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Great article and slide show of how to live like a broke student, bed frame made from stacked honeycomb cardboard is nice.

CONSIDER, in these economically difficult times, that inspiring model of creative home design, the college student. No, we are not kidding. Yes, we understand that you already know how to throw all your clothes in a pile on the floor.

But there is still much that can be learned from students who’ve managed to put together great looking places on what a grown-up might pay for a one-way ticket to Paris.

First and foremost is fearlessness. You’d be embarrassed if your friends knew you’d gotten a piece of furniture off the street. College kids call up their friends to get their help carrying furniture home from the street, and brag about it. Many are genuinely concerned about recycling and the environment, and delighted when they can turn construction cast-offs into the trappings of home.

Where others see garbage, students see potential: a wooden futon frame, less the futon, becomes a towel rack. An old-fashioned school desk and bench that might well have come out of a one-room schoolhouse upstate? Use it as a bedside table.