Dorm rooms are known for being small, bland and boring! Fortunately, this gives us students a perfect opportunity to turn it into a space that reflects our personalities. Think of it as a (very small) blank canvas! There are a ton of small things you can do to personalise your dorm rooms that won’t break the bank (or your uni’s residential contract!).

Rugs

Rugs are a great way to add a bit of colour into your room.  They don’t have to be expensive! You can often find some small cheap ones around at stores like Kmart and Ikea that are perfect for dorms and other small spaces. This works best if you have wooden floors so you can add a bit of extra warmth, but they even look great over normal carpet!

Pillows and Throw Blankets

Another idea similar to the rug is to use some throw cushions on your bed. Grabbing a couple with pretty patterns of colours you like can make your room feel more like home (Plus, you can never have enough cushions!) You can also grab a throw blanket (you can also get these for not a whole lot of $$$ from a ton of places) to drape across the end of your bed to add some more colour/texture. They’re also really handy to have if your room gets too cold in winter or you have someone stay over!

DIY folding chairs

If you often have friends over in your room, it can be handy to have some extra furniture lying around. Folding chairs are great for this because they can easily slide under your bed when not in use or sit folded against a wall if you have no space under there! However, they can look a bit boring, and this is where the personalisation ideas come in! You can grab cheap folding chairs such as this one, re-cover the cushioned parts with a fabric you like.

An example image and DIY steps can be found here. 

You could even go one step further and re-paint the chair a really nice colour like this example here!

Photo wall/string etc.

Having some photos up to remind you of home can help to personalise your dorm while also helping with homesickness! Grab some favourite photos of your pets, friends from home, your family or places you love and spend some time putting them up on the wall!

Theres a ton of ways you can do this, from sticking them straight up or pegging them to a piece of string which you can then hang up!

If your uni doesn’t let you put things up on the wall you could always put them on your fridge (if you have one) or make a photo board that you can prop up against a wall somewhere. If you have some spare shelf space, you could always just find some nice photo frames and have a few of your favourites up!