The start of a new school year means a new space for you to design and decorate any way you like. Your college room is like a blank canvas that enables you to create your own ambiance by displaying your favorite colors, photos, memories, lighting, designs and accessories.
When you first enter an empty dorm you may notice the room looks quite minimal and you can’t fathom how you and another roommate are going to live in this space for an entire year. Tiny dorm rooms with cinder block walls, florescent lighting, and little to no carpet come off a little institutional looking and are very uninspiring.
While many colleges around the nation have made a push to design more luxurious dorms over the past few years, it's your job to transform your dorm room into a more livable space. This is your home away from home while you’re going to school, so you’ll want to add as much comfort and personality to the room as possible. Given the small size of the room, designing a college dorm becomes a test in utilizing space in the best possible manner.
Use these dorm room ideas to spur your creativity as you design your space.
Recommended Resources:
Dorm Room Wall Decor
A dorm with plain and bare walls is boring and isn't going to cut it in college. You need to cover walls with the best possible decor you can come up with on a college budget. Here are a few wall decorating ideas for a dorm room.
Clothesline Picture Holders
Clothesline Picture Holders with Lights
Adding lights alongside photos on the wall brings added attention to wall decor and casts a positive light in your dorm. Bringing in your own light source also means you can turn off those ugly florescent lights.
Organized Photo Arrangements
So simple and decorative.
Letter Picture Collage
Take the letter of your first name and personalize it with photos in the best way possible. This is where your personality can really shine through as you showcase some of your best moments in life.
DIY Inspiration & Mood Board
Combine all of your favorite keepsakes and pictures on an old frame. Such a great look and conversational piece for your room.
Dorm Bed Ideas
Unfortunately, the bed is the centerpiece of most college dorm rooms. You can either hide it the best you can or accentuate it by adding duvet covers, throw pillows, and other bedroom decor.
Bed Risers for added space underneath
Privacy Curtains for your Bed
Curtains and sheets can also be draped below the bed to hide storage areas.
Lights + Canopy + Beautifully Arranged Wall Decor
DIY headboard
Matching Bedding and Wall Decor
Desk
Your desk is your sanctuary when it comes to getting work done in your dorm. You don't want plain and boring; you want something that inspires, keeps you motivated, and puts you in a positive mindset.
Personalize your Desktop
Add your favorite Instagram photos under a plexi top surface.
Dorm Storage and Organization Ideas
Your room would be a chaotic mess without proper organization. Consider these storage ideas to help keep your dorm room neat and organized.
Tower Storage
Use all the vertical space you can.
A closet hanging shelf keeps things hidden, yet easily accessible and organized along with a space-saving, collapsible design that is perfect for the student going off to college.
Stacked Laundry Baskets use less Floor/Closet Space
Organizers
Storage cabinets that dual as steps to a bunk bed
Efficient Clothes Hangers
Shelves for Textbooks
Dorm Entertainment Ideas
If you are hosting any parties or hangouts in your dorm room, it's always good to have some centerpiece of entertainment that catches the eye and becomes a nice conversational item. If you want to properly entertain guests, you need to bring a certain wow factor.
Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector
The HDMI Pocket Projector can connect to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop through HDMI cable and project up to 60-inch wide video on your wall. The projector doesn't take up much space and is much easier to move in and out of a dorm room than any big-screen TV.
Automated Dorm
A student at UC Berkeley found a way to completely automate his dorm room. (Here's another version from a student at MIT.)
Dorm Room Accessory Ideas
Rug
A rug provides warmth and really does tie the room together.
Folding Divider for added Privacy
Dorm Door Mural
More Dorm Inspirational Ideas:
Dorm Loft Beds
Dorm Bedding
Dorm Furniture
DormDesign
Dormify