7 Dorm Room Decorating Tips
Whether you’re just starting college or you’re halfway through and ready to turn your dorm room into one you can be proud of, decorating can make a big difference. Dorm rooms are notoriously small, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be organized and stylish. Here are seven tips for decorating your dorm room.
None of the items we’re about to cover need to cost a lot. Comparison shop online for the best prices, and don’t forget to check thrift stores.
A United Style
When two college students share a dorm room, it can easily gain a disjointed, even chaotic look. You and your roommate may have very different styles. So, coordinate with your roommate. Let them know you plan to do some decorating and that you’d like the room to have a unified look.
Unified doesn’t mean stark or dull. It simply means that every item looks like it belongs with everything else. When you get new desks or chairs, pick a general style that each of you will try to stick to. You might have bare posters on the walls, or decide to get all your pictures framed. With some coordination, the room will feel more homey to you and to your guests.
Consider Your Color Options
When you and your roommate talk about how to decorate the room, don’t forget to discuss color choices. Think about if you want muted colors, a pastel look, or if you want to go with a bold color palette. It may seem silly, but the choices you make may affect your mood. Muted or pastel colors can create a calm environment. Bolder colors may encourage you to study harder.
This color scheme can apply to bedding, picture frames, and to various items you purchase for your room that have color options, such as lamps.
Put Up Artwork
One nice way to brighten an otherwise dull dorm room is to put up art you like. These might be prints you purchase from artists, your own art, canvas prints, or posters you like. They can be framed or not, depending on the look you’re going for.
Put Up a Wall Tapestry or Quilt
If you haven’t thought about it before, consider getting a tapestry for the main wall on your side of the room. These are large cloth images that can add a lot of color and even the feeling of more space. For example, you may get one of an enchanted forest or an archway leading to a vineyard. Some tapestries even depict famous paintings.
You could also put up a decorative quilt. Yes, we usually put quilts on our beds, but others are works of art meant to hang on the wall, and can give your room a unique and homey feel.
Put Up Photos
Framed photos can look great on your walls. You can put up photos of your friends and family, of natural scenes, or whatever you like. They can be pictures you’ve taken, that friends have taken, or commercial photos. There are plenty of large frames on the market in which you can put a variety of family photos, or you can use individual frames.
Get A Comfy Chair
We know that space in a dorm room is limited. However, having only your desk chair and your bed to sit on in your room can feel limiting. It’s nice to have a comfortable chair to relax in, whether you want to read just relax.
Reclining chairs and rocking chairs can work well for this. To save money, we suggest you have a look at thrift stores, like Habitat for Humanity Restore, Goodwill, or the Salvation Army.Get Throw Pillows
A few extra pillows on each bed can help create a comfortable atmosphere. Plus, it’s nice to have a pillow to wrap your arms around at night. Body pillows, especially, are designed to help with a restful, ergonomically safe sleep. Just remember your color scheme when you purchase the pillow cases.
We hope these tips help you and your roommate to make your dorm room everything you need it to be: a place where you can study, relax, have friends over, and get the sort of good night sleep all students should get regularly. Enjoy your college years, and enjoy your newly decorated room.
