My College Dorm Room: Maybe Some Hacks, Tips, but Mainly Me Going to Miss Living Here

Dorm Room 101 // Also Nostalgia That You Didn't Ask For

The main reason I took these pictures was so that I'd never forget this room, the memories, the hours I spent planning and decorating. I've shown it a million times on campus tours, had girls spend the night, cried on the bed/couch/floor, watched countless Netflix episodes, done a homework assignment or two, the list is endless. This place is my home. Also, I've never forgotten my keys and climbed through the window because that is something I would never do. Ever. 

Since I did spend three years attempting to perfect this set up, I thought that maybe I could turn this into some helpful hints/necessities for planning your own college dorm. We'll see. So here goes nothing:

General Room Necessities

1. Lamps / Christmas Lights- I'm not the biggest fan of the overhead lighting that comes in every dorm, so I bought a couple of lamps from Walmart that are in two corners of my room. I also have a couple strands of Christmas lights (that suddenly, a good chunk of them stopped working. I'm thinking something scary and "Stranger Things"-esque is going on): one above my bed and another strung across my wall of canvases/etc. I love to keep my curtains open and allow natural light to come in my room. Also you can spy on people who are playing Spikeball on the quad or breaking up on the "break up bench". 

2. Carpet / Rugs- Nothing is worse than a cold concrete floor except maybe a cold heart. This is a worthwhile investment. One of my rugs is a larger tan rug borrowed from one of my cousins. The other is a fluffy dark blue rug from Walmart. 

3. Curtains- Curtains are the most underrated dorm accessory. They truly make a room feel more like a home, especially since the other option is a piece of plastic that makes an annoying sound when you pull it down.

H111 Specialties

The first two things people notice and comment on when they enter my room are my duvet cover which is a map of the world where each country is made up of a different pattern (duvet cover and pillow cases from Urban Outfitters) and the huge Brazilian flag above my couch (courtesy of my Brazilian sister, Ana). The only three reasons something is displayed in my room are: 1) it's a good conversation starter, 2) I think it looks cute, 3) it inspires me. 

 

A sad amount of thought went into the chest and what's displayed on it. 

- pink and white peonies: my favorite flower (thank you, Blair Waldorf)

- one of the quotes I've lived by these past three years: "there's a time and place for everything and it's called college"

- strategically placed books, "How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are" by Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret, and Sophie Mas, "It" by Alexa Chung, and "Ciudades de Papel (Paper Towns)" by John Green

- a toy VW van that I found at Goodwill for $3

- a couple of newspapers: one in Danish (thanks, Camille) one from the travel section from a newspaper at a coffeeshop

- my grandma's old glasses. I wear them sometimes for fun. Yes, they are prescription. No, it's not my prescription. Yes, they have bifocals. 

Walls are huge. So many options as to what to fill them with. I chose some Christmas lights where only 1/3 of the strand works. I paired the lights with a variety of canvases with quotes I love on them. 

The zoomed in picture has a canvas that I painted with my junior varsity/below-average painting skills, a map of Rocky Mountain National Park (where I worked this past summer), and a pendant of LCU, the best place on earth. 

If you haven't figured out the travel theme of my room so far, you haven't been paying attention (which I don't really blame you). The sole purpose of my desk is for me doing my own hair and makeup, or other people's hair and makeup. Homework (when I do it), is done on my bed, couch, floor, or someone else's bed/couch/floor. I'm really good at using items for their unintended purposes. 

Some of the stand-out items in this photo include:

- a flower headband given to me by a camper, next to my name badge from this summer

- a photo of my high school math teacher that says "Get to work, Sadie!"

- the globe that my friends from high school painted over to make it look extremely cool

- a plant that I'm not sure if it's real or not, but apparently doesn't need water either way

- One of the most useful pieces of furniture I brought (besides the couch probably) is my bedside table. It keeps a journal, books, alarm clock that I don't use, post it notes, sometimes a bottle of water; essentially, it's a life saver and keeps me from throwing things on the floor.

- Another thing that makes a room feel more like home would be plants. I'd recommend succulents if you're not the "responsible type" aka myself. Sometimes, I grow some flowers from seeds and have a competition with my friends to see whose will grow the fastest. 

- Conversation starter = my guitar named Craig. Sometimes I end up singing a song with people, other times somebody's dad is an expert in guitars and is trying to figure out what band it is, because somehow, there's no name on it at all. 

This is my view most of the time, so I make sure it's worth looking at! I always have my passport, polaroid camera and globe on display. The picture frame full of polaroids I got for free when a friend was moving out of the dorm. Underneath that, I kept sweet notes from sweet people. A couple of my prized possessions are in this photo:

1) my denim jacket with patches that I started collecting this past summer in Colorado

2) on my bookcase, my travel journal. it's been with since my first trip out of the US in 2014. hopefully, I'll fill it up soon! 

I hope you've enjoyed my room tour! I cleaned it up just for this purpose haha; it breaks my heart to begin to pack everything up, but I get to take the most expensive aspects of the room with me: the memories. 

"I'm going to make everything around me beautiful-- that will be my life." --Elsie de Wolfe

Yours, 

Sadie