Students in the residence halls may soon see a boost in their living conditions.

Select rooms in a few houses of Friley, Birch and Wilson residence halls have been taking part in an experiment with new dorm room furniture.

Leroy Brown, manager of residence hall maintenance, said the test rooms are completely refurnished with new beds, dressers, desks and bookshelves from eight different companies.

“We’re trying to find the best furniture for students,” Brown said.

He said the furniture in the experimental rooms is highly versatile, allowing students to rearrange it to their personal tastes.

“It goes together in so many different ways that you can really change the layout of the rooms,” Brown said.

Many of the beds are loftable and are designed differently than the current beds. A feature of the new furniture would include a bed-desk structure similar to a bunk bed, that contains a bed on top and a desk on the bottom.

Brown said corner lofts may become available, which would help to alter a room’s look.

“Students will be able to change the formation of their rooms without complex tools,” he said.

He added that students have a voice in the project because their preferences are a priority.

“Students don’t want furniture that is 10 or 20 years old. They want newer stuff, and we realize students need to have input on furniture,” he said.

Another survey will be sent in April to students living in the experimental rooms.

Brown said open houses have allowed students to see designs other than those in their demo rooms.

“We’ve tried to keep it in specific houses so they can go from room to room to see what they like and don’t like,” he said.

Brown also said the new furniture will be looked at from a maintenance standpoint to determine which is easiest to repair. He said so far, only one repair has been necessary for the new furniture.

When new furniture is installed in the dorm rooms, the existing furniture in the residence halls will either be sold or placed in storage.

“We take the old furniture and go through it. We try to sell the trashed things and try to put the decent things back into storage or move into rooms with trashed pieces,” Brown said.

He said the furniture will be sold at inventory sales.

“We are currently planning to have a tent sale this spring and next fall to try to sell the old furniture,” Brown said.

He added that furniture for all of the dorm rooms on campus probably will not be sold in the near future, but “it’s all going to have to be replaced sooner or later. It’s not going to last forever.”

The next big purchase likely will be furniture for the Maple Hall remodeling project, Brown said.