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Decorative Ideas for a Dorm Room

Decorative Ideas for a Dorm Room


4 minute read

Creating your home away from home during college can be daunting, but turning that dorm room into your own personal space just got that much easier with these 7 decorative ideas for a dorm room!

Most college dorm rooms are plain, boring, and poorly lit.  Not quite your ideal space for self growth.  By creating a comfy, unique, and welcoming room, you can better prepare yourself for success during your college experience.

Here are 7 decorative ideas to turn that dorm room from plain to perfect!
  

 1- Add a headboard to your bed

Most dorm rooms include a simple bed and mattress, but a major missing piece to help your room feel like home is the headboard.  Making your own creative a headboard doesn't require your Dad's garage of tools, making your own is easy!  Pinterest is full of DIY Headboard Ideas, looking through some of these can spark some new ideas to start the room off right!

 2- Add pillows to the room

Decorative pillows are an easy way to add your own style and elevate the room.  Here at The Global Stitch, we do the searching for you, making the design process easy.  Our handwoven pillows are sure to bring that unique and stylish room you'll actually want to study in.  For more ideas on how to style the bed, check out Tips for styling a bed.

 3- Bring the outdoors, indoors

Adding plants to your room brings life and energy.  It doesn't take a 'green thumb' to keep these hard to kill plants alive.  Some of our favorite indoor plants include the ZZ Plant, Hindu Rope, Snake Plant, and Cat Palm.  You can usually find one of a kind pots at local nurseries.  A cheaper way to decorate with plants is to hang them with a macrame plant holder , this type of holder would create the perfect boho vibe when paired with some of our hand woven pillows from our makers in Bali!

Indoor plants

Courtesy of Unsplash Images

4- Use a mirror

A mirror can do much more than simply help you check out your look!  By adding a mirror to a room it can create a feeling of space, reflect natural light, add texture to the room, and highlight a favorite feature in the room (perfect to feature a textured pillow or throw from India).  To make the most of your mirror, we recommend using a big mirror but small frame, positioned in front of a lamp or light source, or adding it next to a picture.

5- Add creative lighting

A typical dorm room has a single fluorescent light, not very warm or welcoming to spend time in.  You'll find that once you add creative lighting to your room, you'll never use that overhead light again.  A few popular ideas include wire lighting in a large mason jar, string lights hung on the wall, a salt lamp, a light box, or colored light cubes to add on a shelf.  Most of these decorative lighting ideas are cheap and easy to find. With all of these creative lighting accents, don't under estimate a unique bedside lamp! (Consider making your own, check out these fun dorm room lighting ideas).

Courtesy of Unsplash Images

6- Use an area rug

Area rugs are a great way to cover up cheap or ugly carpet, and is a quick way to add comfort and sound deadening.  Here's a few tips when using an area rug: extend the rug under furniture, bigger is usually better, try to leave equal spacing from the walls on each side, don't be afraid of a bold pattern.  Check out our Moroccan throw pillow collection that will pair perfectly with your new area rug!

7- Hang curtains

Curtains are a quick way to make a dorm room feel more like home.  When selecting curtains consider adding a thinner material for light diffusion, or you can consider using black out curtains for sleeping in.  When hanging your own curtains we recommend keeping the curtain rod 12 inches longer than the width of the window, allowing 6 inches on each side when opening the curtains.  Another tip is to hang the curtain rod just below the ceiling to make the walls of the room appear taller.

Before you leave, make sure to take a peek at The Global Stitch handmade pillow collection. We stock throw pillows and decorative throw pillow covers made by hand in culture rich locations such as Bali, India and Morocco. We think these will be the perfect addition to your dorm room!

You will not find another collection like this anywhere! 

handmade throw pillows

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