Every student wants their room to be super trendy and decorative. Whether that be by putting posters up on your wall to adding a bouquet of flowers on your desk, simple things can really change up the atmosphere in your room. The only downside though, MONEY! If you are a standard college student like myself then you are probably very broke and can only afford the bare minimum when it comes to decorating your room. Thankfully, with a few easy and cheap hacks you can be on the way to making your room “tumblr famous!”
1. Tapestries
Tapestries are great because they add a lot of flare to your room. Plus, they nearly cover an entire wall! Instead of filling your space with various posters and pictures, which can really hike up the price, you can invest about $20 in a quality tapestry that will compliment your dorm room perfectly. It is an eye-catcher and can sometimes even be soothing depending on the print you pick! Northampton has great tapestries, especially in Shop Therapy, ranging anywhere from $15-$35. However, I personally like Society6 because you can order tapestries with basically any print you can imagine. Their tapestries average around $40, but are fantastic quality and will definitely last you years.
2. String Lights
String lights are by far my favorite thing on this list. Though, it’s a little overwhelming how many options there are to choose from. There’s battery-operated, electric, twinkle, 100-count, paper lantern variety (illegal in dorms loool), green stemmed, and many many more! After going through trial and error, more so failing, I have finally cracked the string light code. First off, go with white stemmed lights. Unless you like the look of the green ones, the white camouflages in with the wall and makes your room resemble a lit-up christmas tree. Now, the next step is actually figuring out what variety of string you prefer. You can get the standard string lights that fall out in a straight line, or the draping ones that cascade over your walls. The latter is completely up to personal preference depending on where you choose to hang them. Lastly, you have to decide what color you want your lights to be and if you want them to twinkle or remain solid. The most standard light you will probably see is white, but if you have a color scheme to your room and feel adventurous go with a pink, purple, or even blue! Also, if you don’t mind twinkling lights, then go for them. I personally think they are distracting, but to each their own. After hunting down the cheapest ones that gave me a bang for my buck, I managed to find an awesome deal on Amazon. Give them a try and see your room magically transform to “so tumblr” status.
3. Photo Collage
Photo collages are a great way to display your memories and make your room super trendy at the same time! They’re also the cheapest and simplest option off this list. All you need is some pictures, twine, and clothes pins. Amazon sells cheap twine and clothespins; pictures can be purchased very cheaply at www.freeprintsnow.com. Then, you simply hang the photos up on your wall and let your inner creative genius fly. You can make zig-zagged lines with the twine and hang your pictures like that, or simply make one straight line and do it that way. I personally really like this method, using your string lights as the “twine.”
However, if you’re not feeling the whole twine and clothespins idea, just tape the pictures up. You can make it into whatever shape you like and turn your most precious memories into a really decorative picture collage for your wall. I really like this example that I found on Tumblr!
Whether you choose to use one of my ideas or all of them, your room is already on its way to becoming Tumblr famous. Adding a hint of spice to your room can make your space more homey and comfortable. After a long day of classes sometimes you just want to slump in your bed and feel enveloped by your room’s comforting atmosphere.
If you do end up trying any of these ideas out make sure to snap a photo of it and share it with us on our instagram or twitter @hcmtholyoke. No matter who you are, your room is important to you. It is the place you sleep, hang with friends, and watch Netflix all night long instead of doing your homework. You might as well make it super awesome-looking!
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