Starting a new year in college can be the perfect time to redesign and revitalize your dorm room or apartment! Sometimes you just need a fresh start to match your new hairstyle, major, friends, or your post break up glow. Whatever it is, it’s a perfect time to say “NEW SEMESTER = NEW ME.” Now we all know dorm or apartment shopping can be the best thing ever……..until you start looking at the prices of all the items that you “need” to make your new space perfect. I have 5 tips to help you create your new semester aesthetic without breaking the bank.
Now this can be a game changer when re-doing your dorm room. Adding a new pop of color like pink, mint, coral, or yellow can make your old room a completely new place. If your room is already color tones like black, gray, or white this idea would be super easy to try and you could interchange the pillows to give your room a funky new spin every week if you wanted to. Just be creative. My room is gray now and I added a mix of different textured pillows that are mint, gray, and white to give my room some cool definition.
This is the most fun way to update your crib. My friends have been known to update their rooms by going on Amazon and buying LED strip lights. The LED strip lights are cool color changing lights that can give the room a vibe. And this vibe can be whatever you want when you want it to be. You can change the color to bright green when you are having a party, blue when your feeling calm, red when you’re in your feelings, or you can make them flicker. It’s up to you.
An alternative to the stick on lights would purchasing color changing LED lights. You can find these lights at your local thrift store, yard sale, Target, or Walmart. Lighting can add an artsy or unique character to your room. These would be great conversation pieces when you invite people over and makes your room memorable.
This one is for my sentimental people out there who hoard thousands of photos on their phones and never do anything with them. Take your favorite 10 or 20 or 50 pictures and get them printed at a nearby Walgreens or CVS. Walgreens and CVS usually have discounts so your purchases shouldn’t cost too much. Once your photos are printed they can displayed in frames, a cork board, on a mirror, on string lights, or a picture wall of photos and update as the year goes by.
This will be the most obvious change you make because it will totally revamp the space. Sometimes moving items is the best way to get out of a funk or just simply create a new start in an old place. Maybe moving your desk in front of your window will help you stay awake while doing homework, or moving your bed to another can open up the space and give you more room to walk around. Just try it out and the beauty of moving furniture is that you can move it back if you don’t like it.
Most people won’t think of candles when thinking of revitalizing their dorm room. The ambiance of your room can start with the smell. Most dorm rooms are old and have a permanent smell and adding candles or plugins to the room can give you a signature scent.Try playing around with different scents throughout the semester. You can have a nice fresh summer smell at the start of school, a spicy pumpkin smell during the fall or warm baked cookies before winter break. All of these smells can transform your ordinary dorm room into feeling like your home away from home. Your dorm room should be your sanctuary.
My favorite way to try new smells are plain old candles or a wax burner. But there are so many options from essential oil diffusers, incense, candle burners, candles, plugins, candle heaters, or you can try an air freshener. My top tree smells are Ocean Breeze, Pumpkin Spice, or Mahogany Teakwood.