Dorm rooms are the original small space but decorating your dorm room doesn't have to be expensive—nor does it have to a dance-off design showdown like the Target commercial. A bold pattern and bright colors can transform the room and Urban Outfitters has some great options for $30 or less...
Most students go for graphic bedding to liven up their dorm room but when we were in school we opted for neutral bedding and added color and pattern elsewhere. With a twin size bed all you need is a small 3x5 area rug to add some color to the floor. All of these rugs from Urban Outfitters are $28.
Another option for adding color and pattern in a small space is on the windows. No installation necessary, though—simply hang tunnel loop curtains with an inexpensive tension rod (the kind usually used to hang shower curtains) like this one from Bed Bath & Beyond. These great, graphic curtains are all $30 each from Urban Outfitters.
How do you plan to decorate your dorm room this school year?
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Comments (16)
Oh no. Living in Boston, the last thing I want be reminded of are the swarms of college students arriving in town this weekend. It is depressing.
They have some really cute curtains, but their prices are for one (1) panel. There's a really cute flocked one in white with flocked green or black leaves but it's $38 a panel, and my bedroom has 2 big windows so I would need 4. So, I think I'll go to Ikea for my new curtains.
those are pretty decent looking for under $30. i like the numbers one muchly!
You totally know Boston is a major college town when you stumble upon an Urban Outfitters on nearly every corner. How many Urban Outfitters can one place have?
ugh. i'm with you jaclyn. bracing myself... why does it have to labor day weekend this year? i don't want to have to stay in my house, but there's no way i'm braving move-in weekend.
I'm just glad all the college kids are back in school and out of my town and my bars. Having my local watering hole invaded for 3 months out of the year gets to be very annoying.
how is it invading if they're locals?
the trick with UO is to buy the tapestry and sew it into curtains. far more fabric for the $$.
Been trying to get down the street to get curtains and rugs and who knows what else from there for a while. Love the prints. Oh how life can get too busy even to get a couple blocks away to a store.
They built a dorm three blocks from me...not cool, NYU, not cool.
The trick with these wild patterns is to design around them. I got some material from UO that I completely loved, but it really didn't work with the pattern on my couch, so I kept putting off the project. Now that I'm moving from a studio to a place with a separate bedroom, I can edit out the other pieces that don't work with the print. I'm excited!
i bought one of their beautiful bed sheets knowing it'd be PERFECT as a set of curtains. so that's what i did! i now have two lovely curtains for cheap!
The living space in my studio is 9'x13' and since that's where the only heater is, that's where I stay. I have huge closets and a 7'x6' dining aread, but I consider the lr my true studio.
(4) 6'x4' non-plush ikea rugs at $20 each were a cheap, colorful way to hide the dead carpet, but I'm now looking for plush carpet remnants. I'm loving the look of the OU mosaic rug, but I'm all about cheap comfort these days. I see a lot of 8'x5' rugs at Target and Home Depot, but they might as well be made out of sand paper as they're so rough.
why all the hate for college students?
they're in our way.....: )
@Anna-Lisa:
Well, I know, from the perspective of someone who worked in Housing for a well-known, private university here in Baltimore, that those kids - while bringing a lot of energy and fun with them, also bring a whole lot of craziness.
I lived for years in a neighborhood adjacent to the campus, with plenty of students as neighbors, and would find kids puking or urinating in behind my place. Drunk screaming kids running down the street. I will never forget the 2am kids blowing a trumpet (badly mind you) in front of my building.
Plus, the amount of trash they create is crazy, everything can be tossed and disposable as far as they are concerned - and on any given day and in any way imaginable... regardless of how it attracted rats or other pests... or the mess it created for people who had to clean up after them. And to really get a good understanding of who dirty and messy students are in residence halls, stroll thru a dorm building at move out. I have never seen so much destruction and trash and stuff in my life.
Further, the lassie-faire attitude of being such easy targets for criminals made the neighborhood a great place for muggers and smashed windows and break-ins.
That said, of course not all of the students live or behave like that and I am still friends with some of them years after they have graduated etc... but enough of them behaved like I mentioned above in my area that they have a well deserved reputation.
okay so i personally love the quilt looking comforter that is actually in the first picture at the top but unfortuantly urban outfitters does not have that one for sale online anymore... and that upsets me because that would be perfect for my dorm room!
also i love the first rug but that also is not for sale anymore online.... does anyone one know how i can possibly get ahold of either of those things???