Green Your Dorm: A DIY Guide to an Eco-friendly Dorm Room

A dorm room is more than just somewhere to sleep. It's also a study spot, a place to party and hang out with friends, and a potential sanctuary from the hectic pace of Finals. It isn't hard to make it an eco-friendly space, too. First get a feel for the space you're working with. How big is your room? Take stock of the fixed design elements: windows, sink, shelving, electrical outlets, or lighting. Is your room already furnished, and if so, do you want to add more furniture? Once you have an idea of what's already in the room, think about what you want to do with it. Are you going to stay minimalist, or do you want do to some serious decorating? Do you just want to see what happens, or do you want to plan around a theme?

Now it's time to start putting your dorm room together. Furniture is the best place to start, since it will be taking up the most space and dominating the room. If your dorm is already furnished, your work has been done for you. However, if it isn't or if you still want to add a few pieces, there are some easy eco-friendly options.

The first is used furniture. It's cheap and you're not using up any extra resources. It's also not hard to find some interesting pieces to change a fairly institutional space into once that's comfortably bohemian. You can also repurpose items and make them into awesome furniture pieces. The giant reels that hold telephone cable make great coffee tables - just don't forget to sandpaper off the splinters! Take drawers from old dressers or desks and attach them to the wall and you get instant shelving that looks a lot cooler than anything you could buy from a big box store.

While dorm rooms come with their own light fixtures, adding your own let's you change the atmosphere. A string of Christmas lights is a universal favorite for adding a little color or a warmer feel to a room. Instead of buying conventional Christmas lights, spend a little more money and buy a string that uses LEDs. They run cooler so they use less electricity and they last a whole lot longer. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs, or CFLs, have the same benefits as LEDs and are a good substitute for fixtures that would usually use incandescents.

Your bed is one of the most important pieces of furniture in the room. Make your bed an eco-haven by buying organic cotton or bamboo sheets. Buying organic cotton takes a big burden off of the environment - cotton is one of the most chemical heavy agricultural crops. While there is still some debate, bamboo also has the potential to be an eco-friendly renewable resource. It also makes for super silky bedsheets.

Finally it's time to add some finishing touches. Some options that are literally green are houseplants. Not only do they make a room friendlier, they also clean up the air. For more information on the subject and to learn to take care of your little green friends, see "Top Ten Houseplants for Controlling Indoor Air Pollution". This lists the plants that are the best for making your dorm a healthier place and some of the easiest to care for species. Reusing interesting bottles as accent pieces or vases also works well, as does giving band and event posters a new home on your wall.

These are only a few suggestions; there are almost endless eco-friendly decorating possibilities. Do some research, get creative, and make your space the greenest dorm room on campus.