Campus Castle: Creative Ideas for Decorating Your Dorm Room
First and foremost, you must remember that any health or safety violations will endanger everyone who lives in your room or suite as well as earn you a large fine. If, for example, your dorm handbook forbids hanging things from the ceiling or off of fire sprinklers, find other places to display your model airplanes, posters or other decorations. It’s not worth the risk or the extra money: isn’t the school already getting enough as it is?
Now that the boring part is finished, you can take a step back and look at your room from as many angles as possible. Figure out where light hits the walls and windows. Look for odd-shaped nooks or cut-outs that can be used in creative ways. Take in the colors of the walls and carpeting, as well as any furniture or personal effects that are already in place, and imagine what colors and shapes will work with them. The more aesthetically pleasing your room, the more you will enjoy spending time there this semester. Remember: this is the place where you will sleep, study and hang out for the next three and a half to four months.
One example is to find a small cutaway in one wall: a place where it dips in, possibly because there is an electrical access sector or some other important thing on the other side. What will fit in that nook? You can use your imagination to dream up all sorts of decorations that you can put in that place. Remember to think about colors: a lime-green end table with a hot pink inflatable flamingo sitting atop it just won’t work well on beige carpet.
TIP: use a digital camera or your picture phone to take photos of the walls and carpeting, furniture and personal items. You should snap as many pictures as you can so that, when you take off to shop for new decorations, you can quickly reference them to make sure that the colors and designs – and even patterns – will fit in ways that you like.
You should also take measurements before you shop. When you write down the measurements, round up to the nearest whole number (in inches, preferably) to allow for “wiggle room,” especially when you measure the width of your doorway. Other areas that you should measure include:
-Any place that you intend to put an end table or other piece of furniture. Few things in life reek worse than spending twenty bucks on a brand-new CD tower, only to get it back to the room and discover that it’s just a couple of inches too wide to fit where you really wanted to put it.
-Available space on walls, minus windows and framing. You’ll probably want posters or framed prints on the walls, so you should know in advance where you can or cannot put them. In some cases, you might even find that you have room for more posters than you originally thought!
Tip: make use of your door, even if it’s just the one on your closet. Door-sized posters, which can be found online or at shopping malls, will fit on most doors and add a personalized touch to your space. The best part is that many of them cost under twelve dollars.
-Widths and heights for windows. Many dorms provide blinds but not curtains: you might want a little more privacy and light-blocking action, which is where your own drapes come into play. You can always take them with you or sell them to your roommate when you leave.
With measurements and photos in hand, you can go to craft outlets, flea markets, department stores and other places that might have the decorations you want. You probably have a good idea of what you want, but keep searching while you’re on the road and in the stores, as you will probably see the perfect piece that never crossed your mind before. Sometimes the best decorations come when you are looking for something else.
TIP: Take a friend, preferably someone who lives in the same dorm, along for the ride. A second opinion is always good for decision making, and your pal just might see something interesting that you don’t even notice. Also: peek at his or her room on your way out for even more ideas.
Only you can figure out what is perfect for your space, but here are some tips and suggestions to get you started.
-Keep it small. Throw rugs versus area rugs will be easier to clean. They’ll also take up less space when you have to move all this stuff out at the end of the school year. The same is true of posters, end tables, and any other decorations or necessary items you might want.
-When hanging posters, framed prints or other decorations on walls, look for adhesives that are designed for people in your situation. For example: you can hang a bulletin board without driving monster-sized screws into the walls, which will definitely eat a chunk out of your deposit when you leave. Look at discount department stores or arts and crafts outlets for non-marking Velcro. This material allows you to Velcro your board (or any other object under about nine pounds) to the wall without staining or taking chunks out of it when the object comes down.
TIP: Read the fastener’s packaging before you buy. If it warns you about possible damage to walls or paints, don’t buy it. It’s virtually guaranteed to tear up the walls when your decorations come down.
-Personalize items that came with you to give your room a unique look. If you provided your own mini-fridge, use stickers to decorate the door and sides. If you’re more of the artistic sort, sketch and paint a mural that covers the fridge’s door. Just think: you’ll be the only person in the dorm with an unofficially-licensed fridge featuring your school’s official logo.
-Creative people who enjoy arts and crafts can buy a plain blanket or comforter and decorate it. Embroidery, fabric markers and even iron-on patches can be used to turn a boring blanket into a personalized masterpiece. This requires more time than other decorating projects, but you can work on it a little every day. Add patches whenever you find one that you really like. Use the fabric markers to write your unofficial “slogan of the day,” whether it’s a tirade against a particularly boring class or a reminder to smile and appreciate your surroundings.
TIP: You can do the same thing with curtains, provided that you own them, as well as your pillow cases and backpack.
-Use things that you already own to add something to your room. Displaying your guitar on a floor stand instead of storing it in the case will tell visitors something about you as well as make it easier for you to get to it when you feel like playing.
-Even the smallest pieces and objects can have huge effects. Place prized possessions – even things as small as porcelain figurines or matchbox-sized cars – in places that catch sunlight or attract the eye. If you aren’t sure of where these “hot spots” are, ask one of your new friends to help. Odds are someone in the dorm has a flair for interior design and can offer pointers.
-Comfortable, but unique, furniture will offer functionality as well as make your room stand out. A bean-bag chair in the corner will give you a great place to crash out with a textbook; it will also offer a warm invitation to your new friends.
-Grouping similar posters adds an air of organization without making you look anal-retentive. For example: if you have a Foo Fighters and a Kurt Cobain, put them together. For an even more interesting effect, put them on opposite walls.
-If your school allows you to have a fish tank, stock it with colorful water-bound friends. If that’s against the rules, you can still bring in an aquarium: just use rubber fish instead of the real deal.
TIP: If you have a twisted sense of humor, buy a plush kitten and throw it into an empty aquarium. When asked, tell everyone it’s a catfish. This is guaranteed to either a) make people snicker or b) ostracize you for the rest of your college career. Either way, the reaction should be interesting.
Now that you have your own ideas and a few outside suggestions to get the process going, here are a few tips to make things easier.
-Don’t try to do this all at once. Add a few pieces every now and then instead of spending your first weekend in the new homestead running to every outlet mall and store within driving distance. You’ll wear yourself out, possibly even to the point where you buy things that you really don’t like in an effort to fill space in the room.
-Don’t overdo this unless you intend to live in the exact same room for the rest of your life. All this stuff has to come down and be packed, then hauled around, when the school year ends.
-Be prepared to rearrange and try different things even after you think that you’re finished. You will always find another piece that you want to add, or you will suddenly discover that something you’ve displayed in one corner for two semesters just might look better on a desk. Don’t spend all of your valuable study time rearranging, but don’t feel as if you can never move something once you’ve placed it somewhere.
