Hinckley Hall BYU

The Dets on Hinckley Hall
Getting ready to live in Heleman Halls at BYU? Not sure what to buy or what the room looks like? Look no further! I have all the details you'll need!

Measurements
I went through and got a rough measurement of each area in my dorm room in Hinckley Hall. If you're going to be living in another hall, don't worry. The measurements are pretty much the exact same. If you go to the BYU On-Campus Housing Page Here and click on Heleman Halls, the pictures are a pretty adequate depiction of what the room looks like. Hinckley is a shared room with a sink, and I believe David John is the only shared suite style room. So Chipman, Stover and all the rest look like the first two pictures.  Everything here is pretty much all you need to know if you are planning to move into Heleman soon. Here are the measurements I came up with:

Room Dimensions

Desk Area

Desk top: 46.5x23 inches

Desk Height: 26 inches

Desk Top to First Shelf: 20 inches

Desk Drawer: 9.25x18.75x2 inches

Shelves Under Drawer: 23x10.5x8.25 inches

Bottom Floating Shelf: 47x12x13 inches

Upper Floating Shelf: 47x12x19 inches

Bulletin Area on Back Wall: 46.5x16 inches

Bulletin Area on Sides: 23x52 inches with interruptions from the shelves

*4 plug outlet, one desk has wifi cord, hole in back of desk for cords, bulletin board material on walls can take pushpins but is not very deep and can’t hold heavy things, there is a light under the first floating shelf.

Closet

Drawers: 21x18.5x5.5 inches

Top Shelf: 46x22x12 inches

Shoe Shelf: 23x22x9.5 (height adjustable)

*You can lock the top shelf, the shoe shelf is adjustable for different heights, there is a mirror on the inside of the short closet door and a towel rod and towel hook on the longer door, I fit 5 coats, 10 dresses, 2 skirt hangers with 16 skirts on them, a jewelry and scarf organizer, 5 jackets, 17 cardigans, 7 vests, and 40 hanging tops with little wiggle room on the rod.

Bed

Twin XL that can be set at 20 inches off the ground or 32 inches off the ground. They are brand new beds and mattresses so they are pretty comfortable. If you’re someone who likes their beds really soft then you might want a small mattress pad but if you sleep on just a regular mattress at home and are fine with it then this mattress on its own should be fine for you. Personally, I think it is really nice and have never been uncomfortable. If you do raise the bed to 32 inches, you are going to want a step stool to help you get into bed. Trust me.

Sink Area

Sink Top: 30x20 inches with sink in the middle leaving about 5 inches on each side

Under Sink: 30x20x28 inches with a pipe towards the back and this is also where the small trash can is located when you move in.

Fridge

The fridge is a standard mini fridge with a small freezer compartment and different shelves. You can fit a good amount of stuff in this fridge and a full size fridge is available in the basement of the building and is shared with everyone in the hall. Be careful what you put in the fridge in the basement though. Anything unmarked could be taken and the fridge and freezer fill up fast. I suggest only buying what you need on a weekly basis and going to the creamery once a week to restock so you can keep your mini fridge in your room as your main source of food storage.

Storage

There are multiple storage units down in the basement which are a great place to keep luggage, (if you don’t plan on traveling often) seasonal equipment like skiis, and maybe even seasonal clothes like big coats. These are open during move-in and are locked during the semester and can only be unlocked by an RA. The thing is, RA’s aren’t available at all hours on every day. I would only store things you don’t want in your room until you ABSOLUTELY need them. The thing about Heleman rooms is that there is little storage room. The desk is plenty of room to keep your office supplies, books, makeup, hair stuff, etc… but I found that a lot of my clothing didn’t fit in the closet, and I had no where to store snacks or dishes and other cosmetic things that I might need throughout the semester. I ended up buying 9 plastic drawers from bed bath and beyond to store my jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts, t-shirts, cleaning supplies, bags, pjs and other toiletries. I purchased 2 large, 2 medium and 1 small stackable drawer from the container store that fit nicely between the end of my bed and the mini fridge to store my medicine, food and dishes. Also to save on space, I put my luggage behind the 9 drawers under my bed, I put my ironing board, lap desk and laundry baskets under there too. I wanted to note that my bed is closest to the door and when I propped it open, the door blocks my laundry and part of my first set of drawers. It’s kind of annoying sometimes but it’s manageable. Also, the sink area is just the sink. Under the sink is open and could house some containers for toiletries, but I decided I didn’t want to store my things over there. Also, the room came with one small trash can, but I purchased one of my own as well just so I could keep it under my desk for easy access. It helps reduce the amount of time I spend taking out the trash.

Cleaning

There are cleaning supplies that are available to you. There is a vinegar spray for the sink area that works really well, glass cleaner, vacuums and rags that are for the whole hall to use. They are in a closet near the bathrooms. They also have a few trash bags. I would suggest buying your own Clorox wipes because sometimes it just cleans areas better and also get a duster of some kind. These rooms get dusty real quick for whatever reason so it’s nice to just dust the place down once a week. Cleaning checks happen once a month and aren’t hard to pass at all. There is a clear list of chores to do and it is split evenly between you and your roommate. Everyone in the hall tends to clean at the same time so supplies may be limited during this time (like vacuums, rags and sprays) but if you get it done earlier in the day, it’ll still pass cleaning checks as long as you actually clean. Takes 30 minutes tops. (unless you’re a slob) Also, living in a small space means that you should take time to pick up after yourself often. It doesn’t take much to make your room look like it is super messy.

Extras J

The carpet (if you can’t see in the pictures) is multi-colored with navy, maroon, tan, green, idk it’s just a neutral mix of colors but IT HIDES DIRT AND HAIR! You don’t have to vacuum every week like I would have to at home because everything just blends in which is nice. Don’t let it stress you out when picking décor. Yes, it’s ugly and you wouldn’t pick it for your future home, but no, it won’t clash with your super cute bedspread. TRUST ME. Also, note that the walls are white cinder block. That being said, you cannot use tape, screws or nails to hang anything up. Cinder block makes it hard for command hooks to stick and hold large weights up. If you want to hang picture frames, trust me when I say to get the Velcro picture frame command strips. It’s not a hook, but it holds picture frames up nice and flush with the wall and won’t fall off. I have one for each corner of my picture frames that I hung on the walls. There is a cork strip across the wall your bed is on which is nice to put up a poster or something, but again, it isn’t deep and won’t hold heavy things well. For those printed pictures you want to hang, either use command hooks to hold up a garland of pictures, or sticky tack in each corner of each picture. Yes, it’s a hassle. Yes, it’s time consuming, but it’s what you have to do to not get charged damage fees. Also, note that you can’t use washi tape on anything that was in the room before you arrived. You can put it on your own mirror you brought or your set of drawers but not on anything not belonging to you. The side by the window is always the darkest side. I would invest in a lamp to go on the window sill or Christmas lights to hang by your bed. It makes the world of a difference.

But What Do These Rooms ACTUALLY Look Like?

Here are a couple of pictures of my room before and after moving in:

My Bed Before

The Fridge and Space between the beds

My Bed After Move-In

My Desk After Move-In

My room has changed throughout the semester, but this is pretty much what every room looks like. It's a decent amount of space and has suited me just fine. I wish I could have decorated it better if I would have known the space and dimensions before coming out to Utah so I could've planned a little better, but I'm satisfied with how my room turned out!

Good luck dorm shopping, and welcome to BYU! You're going to love it!

-Brittany