School is back people!!!! Time for textbooks and out of whack eating schedules!!! If there’s one thing to me that’s more important than it should be to me about the college experience, it’s feeling at home.

I don’t want to feel like I am temporarily staying (although I in no way, shape, or form intend to be in college forever), living out of a suitcase, or just dropping by to get some sleep in when I come home from classes. I want it to actually feel like home, a safe place I come to rest, turn my record player up to max volume, and let my guard down for a little bit. I want to be encouraged to stay.

I really struggled freshman year with this, and it made me have a really hard time wanting to go back to my apartment (bad roommates + bare walls = sad times), and this ultimately resulted in me taking literally forever to settle into college and realize I was staying for four whole years, not just a few weeks. It was the worst feeling, kind of like I was filthy and just couldn't take the proper shower I needed.

My roommates this year are also my besties, at times an extended part of who I am, and we have transformed our little apartment from looking like a hospital waiting room to the set of an HGTV teenage girl reality show. I finally feel at home with these beautiful girls and the beautiful place we get to call our home.

If you are looking to brighten up your college home away from home as well, I would recommend these five tiny things that make a huge difference in cozying up the place!

1. Plants

I mean come on who doesn’t like plants!!! Satanists and serial killers probably!!! The fun part is they don’t even have to be real! Let’s be honest, sometimes I forget to feed myself in college, I really shouldn’t be responsible for caring for an additional living thing.

Hobby Lobby can hook you up with vases, fake succulents, fake bouquets, and those cute plant hangers. It’s truly amazing what a few sunflowers can do for not only the living room but your mood as well. It’s hard to stay mad when you come home to bright plants everywhere!!

2. Diffusers

Now hear me out on this one. I used to be slightly against diffusers, thinking essential oils didn’t really work and were just a fad, but I have finally accepted the truth. Oils are kind of on the expensive side of things, but you can find diffusers on Amazon for as little as $15.99!

They are natural, smell great, and make me feel like I have my life together more than I actually do!!! My diffuser changes colors so it adds a pop of color to our kitchen. Let the testimony state that I really struggle with having nightmares all the time but diffusing lavender before bed has really helped them lessen and go away!

3. Pillows

Alright, ladies (and guys too) I know you can’t resist a good throw pillow. Between Target and Hobby Lobby, it’s all way too tempting to resist. They’re fuzzy, they’re colorful, and they make binge-watching Netflix on the couch that much more enjoyable. Not only are our throw pillows as cute as it gets, they have encouraging messages on them, and you can never have too many of those!

4. Wall décor

If there’s a blank spot, go ahead and slap a canvas on it. We’ve got a huge tapestry that I got for only $12.99 on Amazon, Christmas lights, Canvases (some of them are homemade by my super artsy and talented roomie), wall plants, a big magnet board, etc! All this wall decorating allowed each of us to all to add our personal touch to the apartment, especially the homemade canvases with our favorite song lyrics on them. This really just added so much color to our home.

5. Rugs

Let me be the first to say that rugs make rooms so much happier than they are without them. We have a huge old rug from my house in our living room and I truly think it’s the finishing touch.

We even have small ones in the kitchen because no one wants to wait with their cold feet on the cold floor while waiting for your Keurig to be done with your coffee in the mornings. It’s like the floor is giving your feet a hug. Go ahead and invest in a foot hug.

Last but not least, bonus points if you have sweet, loving, rays of sunshine roommates like I do! We have plants in our apartment as far as the eye can see, but the real thing I look forward to seeing after a long day are my gals. Their bright eyes and sincere questions melt my heart more than any throw pillow ever could.

I truly hope your deepest, truest sense of home comes from people. Our Christmas lights will eventually die and have to be replaced, I will graduate and leave my college town, but the true home I find in the girls in my house is here to stay.