If you had told me freshman year of college me, that I would be moving out and spending my summer in New York in my early twenties, I probably would not have believed you.
But alas, here I am, spending the summer in my college town, in the beginning stages of my career, and living in a house with my sorority sisters (and a hamster named Staci).
Although my seven housemates already made this house feel like a home, there was nothing more exciting than a blank slate- a new bedroom to decorate to make the transition more comfortable- and dare I say fun!
In 2023 after finishing my freshman year, I shared with incoming Hofstra freshmen How to Make Your Hofstra Suite Feel Like Home, today I share how I transformed an empty bedroom in my college house, into the bedroom of my dreams.
- Make use of your dorm decor
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The room decor can get expensive, my biggest piece of advice is to utilize the decor you already have and display it differently. Living in a home versus a dorm will come with added costs whether that be bigger costs such as purchasing a new mattress, bed frame, or air conditioning unit or smaller costs like groceries. Building off what you already have will help you save your budget!
For me, this looked like using the same picture frames that I had in my dorm and replacing the prints with Pinterest images that I printed at Walmart, displaying the decorations I had on my desk in my dorm, on shelves, and utilizing the same decorative pillows from my dorm.
- MY FAVORITE COLOR IS RED, CAN YOU TELL?
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As every teen girl does, the first step I took was using Pinterest. I typed “red-inspired bedroom” and “red decor” into the search box to gain some inspiration on how I could tie in my favorite color. However, the results were not exactly what I was looking for. I used phrases like “red aesthetic” to find inspiration to help me design.
I included: LED lights, printed posters at CVS using prints I found on Pinterest, added red accents, checkered accents, and small pops of red using red ribbon to tie my curtains or digital camera.
- Storage is a girl’s best friend!
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I thought, moving from a dorm to a house, I would not have issues with storage, however I guess I should have been more grateful for the lofted dorm beds! To maximize storage in my bedroom, I purchased a 4 cube storage desk and a under-the-bed clothing storage. Within these, I store, hair care, makeup, hoodies and other essentials I cannot live without!
As my summer in this house is coming to an end, I cannot wait for my time here to be filled with memories, laughter, and love. Moving out can be daunting, but finding a way to make your new home, YOU, makes the transition so much easier.