We agree with Grace and wanted to do our part in helping to create stylish and thoughtful dorm rooms. In our search we stumbled upon some great tips that we'll pass along below the jump. Also don't forget that all of our studio apartment tips can be applied to a dorm room, too.
We stumbled upon these 50 tips on Online Classes for decorating your dorm room. The list is long so we thought we'd highlight our faves along with some examples from the AT archives to get you inspired.
Inexpensive Artwork: Dress up postcards by framing them in a grid. We got these frames from Ikea so it wasn't very expensive. But even just using postcards without frames could be a nice focal point if you use versions with a bright blue sky. But check out etsy, ask your friends
Curtains: Find some fabric, or even some dropcloths from the hardware store and replace those dorm room curtains with some you make yourself. Hang them from the ceiling down to the floor to make the space feel bigger and to create a focal point (if you choose a fabric with a lot of pattern). Check out this video for more help.
The Bed Make the bed a focal point (since it's probably the biggest thing in the room). Mix and match bedding from Ross or TJ Maxx or even Overstock so you aren't spending a fortune. Comb thrift stores for fun accent pillows and don't forget about that quilt you got from gramma, it might be chic now!
Craigslist: Comb craigslist for deals on interesting side chairs, artwork and lamps. You can get crazy deals if you're patient and just having one or two pieces that aren't brand new will lend a lot of character to a space. Check out our daily craigslist scavenger and classifieds section for a headstart.
Lighting: Lighting is key, and if you've only been using one overhead light plus a desk lamp, do yourself a favor and bring in 2 more lamps asap. Look on craigslist, look in your parents' garage, see what's possible. Sometimes just adding a new lampshade can make all the difference. And having 3 points of light in a room (in a small space we've heard of people using 11 lamps and it wasn't over the top) helps soften the space and makes for flattering light on faces and a warm ambience.
A Little Luxury: Granted, being a student normally means you're pretty broke, or at least not rolling in cash. But a little luxury can go a long way. Make sure you have a nice hand soap or shower gel so it isn't all bottom of the barrel. Maybe soap isn't your thing... splurge on a nice air freshener, candle or sheets.
Plants Bringing a litle bit of life inside makes a world of difference. Start small and you can do it for free. Check out some inspiration here and here. And here's a link to foolproof houseplants and some indoor plantscapes.
Less is More: This is maybe our favorite tip/reminder. IN a small space, it's not always about jamming it full of stuff or seeing how good at reality sized Tetris you are. Sometimes simplifying your posessions is what actually makes your living space more liveable. And sine a Dorm room is normally no more than your home for 9 months, take advantage of living simply, if only as an experiment.
See the whole list of 50 that inspired this one over on Online Classes.
Do you have a great dorm room? Share it in the Apartment Therapy Flickr Pool!
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Are those photos of Kauai in #4?
2&3 just seem ridiculous unless your dad is Jonathan Adler.
1 & 8 seem the most plausible.
In photo #1, I don't think I would be comfortable sleeping right under the wall shelves...
The photograph in picture one melts my heart. But yeah these pictures are odd examples of dorm room inspiration. Just bring in plants and nice bedding and that's really the most you could hope for.
Hmmm... I'm flashing back to something. What about that amazing design article in the New York Magazine (?) this past fall on... Max... something or other. He has an internship with someone like Ralph Lauren or something, incredible taste, and a darling bar in his itty bitty dorm room. Any one remember what I'm talking about?
Talking about inexpensive artwork: I have an entire collection of original artwork (lithographies, oils, aquarels, drawings...) that I found at Salvation Army, garage sale and such. I only buy when I really like the artwork. You wouldn't believe what people throw out just because the frame or the glass is broken. And I'm not talking about scary clown pictures, I'm talking about art! I even found some pictures worth between 300 and 1200$ on the market! And I paid between 0.50$ and 19$ for it... Here is an example of it: http://lovelivesurvivehome.blogspot.com/2009/12/salvation-art.html
Open your eyes and pay attention, it's worth it.
yup: http://nymag.com/homedesign/spring2009/56426/
I love the use of the tool chest as ... whatever ... in photo one.
But most of these wouldn't have worked for my college dorm rooms.
At my college, everyone was required to live in the dorms unless (a) their parents or another relative lived nearby and the student lived with those relatives (b) they were married.
The dorm rooms were varying degrees of super-small (some were converted closets), and had beds and closets that were anchored to the walls. The rooms I lived in sophomore and junior year even had desks that were anchored to the walls. So you went in, and saw a closet, bed, and desk lined up on each side.
Those of us who had handy dads had shelves built specifically to fit in the odd little spaces at the head and foot of the bed. Those who didn't suffered.
The beds were extra-long twins, which made finding bedding a bit of a task.
And we weren't allowed to hang curtains other than the ugly fire-proof ones the college had.
So the most any of us could do was find a few cool throw pillows or quilts, a neat lamp, a nice rug, and some art that wasn't too heavy to hang with sticky-tack.
The tips listed above are good, but the photos don't seem to fit the topic (perhaps b/c they are mostly large spaces). The article on Max in NYMag is really inspirational and shows all the wonderful things you can do to warm up and efficiently use a tiny space.
When I was in college, we were allowed to paint the room, and they even supplied the paint! We drilled holes for hanging shelves. My roommate and I had a really beautiful (for a) dorm room, with chartreuse walls, dark green closet doors, and a gold shag rug on the floor. They even provided bed spreads the color of your choice, and of course every week we got clean sheets to put on our beds.
Thirty years later, my son's college: no painting, no drilling holes, no changing curtains, etc. No bedspreads, no sheets at all!
those pics are ridiculous. I have never seen a dorm room with hardwood floors, and the walls of ever dorm i have ever been in were cinder block, so hanging anything up was a challenge.
I've never heard of a dorm that allowed candles. A lot of them won't even allow extension cords. Get some decent towels; they make a big difference.
Yeah, most of these ideas are good in theory, but unfortunately, not allowed in most dorms. You would get slammed by a HUGE bill at the end of the semester if you trying hanging artwork or shelves on the walls. And like the person above me said, the curtains already in the rooms had to stay there for fire regulations. :( Same with adding furniture - again, good in theory, but there is absolutely zero space in a dorm room to add your own furniture.
@ aaakid: Where did you go to school?! Pretty nice set up if you ask me!
But with regards to this post. NONE of them are traditional dorm rooms. They are apartments.
This has been mentioned before on AT. Remember this post readers?
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/bedroom/marcelas-simple-chic-dorm-room-105034?image_id=1019300
One of my friends replaced the dingy, stained drop ceiling in his dorm room with a proper drywall ceiling, to give himself more head room. Recessed lights and everything. But that pushed the building manager just a bit too far and he had to remove it.
On the other hand, we did install a manhole cover in the floor of a lounge without problems. And a friend in another dorm built a loft structure that created an entire second floor in his space. (Bed-sized lofts were normal, but that one was amazing. Too claustrophobic for me, though.)
burnttoast,
I went to a UC campus, and graduated over 30 years ago. As I said, my son cannot do any of the things we did. I don't think he's even allowed to use thumbtacks. His dorm looks like a prison cell.
My dorm definitely looked like a prison cell. The most I could hope for was not being in it very often.
Sigh...I'm gonna have to agree with everyone else here, AT...keep working on understanding what a "dorm" is...not ONE of those pictures looks anything like any dorm room I have ever seen.
If you'd like, I can pass on some perhaps helpful images as someone who actually lived in a dorm. It just seems like AT doesn't understand the deal with them....I mean, we all keep telling you that they have ugly carpet, you can't do anything with the walls, lots of cement, terrible wall colors, cramped space, crappy furniture...not to mention being on your own for the first time with a limited budget and dealing with a roommate. But then you still show pictures like the first one up above, which is gorgeous! But not a dorm room. Not even close.
my alma mater had a variety of housing from different eras. some buildings were those 1' sq. peel and stick tile floors with cinder block walls covered in beige epoxy paint (very slick) and beige curtains that were not removeable. the closets/storage/dresser vanity and desks/bookshelves were attached to the walls. the beds and desk chairs were the only moveable pieces. then another building was a converted mansion, basically. that had wood floors, french doors, window seats because of the awkward subdividing into rooms. a few rooms (former ballrooms) were huge suites, while others were tiny boxes although homier for not being prefab. and then there were other prefab buildings with dingy dark carpet, small windows and shared bathrooms with partition walls btw the toilets. no stalls.
candles and incense were uniformly banned as a fire hazard. there's really only so much you need in a dorm room. that it is your home for nine months is a big deal. it needs to have enough of you - the resident - to keep you sane, but it is a distinctly environment from your actual home and needs to feel that way. how many went down in your dorm that you would never do in your family's house? a dorm room is a separation from home, the first adult living experiment.
My university was the same way, Lady J. My dorm room sophomore year was one of the great ones -- hardwood floors, 10-foot ceilings, and a bay window with a window seat. And it was bigger than my current apartment. A friend's room -- in an older building that has since been torn down -- had a screened-in porch.
One of my roommates was an art major, so a lot of her stuff hung on our walls. But we used to hit up the student art sales at the end of the semester. We bought a lot of cool stuff there.
Great article! We've been very interested in dorm room design and written a few blog posts about it as well; has anyone considered vinyl wall decals as a way of decoration? They're inexpensive, and leave no residue on the walls, making them perfect for dorm rooms. Here are two blog posts we've written that show how they can be used; hopefully they will be of interest:
http://walldecalpal.com/walldecalblog/2010/01/wall-decals-that-commemorate-our-bffs/
http://walldecalpal.com/walldecalblog/2009/08/dorm-room-dazzle-with-wall-decals/
I wonder this every time I read an article on dorm rooms on this site: Where are these people going to school? Real dorm rooms at 90% of colleges look like prison cells, with tile floors and cinderblock walls. These always look like off-campus apartment housing.
The first picture is the only one that looks vaguely feasible in a dorm. The lampshade is cute (is that a tutu?); dorm lighting is pretty harsh.
The windows in my dorm let in lots of light, but their roll-down shades and black metal frames are really hideous. Thankfully, we're allowed to put holes in the walls. I picked up a sheer floor-length white curtain for $10 and cut a curtain rod from some scrap aluminum tubing -- my room instantly looked about 5x prettier.
When will this site actually show real dorm rooms and not college apartments?
@ChrisGal: probably about the same time there are more real flats shown and not idealistic showrooms :)
True true Emika
A lot of stores were mentioned, but I didn't see the #1 online dorm specialty retailer .... Dorm Co (http://www.dormco.com).
The majors always hit the articles, but they don't do dorm stuff year round and can't answer any dorm type questions.
-Jeff
Going to college truly is a privilege and it is also quite expensive. This is the reason why so many student that badly want to get into college, work hard their entire lives to get a scholarship. Because there are so many expenses to think about, you wouldn’t want to spend a fortune on dorm furniture. One way to save up on furniture is through wholesale college dorm furniture.
url: http://furnituresite.info/dorm-furniture-wholesale/wholesale-college-dorm-furniture-cheap-and-practical/
I just finished my first year of college at my cramped dorm room and I can tell you that this advice is almost impossible to follow on a student budget and in a room that looks more like a hallway with barely 4 feet between one bed and the other.
The way I made my dorm work was with creativity... I did a clothesline along my wall, from which I hung pictures and flyers, hung string lights across my ceiling (which was a hassle everytime we got room checks, but totally worth it), plastered my wall with posters of all shapes and sizes, got a bunch of cushions for my super cheap bedding and a cheap long-hair rug for the floor that I split with my roomate. As long as you keep it matching, quite frankly, you don't need to spend more than 100 on decorations to make your dorm the "coolest room on the floor" :)
AT, i love you to pieces but this is getting silly. please please show me a real dorm or realisting apartment! while we all wish to live in charming and individualistic flats in the city, some of us have to settle for cookie cutter apartments in giant complexes or 12x12 dorm rooms on campus. i want to see pictures of real dorm rooms!
Check out great dorm room bedding and decor photos- dorm decorating tips...
http://www.decor-2-ur-door.com