Creative Storage Solutions for Small College Dorm Rooms

For a college freshman who has been living in a spacious bedroom for their whole life, it can be a bit of a shock to get thrown into something the size of a large closet, and to have to share it with a roommate. There are a number of ways that you can effectively use storage space in a small college dorm room to fit everything you and your roommate need into room in a way that does not look cluttered.

Dorm Room Storage Solution: Extra Closet Bar

One great solution for the girl with way too many hanging clothes is to install a simple hanging closet bar. These can be purchased for a very low price at stores like Target and Bed Bath & Beyond, and they just have two long metal pieces with hangers on the top, and a bar suspended between them. Hang it in your closet to instantly double your hanging space.

Something to look out for with these is that they will not work if your closet is not full length, because the bar will hang too low to hang anything below it without touching the floor of the closet. If you are worried about this, you can wait until you are in the dorm room before deciding whether to purchase a bar, and if it is going to be a tight fit, buy a bar that has a more adjustable height.

Dorm Room Storage Solution: Hanging Closet Cubbies

If you have the opposite problem, and always have enough closet space, but never enough dresser space, one solution is to get a set of hanging closet cubbies. They come in a variety of designs, anywhere from a cylindrical tube of mesh cubbies from IKEA to a canvas set of "shelves" from Target. These usually Velcro easily onto the bar in your closet and allow you to stick whatever you want into them: socks, underwear, scarves and hats, sweaters, t-shirts, and more.

Dorm Room Storage Solution: Under-Bed Space

A lot of space can be gained in a small dorm room if the area under the beds is used effectively. It is great for storage of large suitcases, or for plastic bins or drawer sets. Just make sure that you can easily get to whatever you will need to use on a regular basis that is stored under the bed.

Maximizing under-bed space can be done by lofting the beds, if that is allowed, which means that you can even put things like a desk or couch under your bed. If lofting is not allowed, many schools will have beds with adjustable height that can be moved very high, or allow raisers to be put under the bed to give you another 6 inches or so of storage height.

Of course, you can also bunk the beds, but many students like to have their beds available for sitting on during the day, which is difficult on a top bunk. One very creative solution for this is to do a "corner bunk" at a lower height. With adjustable beds, put one at the highest setting, and the other at the lowest setting, and put them in a corner with the higher bed running along one wall and the lower one along the other, overlapping into the corner. The person on the lower bed can sleep with their feet in the corner, giving plenty of space for claustrophobic people. Plus, you still have storage space under a full half of the upper bed, which is raised very high, allowing most large suitcases to stand up the tall way.