Summer has finally come to an end and the new school year is here! Depending on where you go to school, it has likely just started or is going to start shortly. If you are a new college freshman, you are in such an exciting stage of life! You’re probably feeling a ton of emotions ranging from nervous, excited, confused, and probably a whole bunch more and that is completely okay! You’re moving out of your home and on your own for probably the first time ever. You might not know many people at your new school, and on top of all that, you are moving into a dorm room with a roommate, you may or may not know.
The whole situation probably sounds overwhelming and crazy, and I am here to tell you it is. It absolutely is. But, college will also be hands down the best four years of your life. You are going to make friends that you’ll have the rest of your life and have so many amazing experiences. I know at least for me, the whole dorm experience was overwhelming and stressful at first, so I wanted to make this blog to talk about a few easy ways you can make your dorm room more comfortable and one less thing to stress about 😊
The first way to make your dorm room feel a little more like home and comfortable is to make it welcoming and inviting for guests. A typical dorm room is small and a little uninviting. A really easy way to create an inviting space without having to buy or do anything is to keep your blinds open and allow in as much natural light as possible. This will help keep your room feeling airy and bright.
Since your room will already be airy and bright because of the natural light, choose a color scheme that goes hand-in-hand with that. When picking out the color of your bedding go for a lighter color rather than a darker color. Choose bold and welcoming colors for accents throughout the room.
Like I just said, color choice is a really easy way to make any space more welcoming and inviting. If you have a roommate you could take it one step further and coordinate with them to come up with a color scheme for the entire room, rather than just your side. This creates a uniform look that will be really pleasing to anyone who walks into your room!
Tying into creating an inviting space is incorporating a rug. Again, you can coordinate with your roommate and have it in the middle of the room if you want, or you can have your own personal rugs. It’s up to you! Either way, rugs are a solid way to make any space more comfortable. It covers up the cold floor and adds another pop of color to your room. You can pick a fun color or a fun shape to make you feel more at home and comfortable.
I know what you’re thinking...why would I buy cooking utensils and tools for my dorm when there’s no actual kitchen and there are plenty of dining halls that make food for you? Trust me. There are going to be a few times during the year where you just can't eat dining hall food anymore. Completely understandable.
That’s why it’s nice to have a few of your own cooking supplies for when this does happen. If you are already cooking, you can invite some people over and make it together. Not to mention, cooking definitely makes you feel at home. You can cook the things your family cooks to help with any homesickness you might be feeling.
Creating a gallery wall is next on the list. This is going to be the longest topic on this list because I think it is truly the most important thing when making your dorm room more comfortable and homey. I mean I know when I was a freshman in college, especially at the beginning, I really missed my friends and my family. So what better way to help with this than to post pictures of them on the walls in your dorm room? There are so many really cute and different ways to hang and post photos in your room, so we will go over a few of them 😊
If you want to make a whole wall of pictures in your room, you can string them together using cute clips or clothes pins. You can find these for a really affordable price online, or even at your local craft store. This is a really easy way to hang up a lot of different photos without taking up a lot of space. Not to mention, it looks really cool.
As I’m sure you know by this point...we are a window film company and we are lucky enough to have our own in house graphics team that produces our custom graphics. I feel like our typical audience might not be college students, which is why I was really excited to write this blog. Window film and custom graphics can totally work for college students!
I understand you might not want to install a window graphic or a wall graphic because that’s not really realistic. You are only going to be in that room for one school year and having an installation crew come to install it and again to remove it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
I mean you can absolutely do that if you want and your school allows it, but I do understand how that might not be realistic for everyone. If you are looking for that, you can have a custom graphic installed to your windows or your walls. You can also have dry erase film installed to your windows and walls as a study tool throughout the school year.
If the window and wall thing isn’t for you, you can have custom graphics printed onto a board or a sign. You can easily have them printed up before you go off to college and it doesn’t require an installation crew going in and out of your dorm room. Another plus side of installing custom graphics to a board or sign is that you can easily transfer it when you move to another room the next school year. You can keep them with you throughout your whole college experience!
When it comes to seating, the standard dorm room typically has a bed and a desk chair. It doesn’t really scream, “come in and hangout!” I know your dorm room might be a little on the smaller side, but maybe think about incorporating a few additional seats in there to make it more welcoming and inviting.
It doesn’t have to be anything big or extravagant, it can be on the more simple side. Stop by the store and pick up a futon or another fun chair for your dorm room. Not only does it give you additional seating for your guests, it’s additional seating for you! It’s another place for you to do your homework or get your work done. It’s easy, doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money and can make a big difference in the long run.
There you go! A few really easy ways to make your dorm more comfortable. Like I said at the beginning of the blog, being a college freshman is such an exciting time, but is also filled with a lot of uncertainties. I hope this list gives you a few ideas on how to make your home away from home a little more personal and comfortable. As always, if you are interested in custom graphics for your home or office, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!