Going to college is an exciting time for teenagers. For the first time, they’ll be living on their own without you under the same roof. As exciting as this transition is, however, it’s also an overwhelming one. One way you can help make this transition easier is by helping your child decorate her dorm room so that it reflects her personality and individuality. It’s important to remember while you’re preparing to decorate that space is limited and that your teenager will need to coordinate with her roommate before taking over the whole room. These 24 blog entries are full of design plans, wall decorating ideas and storage solutions that help you maximize both horizontal and vertical space.
Design Ideas
In the interest of cohesiveness, it’s a good idea for your teen to get to know her roommate prior to college. This allows them to coordinate colors for bedding and decorations so the room looks put together. If their decorating tastes are patently different, you’ll want to make sure that your teen decorates only her side of the room. These six blog entries look at several different dorm room design options that could be the perfect inspiration for your teen.
Dorm Room Ideas for Girls By coordinating colors a dorm room can achieve a cohesive look.
Decorating Your Dorm Room: The Bed If both roommates like the same bedding design they can buy it in different colors to complement each other.
College Tip Thursday: Dorm Décor and Storage! This post explains how you can maximize space in a dorm room for two.
Dorm Room Design: Inexpensive Decorating Adding additional shelving units can work double duty as both a storage solution and room divider.
Dorm Room Decorating Ideas If you will have bunk beds, these ideas might help you find a design that both appeals to both roommates.
How to Decorate a Dorm Room Space You’ll find several different room ideas on this blog post.
No Holes Wall Décor
It’s not uncommon for dorms to forbid students from putting holes in the walls. Luckily, there are plenty of solutions available that allow students to hang artwork and other wall décor up without hammering in a single nail. Take a look at these six blog posts for lots of decorating ideas that don’t require nails.
Wall Décor No Nails You can create a frame wall by using Velcro on the back of picture frames.
5 Rent Friendly Ways to Display Art Without Damaging Your Walls This post suggests using removable hooks or a picture wire strung across the room to hang art.
Dining Room Wall Art {Poppy Seed Projects} Command adhesive strips come to the rescue for this decorator that doesn’t want to make holes when hanging artwork.
5 Cheap Ways to Decorate Rented Walls (And Keep Your Deposit!) Use decals in a repeating pattern to create a tasteful wall design that can be removed when you leave.
How To: Make Removable Fabric Wallpaper By using starch you can cover a wall with colorful fabric to create a statement wall that is easily removable.
3 Tips to Help You Transition into College To personalize a dorm room, consider having customized decals made.
Small Space Storage Tricks
Items that have hidden storage space are a good investment for small spaces like dorm rooms. You can also purchase items that do double duty to help maximize space. You’ll find plenty of space-saving ideas on the next six blog entries.
Dorm Room Ideas That Won’t Leave You Broke Find ideas on how to jazz up some old shoe boxes into pretty storage on this post.
And Storage Ideas for Your Dorm Room and Other Small Spaces Hanging a tack strip along the wall give you a way to hang a lot of different things.
Dorm Room Decorating Ideas Space bags are a great way to store off season clothes without taking up very much space.
How to Store More Stuff in Your Study Space Read this post to learn different tips to use shelves to their best advantage and file boxes for extra papers.
Good Dorm Room Ideas for Storage Organization Use a rolling cart to store cords and other supplies, then roll it around when you need an extra work surface.
The Art of Living in a Dorm Room Use pieces that serve double duty and that have hidden storage to help capitalize on space.
Go Vertical
Floor space may be limited in a dorm room, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t viable space to take advantage of. For instance, you can hang removable hooks and buy shelving to stay organized and cash in on vertical space. For other vertical storage ideas check out these six blog entries.
Make Your Dorm Room a Bright and Airy Place Use the back of doors to hang shoes and add lifts to a bed to store more things under it.
Design Your Dorm Room Use hanging storage in closets to capture as much space as possible.
7 Tenants of Dorm Décor Use shelving, command hooks and other vertical spaces to get the most bang for your square footage buck.
College Dorm Room Shopping Part 3: Storage Buy tall book shelves that aren’t too wide so that you can use your vertical space.
5 Dorm Room Organizing Ideas Double your closet storage with a hanging rod or shoe hanger to take advantage of space.
Maximizing Space—Dorm Room or Apartment Take a look at these wire baskets that are in a frame that is 7 to 8 feet tall for another storage solution.