A Beginners' Guide to Decorating a Dorm Room

Many cheap and easy ways can be found to kill two birds with one stone by conveniently decorate a dorm room with your storage devices - all you have to do is use your imagination!

The first step to take in your dorm room decoration's fate is to round up all those ideas of yours and write them down. Be specific; list what you want, where you're going to put it, and what it will cost. Most importantly, consider how much space it is going to occupy. How will your dorm room decorations affect your roommate? You wouldn't be very imaginative if you brought too many decorations and had to use his/her bed as storage for lava lamps.

This brings up storage - easily the most important thing to have in a dorm room. Storage is so important because the dorms is such an easy place to lose things via drunken irresponsibility and/or thieving strangers.

The key to storage is organization. And no, we won't be storing any large objects; this is a dorm room not a two car garage. Consider making a storage totem pole (i.e. a ladder or prioritization, with preferred objects being at the top) for all of your items by writing them down along with all of your other items. One major drawback of decorating a dorm room can be all of the unaccounted items that simply end up in the room. Chances are they'll all be relatively small, with school books, CDs/DVDs, important papers or files, medical supplies, personal supplies, food/drink, and pocket change on that list. And trust me, they pile up! My old dorm room could've passed as a junkyard.

But let's stay optimistic here, this article is about decorating. You shouldn't have to worry about the clutter of everyday items when you're trying to make your dorm room look good.

There are a variety of great-looking storage devices, such as shelves and constructed boxes that will serve a utilitarian purpose. But I stress utilitarian because any decoration, regardless of its purpose, will suffer a substantial amount of wear-and-tear in a dorm room. So don't take Grandma's antique coffee table to college with you just because it's got a few extra droors or 'chicks dig it.' Consider putting your feet up on a woven basket or an old wooden chest instead. How cool would your dorm room look with an opening ottoman, a storage device that acts as both a seat and a decoration? Once again, use your imagination.

Another thing to remember when decorating for storage is what you really need to store away. E.g., your empty beer bottles when the dorm's hall director is about to enter your room on a Friday night. Perhaps you should consider decorating with something opaque, inconspicuous, or disposable? I had a buddy whose dorm room practically had hidden passageways. Eventually he was kicked out of the substance-free dorms - and out of college altogether - but perhaps I digress.

College is all about keeping track of things - schoolwork, occupational work, health, etc. And if you initially take care of all those pesky little things that get in the way of your newly-organized lifestyle, via organization and storage (in your new home, your dorm room), then you'll be on your way to success. And, of course, it will help you decorate too.