This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Ohio U chapter.
It is that time of the year. The sun blooms through your window early in the morning, and here it is. You smile. It’s that day.
It is time to move into your dorm room. Now, while your younger friends struggle with what to wear on their first day back to high school, you will be in a frenzy, trying to pack everything you own into your parents’ clown car you swore would be big enough to fit your three bins of clothes, your bedding, your ridiculous amount of shoes, your carpet, the toaster you are not allowed to bring… basically everything under the sun.
Finally, you are there. The struggles are over and you can finally turn that blank slate into something that will reflect your inner light. At Ohio University, what most students struggle with when decorating their new space is the fact that they cannot put thumbtacks in the wall. So my friends, Command Strips will be your best friends in this episode of “Flip Your Dorm Room.”
If you’re going for a cute, matching color scheme between your roommate and yourself, there will need to be some communication. You do not want to show up with bright orange bedding while she has Valentine’s Day red bedding. Your eyes will bleed! Whether your colors are complementary, subtle, or bright, there should be some coordination between you and the mate.
Are you a poster girl? Take an entire wall and dedicate it to your collection of Robert Downey Jr. posters. Hey, we’ve all been there. We understand celebrity obsession.
Maybe you are a girl of tapestries and beads. Commit to one wall for your tapestries, otherwise your dorm room will feel even more enclosed with a large tapestry on every open wall. Decorate around the large things; put up small posters or event notices around the tapestry or bed. String lights through the slats of your bunk beds. Take your hanging beads and hang them behind a focal point: your TV, your computer, or desk. It won’t be too distracting and you can add some small pieces to the side to create a more feng shui feel.
Decorate the space that is considered yours: by your bed. Add graduation photos, pictures from your family trip to Buford, Wyoming, your artwork from high school, posters of encouragement, etc. If you want Winnie the Pooh on your wall, then dang it, you put Winnie the Pooh on your wall and you be proud of it. Show that sucker off to everyone.
Next, we all know how to use Pinterest. Sometimes, their fun ideas are too hard for us lazy college students, but there are some very cute and easy decorating ideas on Pinterest that even the laziest hippie can master!
Lastly, you just have to organize your room. Decide if you want your beds bunked or separated. Do you want the futon here or there? And trust me when I say, you want a futon.
To complete the girls-college-dorm-room look, unpack your makeup and throw it on the shelf. Have one shoe in a pair strewn all the way across the room. Lose your phone 12 times in the course of a week because your desk is a mess. Have a pair of panties hanging from the end of your bed because, hey, that’s going to be a wonderfully awkward story to tell after you invite boys on your floor in to check out your crib. Make your room comfy, and to make it comfy, you have to make it you.
**STORY BY GRACE HERMANNS