How to Spice Up Your Dorm Room Next Semester Without Breaking the Bank (Or the Rules)

College students are wrapping up their spring semester, but that doesn’t mean it’s too soon to start thinking about next year. More specifically, what your dorm room or campus apartment is going to look like.

Decorating your space is one of the best parts about living in a dorm room. But with all of the rules that schools have in place, it can be hard to decorate the way you want. Many schools won’t allow candles in rooms, students putting nails into walls, or even bringing in a microwave. With all that in mind, there are still ways to make your space your own while abiding by the rules.

Custom Wall Murals

Just because you can’t nail anything into the wall doesn’t mean you can’t hang anything up. There are so many options out there of items that can be placed onto the wall and removed without leaving a mark. You can use custom wall stencils, custom wall decals, or even 3M hooks. Custom wall stencils and custom vinyl stencils are great for dorm rooms as you can remove them from one place and apply them somewhere else. If you want to hang framed pictures as wall decor, head to your local grocery store and pick up some 3M hooks. These hooks are great as they stick right to your wall, can hold a lot of weight, and can be removed without leaving a mark.

Transform Household Items into Room Decor

A lot of colleges don’t allow their students to bring extra furniture into their dorm rooms. However, there are small exceptions to this rule. You can bring in small items like wastebaskets, but nothing large like an end table. As a way to “cheat the system”, take that old wastebasket and cover it with latex paint to match your room’s aesthetic. Pro-tip: Most latex-based paints will be dry to the touch within one hour; it will be ready for a re-coat in four hours. When you get in your room and you’re setting up, take the wastebasket and flip it upside down. There you have it; an instant bedside table. If an RA is coming into your room, you can easily flip it back over and throw a few pieces of paper in it.

Make Substitute Frames Out of Washi Tape

If you can’t even get away with 3M hooks but want to decorate your walls with pictures, take some plain photos and tape them up to your wall. Then, to add a “frame”, take washi tape and place it along the edges of the photo. You can even get creative and make some cool designs with the tape instead of following the shape of the photo. You won’t be breaking regulations and your room will still look cute.

Even though move-in day is a few months away, it’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s dorm decor. Take a look at a few of the suggestions like the wastebasket or the custom wall stencils and keep them in mind when decorating your new room.

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