Okay so dorms…you’re not allowed to paint or nail into the walls.
What do you do to make it…uhh…non-white and comfortable!?
I’m brainstorming for when I move this summer, and would like some sort of plan.
What did you do to your dorm?
What have you heard you can do to the walls if you can’t paint or wallpaper?
Thanks in advance!
Posters and sticky-tack. Lots of it. (Some places won’t even let you use tape)
You can also get some of those sticky-tabs that you pull on to take off, which would probably be better for heavier things. I also bought a poster which I never took out of the packaging, so it has a cardboard backing. I stuck it on top of the fridge against the wall. Also, your room may have a tack-board or something, though you probably won’t know until you get there.
Other than that, nic-nacks. Though I found that once you’ve gotten your stuff in the room, it doesn’t take much more to make the place feel homey.
Posters help a bunch. Especially when you move off-campus into a house/apartment and you still have the same problems with the walls. As I look around my room right now, I’ve got 10 posters up on the walls. Giving me a nice balance of beige and colour.
Posters are cool, and you could also hang up strings of Christmas lights around the room, for color and mood lighting. I like the blue ones, myself. For the dorm room I moved into in 1996, the previous occupants had bought plastic glow-in-the-dark stars and taped them to the ceiling, in constellations. They won’t make a difference during the day, but were nice to look at as I fell asleep.
I also decorated my dorm walls with unopened action figures, so the toys were on display in the plastic bubbles and the artwork on the cardbacks was visible too. Most people really liked them, even when I had enough figures to “wallpaper” three walls of the room.
My favourite thing my roommate did in our room freshman year was she took a bunch of scarves (not the warm wintery ones, the pretty semi-transparent kind) and stuck them up around the light in the middle of our room. It really softened the light, and made everything warmer. You can also put tissue paper on the window panes (if you have a paned window), which also adds a nice touch.
Another fun thing we did was stick up pictures all over out closet doors. And we discovered that CD cases make a really cool border for a room, though they require a lot of duct tape.
Posters, post cards, maps (of places you’ve been or places you want to go), pictures of family and friends. I’ll second the xmas lights idea. Anything having to do with hobbies or other things that are important to you and can add a personal touch. Sometimes you can put up curtains - those spring-loaded curtain rods are great, and curtains are cheap at Walmart or Target. Cool looking lamps, although make sure they’re not the ones with those super-hot bulbs that most colleges don’t allow.
Also, if you’re going to have a roommate, talk to her (I’m assuming you’re female from your name. Just switch the pronouns if I’m wrong.) ahead of time and find out what she’s planning to bring. You can end up with a really weird looking room if her stuff is all pink frou-frou and yours is goth style or some combination like that. There may be a way to compromise. Or to look for another roommate! Plus if you agree on something, you might be able to share the cost of decorating.
If you are into drinking soda, pop, or beer you could collect all your cans and wallpaper that way. Might take awhile, but would be pretty cool to look at.
Posters. Lots of them.
One of my friends has big pieces of fabric up on her walls, like wallpaper, only non-permanant.
Little known fact: If for some reason you have to, say, pound a nail into your wall, at the end of the year, you s hould pull it out, buy a little tub of spackling stuff, and cover it. They probably won’t notice. Alternate plan: Make good friends with your RA if they’re the ones who do the inspection at the end of the year.
Decoratives lights are good. For a highly whimsical touch, you can duct-tape army men to your soldier, and periodically wage battles above your head. Amongst the glowy stars.
I’ll second (third?) posters heartily. Also, flags are a nice touch. You can hang them pretty much anywhere, and if you put them over the light it can make it less harsh and give the room a colorful glow. A buddy of mine had a green and yellow University of Oregon flag that made his room kind of green. It was pretty neat. Also, I’m a big fan of photographs everywhere. Just put a bunch of photographs of stuff from home that makes you happy or try and make a photomosaic or something. Pictures are fun!
I’m in the same boat as you. Come late august, I’ll be off to college. I’m thinking of using some fun fabric to make some cute throw pillows for the bed.
Instead of wallpaper you can use fabric and starch. At the end of your tenure at your dorm, or whenever you get sick of whatever you picked out, you just tear it down, wash off the starch and voila! Clean white walls! Directions here
That’s exactly what I came in here to say - I did it in my living room two apartments ago, and it was great.
When you take it off, though, it might stick and try to pull the paint off. Just soak the fabric with some water, let it sit for a couple of minutes and it should then come right off.
If you want to cover an entire wall in quick order, may I recommend The Rasterbator. Check out the gallery to see the coolness that it creates.
It’s free (except of course for the ink and paper) but still way cheaper than massive amounts of posters.
I’m still trying to decide whether to choose an 8 foot Godzilla or an 8 foot Avro Vulcan (airplane)
Try a variation on a three or four panel room divider like these:
http://www.furnitureontheweb.com/Frames/Products/Fabric-Screens1.html
They are very practical. You can put them against the wall for color, or use them to divide the room for privacy, or put them in front of the window to block the sun, or set them to hide the stack of dirty laundry, or go behind them to change clothes while others are in the room, etc. Plus, they fold away into the closet if you want more space for a dorm room party or something.
You can just get the frames, and fill them with fabric, or with photos, or with posters or mural or abstract design…maybe even a cork pinboard for messages and photos?
Way cool program and idea! Will be trying it this weekend.
Also, your location is quite appropriate, considering the size of these photos.
Not wall-related, but for instant storage space, put your bed up on cinder blocks.