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One of the hardest parts of going off to college is making it feel like home. The best place to start is your room. It’s the one place that you’ll always have to sleep, eat, cry, study, make new memories, and so much more. My friend and I are rooming together this semester and we decided to curate our dorm room together. We have different aesthetics and we both knew it was important to make our space feel cozy for the both of us!
Door decor
Your door is the first thing that everyone sees. We have our name cards, a welcome sign, and a string of sparkly red hearts in honor of the upcoming holiday. It’s so much fun adding some personality to your door to make it feel like it’s actually your own little home. You can also switch it for holidays, add a white board for friends to write on, or hang up cute art with your name. There are endless ways to be creative!
Posters, plants, wall decor
Hannah: On our own sides of the room, we have décor based on our aesthetics. Hannah loves everything pink and yellow, while Natalea loves greens and purple hues. We both have a nature theme, but Natalea’s is more boho and mine is more cottage-core centered. Natalea decorated above her bed with various hanging decorations and photos of cherished memories. I hung a string of fairy lights above my bed that twinkle in the dark.
Natalea: My favorite decorations are my dreamcatchers, and Hannah’s is her dome of crocheted lilies of the valley that light up. We have a few fake plants strewn throughout our room, including draping vines that frame our mirror and brighten up the dull cinderblock school walls. We decorated our shared walls together, avoiding leaving any space bare. We especially love a good quality poster. They are so easy to put up with what we call “poster putty” to make it simple to take down and it’s much cheaper than command hooks. Personally, I love having all kinds of decorations, because it makes the space feel like a reflection of us!
snacks
We are big time snackers, and we hop on the bandwagon for all the trending treats. Our current favorite is “sleepy girl mocktails“. We purchased a snack cart and make sure it’s always filled with all our favorite sweets, chips, grab-and-go food for busy days, and lots of caffeine. Not everyone feels like walking to the dining hall every time they want something to eat, plus it’s a treacherous journey during the winter months. Having food and drinks that are convenient play a huge part of making our room a home!
Fun magnets
Our refrigerator is plain black and covered in tacky stickers, so we bought some fun, colorful magnets to cover them up. It adds character while also taking away the eye sores of university-provided furniture. Our favorite is a sparkly one that says “Meet Me at Midnight“. Plus, we are able to put up more pictures and show off some of our favorite memories.
rugs
Our dorm room has dark, not-so-soft, blue carpet. With as long as this building has been here, the floor has become pretty unsightly. We both have rugs that cover most of the floor. Hannah’s rug is pastel pink and super fluffy. Natalea has two black and white tribal print rugs that she keeps in front of her bed, and one dark green, braided rug that we keep at the sink. They help to distinguish our individual spaces and are much softer to walk on! Our rugs also contribute so much to our unique styles and to the feeling of being at home.
lighting
Lighting is so important! We hate the big light, it makes the room feel like a hospital. We have two types of string lights, a lava lamp, and a star projector. It makes the room feel so much more cozy! Also, no one wants to take cute selfies with harsh lighting. Hannah prefers to have some sort of nightlight for bed, so the star projector is a perfect compromise! Our schedules also differ drastically on some days, so instead of turning on a huge bright light, it’s much easier to turn on a small lamp. The soft lighting makes our room feel so much more inviting and peaceful. It’s the thing that ties together all our other decor, and makes coming back to the dorm after a long day of classes something to look forward to everyday.
