Most of us have stumbled upon photographs of perfectly arranged dorm rooms customized with tons of pillows, lights and posters while scrolling through our social media feeds. However, something I’ve noticed with these images is how excessive some of them can be. When it comes to styling a dorm room there needs to be, in my opinion, more of a balance between the practicality of the items in the room and the decor aspect of them. This idea holds true especially for students living in dorm rooms, because the room isn’t yours to stay in for all four years of college. To avoid a chaotic nightmare when packing up your boxes and bins during moving weeks, you should keep your decor items to a reasonable amount. A way to do this without going overboard is by optimizing the functionality of the decor pieces already in your room. By doing so, you can blend personality with usefulness.

Lights:

Lights can serve many purposes in the dorm room, and they come in plenty of options. You can hang up classic fairy lights or multicolored bulbs all over your room, which can help your eyes take a break from the harsh white and sometimes ugly dorm room lighting. If you don’t want to hang the lights on your wall, put them instead around a mirror or a specific spot in the room. An alternative to hanging lights is to buy a simpler but chic desk lamp.

Storage / Organizers:

One of the biggest issues many people have in their dorms is the amount of clutter that piles up. Magazine holders and fabric bins are great ways to remedy this. Magazine holders can help keep all of your books and folders in one place. Fabric bins are spacious enough to fit miscellaneous items like lotions, razors, accessories and medicine. The great thing about these storage items is that they come in a variety of different sizes and designs. You can buy the ones that go with the look of your room or fit your personal style. A laundry hamper is another dorm essential that can be personalized to fit your taste and amplify the decor of the room. There are also other organizers – such as jewelry boxes or pencil holders – you can use to organize the small items on top of your desk. These come in a variety of different textures, colors and shapes.

Doormats and Rugs:

For people who have rooms with wooden or tile floors, a nice doormat can be a useful and fashionable item to have. A doormat not only looks nice, but is also practical because you can wipe your shoes on it to avoid dirtying the floor. A rug can give any dorm room a nice aesthetic and can even help achieve the illusion of having more space if placed correctly. Light colored rugs are especially good at accomplishing this spacious effect.

Mirrors and Frames:

A mirror is an essential item to have in your dorm room if you want to refrain from going to the bathroom every time you want to look at yourself. There are two types of mirrors you can get for the dorm: a desk mirror and a full body mirror. Both are practical and can elevate the look of a room. If you want an inexpensive way to make a simple poster look more classy and modern, try framing it and putting it up on the wall with Command strips. Framing can minimize the amount of posters in your room and make the ones you have stand out.

Pick and choose which of these tips work for you and try them out to spruce up your room this year! You’ll be sure to add both organization and style.

Contact Angie Diaz

at [email protected].