It’s a memory that many freshman college girls hold near and dear – living on your own for the first time, decorating your dorm room with pretty bed sheets and string lights, exploring the surrounding campus area with your new roomie (who hopefully will be your new bestie!)
With the amount of college room tour videos on YouTube showing freshman their glammed-up dorms, decorating your college dorm is a rite of passage for a college girl. It’s not only an opportunity to make a statement on who you are or what you believe in, it’s also the opportunity to show your aesthetic, your eye for design. It’s a space for college girls to express their individuality. For some girls, like me, who didn’t have a space to themselves growing up, my college bedroom was the first time I got to express myself.
There are many ways you can decorate your college dorm room, from string lights you can get at Target, to posters of your favorite celebrities, to plush throw pillows and so forth. But there is one piece of décor that should be in every girl’s college dorm room: live plants!
Photo of my plant collection – original photo by Yasamin.
You’ve probably seen the TikTok reels of plants covering every corner of the apartment or people showing off their monstera plants, but there are some real benefits to having plants in your house. Multiple studies have linked the benefits offered by houseplants, such as sharpened attention, more productivity, reduced stress and anxiety, and happier outlooks. Research suggests the visible greenery provided by plants is restorative and increases the ability to concentrate. One study done on kindergarten children linked children who spent time in the company of a real plant experienced improvements in concentration and attention. While it’s no secret that houseplants offer many health benefits – keeping houseplants does not have to be hard! For many college students, time is of the essence, which is why I’ve seen many college apartments decorated with succulent plants that don’t require much water or attention at all. But it’s not just succulents that are easy to care for, pothos and spider plants are really easy to take care of and will provide much-needed greenery to your space. Some plants like the Chinese Evergreen plant don’t even need sunlight and can be placed in areas such as a bathroom or kitchen and can provide a splash of pink to your space.
Photo of my favorite succulents – original photo by Yasamin.
However you decide to go about plantifying your college room, just know it’s not supposed to be complex or convoluted. When I first got into houseplants, I would just buy whatever I liked at Trader Joe’s and often forgot to water them, I still do despite having an entire patio lined with plants. Taking care of houseplants doesn’t have to be a chore, it can be a form of escapism allowing you to decompress and step away from the hustle of life to take care of one of Mother Nature’s gifts.