Pretty Little Secrets Series: Twelve Ways to Revamp Your Dorm, Sweet Dorm
Moving to college is already a big transition, so naturally everyone gets a bit homesick. To make the experience as smooth as possible, you will want to make your new dorm room feel as comfortable as your bedroom at home. There’s nothing better than coming to a place between classes and at the end of the day that becomes your own chic sanctuary. Here are my biggest tips:
Work on coordinating with your roommate before you get there! Even if you do not want to have everything matching, you can find ways to tie in the same colors, patterns, and more together to have the same essence.
Make sure to pick out your favorite bedding for this new XL twin bed. The worst thing you can do is choose bedding that looks boring and feels uncomfortable. You want to have a bed that you look forward to sleeping in at night for an entire year because it makes all the difference.
Buy a laundry basket to put snacks in! You do not want the chips you buy or extra cookies from the dining hall to take up the space on your desk. Using a laundry basket is a great way to keep everything together and easily accessible next to your mini fridge/microwave, if you end up purchasing one through the school.
Speaking of laundry, make sure to buy not one, but two laundry bags. While you use one to fill your dirty clothes to take to the laundry machines, you will need a backup in case it breaks. I suggest doing a bag over a basket because it’s more malleable and easier to cram in for more storage space. Also, it doesn’t hurt to get a clothing rack to air dry the pieces that cannot go into the dryer.
Buy storage containers for under your bed. Even if you do not want to raise your bed to practically ceiling level, you can place it up far enough to keep the storage containers. It’s a great place to put your out-of-season clothes until you need them.
One important tip is staying comfy! Make sure to bring a fluffy blanket to have in addition to your bedding. It’s great to bring to movie nights at friends’ places or just taking a quick nap on top of your bed between classes.
Buy a light with a clip to put on your bedpost. There are going to be nights that you need to study a little extra or read your favorite book, but your roommate has already turned the light off to go to bed. This is your way around it!
The quickest way to make a room go from drab to fab is adding curtains. You can buy adjustable rods that do not make a hole in the window pane, and voila! Just like home!
Dorm carpeting, if it comes with the room or not, tends to be flat and not that beautiful to look at. I suggest running to Target to grab nice, reasonably priced rugs that will tie the look of your room together.
Mirrors do not always come with a room, but you can purchase cheaper ones in local stores. As a side note for those who do makeup in the morning, invest in getting a makeup mirror because they make all the difference.
Go get one of the 10ft phone charging chords as well as an extension cord. You do not want to fall out of your bed trying to check your text messages. The extension cord is a useful way to be able to work on your computer without having to sit in the middle of the room each time you do it.
Find ways to be expressive in your room! It is of course your room. It’s a great way to make a statement about yourself and the things you appreciate when people come to hang out with you. Hang up your favorite band poster, dream-catcher, painting, and photos. You can get cheap, large paintings from places like Home Goods so you can worry less if any damage is done to them.
I hope these tips make your dorm feel more like home! Until next time!