Dorm Room Decorating 101

Since it's almost time for school to start, I thought I would do a post about my freshman year dorm room. It seems like yesterday that I was going shopping for all the dorm room essentials, and now I am going into my senior year of college!

Because you typically don't have much to work with, decorating a dorm room is an ultimate makeover project. I remember walking into my room for the first time thinking "I thought it was bigger than this..." or "how in the world are we going to make this look good?" It was possible. But here is what I started with:

I wish I had taken pictures of the space before I moved anything in. These pictures have a few of my things in them, but as you can see, everything looks pretty bare and yucky- notice the water stains coming from the ceiling. There was a flood the year before I moved in because of a water pipe breaking. Girls were running around the hall in their rainboots - so glad that didn't happen when I lived there. 

Here is what we transformed the room to look like:

I loved my desk area. We covered up the wall here with simple curtains made from two tension rods and fun fabric. The curtains made a huge difference in the room and really made our room stand out. In fact, we were finalists for the "Best Room on Campus" competition. 

Another shot with the curtains. The middle curtain is another simple curtain made from a tension rod and fun fabric. The fabric is literally just sewed around the rod and we then draped ribbons over the curtain and tied them to create the "balloon" effect. 

The space under my bed is my least favorite part of the room, but I know you have to have somewhere to store a TV, micro-fridge, etc. 

Another shot. The patterned rug also made a big difference in the room. Trust me, you want a big rug so you will feel somewhat sanitary when you sit on your floor. Also, the two small brown ottomans not only acted as footrests, but also came in handy as a storage space since they open up. These are $17 at Target and come in lots of fun colors. 

I loved my futon! The throw pillows were so fun to pick out and added a personal touch to the room. They also added comfort and came in handy when people ended up sitting on the floor for movie night. 

Of course I had to have some pillows on my bed too :)

Hope you have enjoyed looking at my former dorm room! We had a lot of fun decorating it and you will find that the little details go a long way in a tiny space. Make sure you like how the room looks because you will be spending a whole lot of time in it. This doesn't mean you have to go spend a ton of money - get creative! I got a ton of my stuff at places like Marshall's and TJ Maxx. Target also has a huge selection of dorm room decor to choose from. 

Good luck! Would love to see other ideas!