How to Decorate a Dorm Room Inexpensively

Sharyl Stockstill

College dorms have strict policies about nails, paint and permanent alterations to their buildings. In spite of these strict policies, you can create a fantastic dorm room on a budget without being stuck with boring white walls and standard furnishings.

Select Two Colors For Decorating your College Dorm Room:

The first step to decorating your dorm room is to pick two colors. If you have a roommate, each of your pick one color that compliments the other. If one roommate picks pink, the other should pick a color that compliments it such as black or blue. Now, when you go out to hit the stores you have something to help you choose items that will complement each other in your college dorm room.

Start Decorating Your College Dorm Room by Selecting Sheets and Bedding.

College dorms have beds that are not your normal twin bed variety. A dorm twin bed sheet is longer than the normal twin bed sheets. Be sure to select the proper length when choosing your bedding. The sheets will take up most of your decorating budget and should be your first purchase. Add a blanket and a pillow and you have the most important part of your decorating complete. You can select sheets that fit in with your color scheme then add some decorative pillows for comfort and color. After the bed, consider your towels, laundry basket, trash can and a small rug for the floor by your bed as the next inexpensive items for you decorating scheme. Again, try to stay with the same colors to create a harmonious feel to your dorm room that is inexpensive and cheap.

Invest in Specialty Tapes and Hooks for Decorating your College Dorm Room Inexpensively

The 3M Command products are must haves for any decorating project in temporary housing and are cheap. The Command products are strong yet will not damage any surface. Place the hooks on the walls and then use them to hang up sheets or yard goods to change boring white walls into something special. You can then use safety pins to hang up stuffed animals or other interesting things to the yard goods without damaging your walls. Use this same principal with extra towels or fabric to create inexpensive window treatments that are more fun than the boring shades that come standard in most dorm rooms. At the end of the semester, pull the tab off of the hook and your wall is exactly the same as when you moved in. Look for the Command products in the hardware section of your favorite store.

Use Posters and Pictures to Decorate Your College Dorm Room Inexpensively:

Poster putty works similarly to the Command hooks but will not hold as much weight. It works wonderfully to hang up posters and small unframed photographs of home. Just put a small dot onto the corner of your poster and press firmly to the wall. At the end of the semester, a simple tug will pull it from the wall with no residue or damage.

Most college dorms are shared with roommates. Whatever you do, do not dominate your roommate or let your roommate dominate you. If one roommate is into pink and insists everything in the room is pink, one roommate is going to suffer throughout the semester. Instead, you need to work with your roommate together to create a harmonious room you can both enjoy.

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Published by Sharyl Stockstill - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle

Sharyl Stockstill is a Top 500 Associated Content producer with articles on Shine, Y! Finance, Y! News, Y! Movies, Y Television and Y! Sports. She has also been published in numerous print publications inclu...  View profile

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