a full complement of expensive electronic gear - laptops and computer notebooks, digital cameras, graphing calculators, iPods and DVD players - some kind of lockbox to deter theft is a good idea.

"You hear a lot of horror stories about things getting stolen," says Coccia. "My roommate's parents were so paranoid, they chained her computer to her desk. My dad made me a big wooden box that would hold my laptop and that I could lock."

Kassegn recommends bringing a small shelving unit to hold books and the small appliances, like George Foreman grills, microwaves and coffee makers that make dorm life bearable.

But what he really needs for his dorm room is something he left at home.

"You need a hand, like your mother's hand, that shoves you out of bed for early classes."