It’s that time of year again. The sun sets earlier, the weather cools down, and you have to transport your entire room and wardrobe from home to Chestnut Hill (and then try to squeeze it into your assigned dorm room). After unloading the car and hauling everything up to your dorm, all the clutter may overwhelm you. But once you organize and put everything away (a task which personally takes me until day five or six), your room can look a little bare. Left this way, you may feel like you’re in a prison barracks instead of a place that’s supposed to be your home for the next nine months. Fortunately, you can avoid this catastrophe if you follow one simple formula.
DORM + DECORATIONS = NECESSITY.
These decorations can come in many shapes and sizes and can actually be extremely inexpensive! If you add some color and utilize your wall space, you will see that your plain-Jane dorm room will become a homey place you’ll want to show off to friends. Plus, who are we kidding? Since when do we collegiettes™ pass up a chance to decorate!
Color, Color, Color…
Whether you’re in a traditional style room, a suite, an apartment, or even a mod, adding color is always key. Since BC’s dorms tend to have tan walls, tan rugs, and tan tiles, adding a little color variation is extremely easy. Your bedspread is always a great place to start. No matter what color you choose for bedding, it will always add a little something to your room. Even black and gray is a nice change from all the tan. Plus, you can color coordinate a rug or throw pillows to the comforter. Rugs and pillows make a great addition to a common room, as well, making the area feel more like a home.
Hanging things on your walls is another great way to add some color to your room, which brings me to tip two…
Cover up those walls!
Once yo u’re all moved in, you’ll notice how much wall space you have. And if you’re like me, you have a strong desire to cover up as much of it as possible- but maybe you don’t know what to hang up. Going through photographs on your computer and Facebook account, loading them onto a flash drive, and printing them at CVS or Walgreens are three easy steps that every collegiette™ should take in the fall. Photo collages are a convenient and simple way to decorate your room. Nina Millman, a junior at BC, shares, “I like to put up a lot of pictures, especially of family and friends. It gives the room a homey vibe.”
Another easy and inexpensive way to decorate your walls is with pages and pictures from magazines. If you scavenge around your house before you leave and gather up some old magazines, when you get to school you can cut out cute pictures or even tear out whole pages to hang up. Every year I always do a wall of magazine pages and it gives an artsy, complete feel to the room.
No matter how you decorate your room, the best advice I can give is to do what you like and speak to your interests. Shannon Beach, a BC senior, explains, “I like to hang up these old records that my friends and I painted over. They’re fun, unique, and reflect my love of music.” If you’re a huge Sox fan, hang up some team paraphernalia. If you love nature, find some awesome posters or paintings reflecting your love of the outdoors.
Decorating can be as simple as how you organize. Caitlin Mann, a junior, tells Her Campus, “I hide as much as I can under my bed in storage boxes (ugly essentials), and I hang up everything I can (the cute stuff- pictures, bags, clothes, hats, jewelry, etc.).” If you put the time into it, your room can become a place you love and want to spend time in, instead of a place you’re forced to be. Just keep in mind ResLife’s rules when decorating, for example, don’t hang anything from the ceiling or nail holes in your walls!