College kids are headed back to campus soon if they're not already there. Do you remember those days (assuming you're not still living them)? The cold brick wall that you weren't allowed to drill into. The lack of storage and playing Tetris with all the furniture you weren't allowed to move out of the room. Oh those were the days. Here's a few tips on making the most of it if you're the one headed back to one of those boring white dungeons you'll call home for the next year!
The folks over at Mint Life have created a fun inforgraphic depicting 14 tips that will help out anyone who is dorm room bound. They range from adopting a house plant to putting your beds on risers for extra storage. Some of them might be no brainers, but would you have thought to put fabric panels on the wall or ditch that long $5 mirror they sell at Walmart for something a bit more thrifted and vintage?
Check out all the tips and the full size version of this colorful graphic over at Mint Life.
Images: Mint Life
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Comments (4)
I would also add that repurposing what you have can do wonders too - or even just using space differently. Bed risers work just was well under a metal futon (and make it feel less like a futon) so you can store underneath. Unused lofting ladders can be used as an extra bookshelf if they have flat rungs.
Buy curtains. No matter how you attach them or where (instead of a closet door or at the head of your bed), just having some kind of personal window treatment does wonders. Cafe rods cost as little as $2, and can be held easily by plastic hooks. Or tension rods work just as well and are a little more versatile. We used velcro strips and a cafe rod to attach our curtains directly to the top of our blinds, and a tension rod to section off a nook for a small closet.
Where's the mandatory roommate and all of her junk, plus her smelly boyfriend?
One of the best decisions of my life: after three years of living in terrible dorm rooms (messy roomates, no light, living in a basement), my senior year I splurged and treated myself to removable wallpaper from Sherwin Williams. My room looked amazing! Colorful, inviting, and seemingly sunnier. And at the end of the year, the paper all pealed off with absolutely no damage--I've seen masking tape leave more of a trace.
Even if someone just did one wall, covering up those cinder blocks and bringing in some color makes a huge difference. Just be sure to cut around all the outlets, etc. or the school will fine you.
Brings back old memories. My solution was to put up posters. I remember finding a local store that sold replica vintage movie posters so my walls so instead of grey unpainted besser block (what we Aussies call cinder block) I had Casablanca, Charlie Chaplin, and the Marx Brothers. I remember someone else having travel posters from all sorts of exotic locations they picked up from a travel agent.
The other thing I remember doing was 'storing' the supplied bedcovering with my own. Both solutions cheap but effective.