As summer comes to a close, many eager college students have started to arrive at their dorms with optimistic attitudes to begin the new school year. However, whether you're a first-year freshman or an experienced senior, feelings of nostalgia are unavoidable and the need to make your dorm room as comfortable as possible is mandatory. For the next nine months, your tiny dorm room will be the place where you will not only work on your homework or fold your laundry, but it will also be the room to make the best friends and most vivid memories. Here are some easy and affordable dorm decoration ideas that you and your roommate can use to enhance your home away from home.
1. Customized Quote Posters
While Marshalls and Urban Outfitters have great selections of tapestries and posters, there are many Etsy shops that provide more personable options for your dorms. You can choose your favorite Bible verses, quirky sayings, or even your name to print out. The etsy store, designsbyritz, sends customers designs of their own quotes. There are also other etsy stores that provide watercolor-styled posters.
2. Mug Holders
Instead of using simple pencil holders from Target or Walmart, mugs can make cute and practical desk organizers for your makeup brushes, pens, or other small items. This mug from Bed, Bath, and Beyond is available for all 50 states and can be a whimsical, cute reminder of your state regardless of how far you are from your hometown.
3. Mini Plants
Whether real or fake, mini plants make great desk decoration. Real plants not only create cute desk ornaments, but also foster small lessons about responsibility in order to take care of them. Cactuses are some of the most practical options because they are low maintenance plants. The best stores to buy cactus, succulents, or small flowers are Home Depot or Walmart.
4. Garlands
Garlands are easy wall space fillers to add a small string of decorations in your dorm room. Many people like to hang string horizontally across their wall and hang pictures with their friends and family. Either way, garlands are great pieces of decoration because they take little to no room in your snug dorm and add more 3-D decorations that posters don't deliver.
5. Photo Wall
Wall space may be limited in your dorms, but mini versions of the photo collage above can remind you of your favorite memories with your friends and families. Even further, research shows that looking at pictures of you or your friends and family can impact and lift your mood. This can especially be helpful in light of stressful situations like December exams.
6. Shoebox Projector
There are many DIY articles on how to create projectors out of simple items like a shoebox, an iPhone, and a magnifying glass. For dorm rooms that don't have TVs or for roommates that just think that this is an interesting and simple project that they want to try out, Photojojo has an article here to create this creative iPhone projector.
While an empty door room might seem cramped and plain at first site, there are countless methods to make yourself feel at home in your new dorm. College is a time for independence and there is no better way to showcase your individuality than to decorate your dorm to your own choosing and style. You don't have to spend outrageous amounts of energy or money to make your dorm room work. For the next nine months, you and your roommate can enjoy your new home together.
