Dorm Decorating for Guys 101

The dorm room is where the typical college guy will spend a large portion of his time. Naturally, you want your dorm room to be a comfortable and stylish place to live for the school year. As far as decorating for the college guy, function normally precedes form. However, there are some standards no room should be without.

First, you need posters, and lots of them. Nothing brings down a room like bare, boring walls. Favorite bands, cars and celebrities are all good ideas. A perennial favorite in the poster department is the hot girl with beer genre. Nothing brings a room together like a poster of the St. Pauli Girl with tankards and blouse overflowing. Budweiser always has some fantastic looking girl in a swimsuit on a poster. An excellent site for ordering posters is www.allposters.com.

If the room is large enough, you should definitely consider alternate seating. A couch is ideal, but if you lack the space, a recliner or pappazan chair works as well. It's always nice to have somewhere to sit other than your bed or desk, and is very handy if you have guests in your room. Wal-Mart and Target normally have inexpensive seating available. The truly wily college student will keep an eye on the side of the road for furniture headed for the dump. I personally decorated a room with car seats that had been thrown out. Nothing says style like seats from a '76 Trans Am in your dorm room.

Proper lighting is important to the dorm room. You can never go wrong with the classic Lava Lamp. You can usually find these at any Spencer's Gifts in a mall, or go to www.lavaworld.com to find a retailer. You also need to remember that strings of Christmas lights can be used year round! Use the strings to frame a window, or even your bed frame for that "ready for action" feel!

Since the dorm room is your home away from home, use your interests to decorate! Model airplanes hanging from the ceiling, a collection of Star Wars action figures on a shelf, or a wall full of Hot Wheels display cards are all great ways to spruce up a room. As a benefit, if you bring the stuff from home, it doesn't cost you anything!

If your dormitory allows it, a great way to decorate is to repaint the walls. Sprawling murals or each brick painted a different color really bring a room to life. Not many colleges allow this, but if they do, take advantage of it. All you'll have to do is just repaint the room a neutral color at the end of the school year.

There's really nothing worse than a dull dorm room. This little room will be your home for about nine months, so don't lame out. Your room should be somewhere you and other people want to come and relax!