How-To: Dorm Decorating Tips
One of the main things that struck me about living in the dorm was the plain solid white walls. They offer a very plain and drab atmosphere. I was worried that once winter hit my room would be even more dismal with the flourescent lighting and it getting dark at 6 o’clock not to mention the below freezing temperatures. So I decided to choose a bright color scheme. Also, since I hadn’t met my roommate yet I thought I’d play it safe and keep my decor ecletic so the flow between our two sides of the room would work better. She ended up using a lot of bright colors too…she used a t-shirt quilt as a comforter and had tons of stickers and magnets of her fridge.
Unfortunately this was the only picture I could find of my freshman dorm!! I spent most my time in friends’ rooms….. or the library….hi mom 🙂
One thing my freshman roommate did that I chose to avoid was the knick-nacks and random momentos. I hung pictures of my friends and family but wanted to keep the clutter to a minimum in such a small space.
Sophomore year my roommate and I were able to plan out everything and both kept a pink, green and purple color scheme. We had actual doors on the closets this year and chose to cover them with pictures. This way we could display all of our pictures and cover up the drab wooden doors.
She made tissue paper flowers out of all different colored paper and we used those to cover the wall between the bathroom door and closet since it was a strange sized wall and we wanted to camoflage this.
We also bought a wall sticker from IKEA to decorate the bathroom
Another issue many college students face, is they want to both have their own desk their beds on the ground. In addition to that we both wanted to have a futon for friends to hang out on for out of town visitors.
We lofted one bed in the corner and the other bed jutted out perpendicular on the ground making an L shape. We put a desk under the top bed, stacked our dressers to use as a tv stand and then put the futon on the wall next to the bed.
We stacked two desks on top of each other in the bathroom we shared with our suitemate to use as a vanity. This was my favorite arrangement because I felt it used the space most effectively and was coziest.
I painted wooden letters of our first initial and decoupaged pictures of us on them for our door!
My best friend moved to New York this semester to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Here are some pics of her dorm in Chelsea. 
Because Megan is a fashion merchandising major it only makes sense for her to have a dress form in her room! she added the designs herself in sharpie to make it more decorative.
command strips and hooks are great for dorms since you cant put holes in the wall! Meg used them to display jewlery!!
Area rugs add a lot of personality to a dorm room and when winter hits the tile floor is freezing!
Two of my friends at Marian were twins who roomed together and lived on my floor! I was always jealous of how cozy and homey their room was:
Christmas lights are a unique lighting option in dorms!
Tell us about your dorm experiences!
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