College and University dorm rooms are almost always bland and institutional. To make them feel like home, you have to decorate them. Decorating dorm rooms is an art unto itself. They are not very big, yet they must function as bedroom, office, and sometimes as living room or even kitchen as well. You might have it to yourself, or perhaps you share a room – in which case there are two people trying to do all this in one room. That is a lot packed into ones not-so-big room.
The most important things to have in a dorm room are a bed to sleep on and somewhere you can study. Most dorm rooms come with a bed, a closet, a desk with drawers and a chair. This gives you a good start on your room but is very far from being finished.
Dorm Bedding
Dorm rooms come with a bed. Many also provide towels and bed linens, but you should check the specifics that your college or university offers before you arrive. You may want to bring your own thick blankets or duvet because the ones provided are not always very nice and may not be warm enough for winter. Another pillow is also good.
The blankets they provide are often ugly. They may be white cotton, gray wool, or a hideous off-pink color that makes you wonder where on earth they found it. Since you will probably have to buy extra bedding, get something that matches the color scheme of your room. If your room doesn’t have a color scheme yet, get something that you like and use it as a basis for your color scheme.
All bedding should be machine washable and dryable. There usually isn’t room to hang bedding to dry in a dorm room. I’ve tried hanging a sheet over the door, but there isn’t enough time for it to dry before nightfall. They really do have to be machine dryable.
The Dorm Office
There’s usually a lot more studying and large projects required at college or university than you did in high school. You need somewhere to do all that work. This usually means a desk with a computer and some free space to do other tasks. You’ll also need a chair to sit on while you do this.
While universities and colleges have computer labs with computers and printers, you will want a computer and almost certainly a printer in your dorm room. Just before midterms and the end of term projects, the computer labs are often full to bursting. You don’t need to deal with that when you’re trying to finish a project that’s due the next morning. Having a computer and a printer at home will make your life vastly easier.
Apart from having the basic equipment, the most important thing for the dorm room office is that you have a setup that is the right height and has a comfortable computer chair. You shouldn’t have to crane your neck to look down at your laptop screen, nor bend your wrists into awkward conditions to use the keyboard. This is especially important if you are in courses that use a computer a lot such as computer science, engineering or most other sciences. For biology, I used mine almost every day, sometimes for multiple hours per day.
Dorm Walls
Posters are probably the most popular way to decorate your dorm room. They are relatively cheap, and are easy to take to and from home or put in storage for the summer. There are usually places that you can buy posters on campus. They are often available in some campus stores, but some universities also have a large poster sale at some point in September. These poster sales are a great place to get posters because they have an extremely wide selection which makes it easy to find something that suits your taste.
If you use sticky tack to hold up your posters, there will be no holes left in the walls. University housing authorities tend to take a dim view of holes left in newly-built dorm rooms. However, the walls will often have holes already in which case nobody is going to notice if you use preexisting holes to hold up posters or calendars, or if there are a few more at the end of the year than there were at the beginning. Just make sure the sticky tack is fresh enough or the poster may fall down on your head in the middle of the night and wake you up. Been there, done that…
Of course, posters aren’t the only way to decorate walls. I’ve also seen swags of fabric tacked up to cover the walls, and the occasional framed picture. These require tacks or nails. The one thing you cannot do to your dorm room is paint it. The university housing authorities really don’t like it and are liable to fine you.
Dorm Floors
The easiest way to decorate the floor is with a rug. Dorm floors are often hard and cold and rugs are very good at helping with this. Rugs are also an excellent way to hide those coffee stains from the previous occupant…
Hobby Equipment
Don’t forget to bring things to do in your free time. These things are often exactly what’s needed to make the room feel right for you, as well as allowing you to do the things you love. The bassoon in the corner, the windowsill full of plants, and the hockey equipment are a combination that could belong to no one else and will stamp the room firmly and finally as yours.
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Dorm room design
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