Going off to college can be very exciting, and decorating your first college dorm room can be super fun. But more likely than not, you will have one or more roommates that you must take into consideration when it comes to the décor of your dorm room.
Your dorm room is destined to become your home away from home, and your roommates likely feel the same way. Coming to decorative compromises that everyone can enjoy will make the décor of your dorm room satisfying to one and all. The tips that follow will help:
- Contact your college or university well before the term begins and request contact information for the roommates that you will be living with. Getting in touch with your future roomies early allows you to work together to determine the best décor for the room – and so that everyone can have a ‘voice’ in the choices that are made. Another advantage to contacting your roommates early is that you can plan out who will bring what. Space is limited in most dorm rooms. If you can determine early on that one of your roomies is bringing a microwave, you won’t end up with two – and so on.
- If you can’t agree on a theme for the dorm room, then equitable division of the space will have to do. Dividing the areas into distinct places for each roommate is a good idea when no one wants to go with a particular theme. You can also divide the spaces into sleeping spaces, leaving a common area for everyone for studying and entertaining. This arrangement works out well in many dorm rooms, and roommates report that it allows them to bring their individual tastes and preferences into play.
- Find ways around the “no nails and no paint” rule. Most colleges and universities have set out guidelines that specify that dorm room occupants cannot paint the walls, use nails for hanging pictures or photographs, or modify the room in any way. With a bit of creativity, you can get around those stipulations. Instead of paint, opt for tacking up beautiful fabric instead. Hang posters with special adhesive that peels right off the wall. Add splashes of color in your accessory choices to liven up those dreary white walls. Get all of your roommates involved in decorating the room, or at least common areas of the room.
- Learn to downsize. No matter how spacious your room was at home, your college dorm is likely a bit cramped. Invest in furniture that pulls more than one purpose, like an ottoman that doubles as a storage trunk, or a couch that pulls out to make a bed. Maximizing your space will go a long way towards helping decorate your dorm room to make it truly yours.
If you can’t find a good roommate, try doing free people search by criteria such as “interest” (a lot of students are looking for roommates at the beginning of the school year) and see what you come up with. Good luck!
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This is always great to have a nice and simple dorm room for the college or university life. But the main thing is our nature- at that age most of the boys do not get the time to decorate it or the willingness. Again if you have to share your room then it is quite impossible if your room partner is not same minded.
And it is really creative if one could decorate this small space.
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