Dorm Room Ideas For A Fabulous College Pad!

Dorm room decorating ideas are one of those often overlooked aspects of going off to college.  So this week, we asked Sarah to give us her take on some dorm room ideas for our readers who will be heading off to college in the fall and could use some “creative genius”!

Living on a college campus is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  In the anticipation and excitement of going away to college for the first time, 99% of college freshman are bound to forget something.  Dorm room ideas for decor is one of those easily overlooked things that you realize right after your parents pull away and head home after dropping you off!

Have no fear, though!  I’m going to give you some cool dorm room decorating ideas that some of my friends at U of Illinois are using so that you will have the coolest dorm room on campus…or close to it!

Cool Dorm Room Ideas – “From Drab Cell to Fab Pad”

Living in a twelve by twelve room, decorated with cinder blocks often feels like living in a prison.  However, unique dorm room ideas for decorating can turn a cell into a fabulous home.  Many people dread living in residence halls/dorm rooms because the lack of color and design.  What some people don’t realize, students can decorate their room however they please.  Personalizing a room creates a comfortable environment to relax, study, hang out, and sleep.

While tile floors are easy to clean and healthier than carpet, they create an environment similar to a convenient store.  The rooms are cold and empty with a beige and white color scheme.  The best cure for the convenient store environment is a rug, which can really bring a room together.  It creates a warm environment and adds a personal touch.  Not to mention, people can actually sit on the floor with a rug, when it’s just tile, the floor is too uncomfortable.

Dress Up Your Dorm Walls

Once you have a rug on the floor, it’s time to work on the walls.  The walls are going to be the most noticeable aspect of your room, so this is where you’ll want to spend most of your time and effort.  First, decide what you want to put on your wall posters, paintings, pictures, designs etc.  Posters are the cheapest and easiest way to decorate your room. (Side note: many residence halls do not like tape, so bring sticky tack to hang posters and pictures up).

I’ve seen many posters ranging from Brian Urlacher to John Lennon to Gandhi.  Again, posters are a personal statement that make you feel at home, so pick something you want to look at every day.  For instance, I have a large Pink Floyd and a small Moon Knight poster hanging on my walls that add color and personality.

If you don’t like posters, there are plenty of other decorations to liven up any room.  Right behind posters, the most popular decoration for students is Wall Pop.

Using Wall Pop For Dorm Room Flare!

Wall Pop is like a post-it except the whole backside is sticky.  You can cut and design the Wall Pop according to your decoration wants.  Design your own Wall Pop is great for cheap and easy holiday decorations!  For Valentine’s Day you can make pink and red hearts and stick them around your room, green shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, jack-o-lanterns and leaves for Halloween, hand turkeys for Thanksgiving, and snowflakes for winter/Christmas!

If you are not the artistic type, there are plenty of pre-made designs to choose from both holiday themed and otherwise including but not limited to Fatheads (for the sports fans), Disney characters (Toy Story, Nemo, Lady and the Tramp) , superheroes (spiderman, superman, hulk), Harley Davidson, and random creative designs.  Wall Pop is reusable and easily removable, so get creative with your dorm room ideas and decorate all your walls!

Add A Personalized Touch

Picture collages are another great way to decorate your walls.  Pick your favorite color cardboard or construction paper, and then tape pictures to the paper. (Using paper behind the pictures usually allows them to lie nicer than sticking them straight on the wall.)   The color paper adds an extra flair and border rather than spending a lot of money on pictures frames.  The best thing about a collage, you can make it as large or small as you like.  I’ve seen anywhere between just a few pictures and an entire wall covered in pictures. (Design tip: Adding stickers and other little drawings and designs to collages creates a creative unique touch.)

Once your floors and walls are covered, it’s time to move onto shelves and desks.  Your bookshelves will probably  filled with notebooks, folders, and school books, but there usually is a little space for personality.  Bookshelves are great for picture frames.  It’s what I like to call my little home away from.  The top part of my bookshelf has photo albums and pictures of my family, friends, and pets.  If you don’t have room for personal items, you can still make the shelves look nice through organization.  Piling things on top of one another is not only hard to reach, but also looks haphazard.  The better organized everything is the more relaxing the room will appear.  The same applies to your desk.  Pictures are nice personalizers, but there’s not always room with all the school work, so just try and stay organized.

Another optional accessory when it comes to dorm room ideas is with the ever-popular Christmas lights.  You can drape the lights on top of your bookshelves and curtains, or stick them around your entire ceiling. Pick your favorite color and relax at night with just these on.  As odd as it sounds, the dim lighting of Christmas lights is a great relaxer after a long day. (The dim lighting is also great for napping J).

Quick Tip For Getting Your Dorm Room Stuff For Cheap!

There are a number of places to get dorm room decorations for a cheaper price.  Walmart, Target and other department stores are great choices, but most of the time they don’t have the best stuff there.  I’ve found that eBay is a wonderful place to get a lot of dorm stuff for a cheap price!  If you don’t have an account yet, you should sign up now.  It’s free, and they have literally anything you want to outfit your dorm room with!

For many students, living in a dorm room is their first place away from home. That’s why it’s important and fun to create a space that is all yours.  Decorations make the room seem more like home rather than a prison cell or a convenient store. Get creative with your dorm room ideas by adding color, decorate, redecorate, and just have fun creating something that’s all yours!