What are Simple Ways to Decorate a Dorm Room?

Choosing the Right Furniture and Accessories is Easy

Moving out to go to college can be an unsettling experience, but for students who have chosen good furniture, a dorm room can feel like home in no time.

Dorm rooms are almost uniformly small, slightly grungy, and can get cramped fast if roommates don’t coordinate a design plan early on in the school year. Most rooms will come with beds and desks, but otherwise, providing furniture and accessories for the dorm will be left up to the students who live there.

How to Choose Bedding for College Dorms

Many colleges have extra-long twin mattresses to accommodate very tall students. This will require the purchase of specifically fitted sheets, but fortunately these aren’t too expensive and come in as many colors and designs as students themselves. Choosing a simple, dark color or pattern will be best for hiding food or ink spills that occur on the bed and reduce the need to buy new sheets as a result of a stain.

Communicating with a roommate or roommates ahead of time about what colors are preferred will help in choosing a color scheme for the room and its furniture. If one student has fuchsia bedding and the other hot pink, the clash of colors will be annoying to both parties.

It’s important in choosing bedding that a duvet or bedspread that is warm and comfortable is on the list. Winter nights can get cold even in a well-heated dorm, and having a stylish, cozy bedspread can make all the difference. Finding sheets and a duvet that coordinate the room and still express the style of each student can be done easily at any department or bedding store.

Storing and Organizing School Items for Dorms

Keeping things organized in a dorm involves more than a few bins, and is much more stylish. Filing cabinets, containers with drawers and shelves can all be found in matching colors and patterns in most stores or places like PB (Pottery Barn) Teen. Talking to a roommate about how much room is available for storage items, a refrigerator, and a microwave. Then deciding on a color scheme will make the purchase of shelving and storing units much simpler.

Organization skills are very important for students who are committed to getting good grades, and having a convenient but attractive place to keep things will help both roommates stay motivated in keeping the room clean.

College Dorm Room Furniture

For rooms that can fit a futon, they make great places to sit and eat, work on homework or watch TV. Finding a futon with a cushion colored to match the decorations of both roommates should be simple, and having a comfortable place to sit and talk can be a great way to break the ice for new roommates.

If a university does not provide a desk, places like Walmart and Meijer sell inexpensive desk and chair sets that would be perfect for use in a dorm room. As most desks also end up being tables, it’s a good idea to find one that won’t be damaged by spilled liquids or heat. Having an extra chair can also be nice for students who plan on having company as well, if a futon would take up too much space.

Decorating Dorms with Posters

Most dorm room walls are white or gray cinder block walls – not much to look at. Adding posters, pictures or paintings can instantly make a room more comfortable and homey for the students. It’s important to communicate with roommates on how much wall space each person gets, what types of images may be offensive, and start there.

Picking posters and pictures that remind a student of favorite movies, good memories from home, or are familiar and fun can add a dimension of comfort to the room from day one. Sprucing up the bare look of the room will help students make the transition from home to school without too much trouble.

Buying inexpensive posters online can help avoid students needing to get frames for posters. Most colleges will not allow students to nail things to the wall. So buying a poster that can get torn or ruined after a year or two of use is financially wise.

Choosing Curtains for Dorm Room Windows

Windows in dorms are generally small, but often come with a shade and a curtain rod if students wish to buy curtains to go with the room. Again, communication with roommates on who will bring curtains and what color they will be is essential in making sure that the curtains chosen will coordinate with the room’s ambiance.

Buying inexpensive curtains that will help block or allow sunlight and maintain the temperature of the room will be essential in making the dorm feel more comfortable for the students. Adding colorful and patterned curtains will also improve the look of even the barest room.

While moving away from home, there are simple things any student can do to make a small dorm room feel comfortable enough to become a second home. By communicating with roommates, selecting durable bedspreads and sheets, decorating the dorm room walls and keeping organized, any student will be much better suited to college life.

About the author: Erica R. Gibson is a content writer on essaywritercheap.org. She writes primarily on the subject of technology and is interested in keeping up with the latest developments in her field. She spends her free time reading blogs and discovering new ways to improve her writing skills.