Decorating a Dorm Room for Less Than $100

When Jeni was headed off to college the first time, the farthest thing from my mind was decorating her dorm room. My home is still decorated in "early marriage" style, so my skills at decorating were non-existent. Fortunately, my daughter is more creative and very gifted in that area. We walked into her dorm room and were shocked to find solid white walls (no nails allowed), horrible blinds and a twin bed that would never take twin sheets. The tile floor was cold and unwelcoming and the second bare bed showed there would be a roommate showing up eventually. I looked around and couldn't decide where to start. My daughter took me by the hand and I grabbed my credit card. I knew this was going to be a killer of a shopping trip. However, Jeni surprised me and kept the expenses under $100 by being intelligent, creative, and keeping things simple.

The first place we hit was Wal-Mart. The advisors at the dorm said we could find the proper sheets there. They had a nice selection of sheets for $18. Jeni selected one fitted sheet only. We went to the regular department for a standard twin top sheet and pillow cases. This saved us nearly $16 over the cost of the dorm size sheets. With our savings, we bought a second flat sheet. The bottom sheet Jeni picked out was a dark blue and we selected the top sheets in a contrasting emerald green.

The next stop on the shopping trip was to the hardware department. There we found special hooks and hangers that would not damage the finish to the walls. These could be used and would hold securely and removed without a trace at the end of the year. We spent $9.13 on a small selection. We stopped by the fabric department for safety pins and a couple of remnants of matching cloth while we were at it. The hooks worked well on each side of the window and the remnants were easy to hang as curtains by using the safety pins to fasten them to the hooks and to each other. The curtains cost a total of $4 for everything.

We used a second series of hooks and hangers to hang one of the flat sheets against the wall beside her bed. This instantly transformed the boring white wall to a beautiful emerald green. We used more safety pins and some of her treasures from home to hang them to the sheet.

We also found poster putty in the hardware department. This let her put a collage of pictures from home over her bed. The poster putty is easy to use and will not damage either the wall or her pictures.

The final touches of our dorm decorating shopping spree included a navy trash can, an emerald colored hamper, and two inexpensive throw rugs. One is dark blue, the other emerald and is much nicer than the icy cold tile floor first thing in the morning.

By the time I was ready to leave my daughter behind, she had a cozy and comfortable dorm room that was personalized and reflected her personality. We had spent less than $100 for everything. My wallet was very pleased at our ingenuity and my daughter was excited to start on the next phase of her journey. Though it was hard to leave her behind, it made it easier to know that she was happy in her newly decorated dorm room.

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