25+ Cool Ideas for Decorating your Dorm Room

The start of a new school year means a new space for you to design and decorate any way you like. Your college room is like a blank canvas that enables you to create your own ambiance by displaying your favorite colors, photos, memories, lighting, designs and accessories.

When you first enter an empty dorm you may notice the room looks quite minimal and you can’t fathom how you and another roommate are going to live in this space for an entire year. Tiny dorm rooms with cinder block walls, florescent lighting, and little to no carpet come off a little institutional looking and are very uninspiring.

While many colleges around the nation have made a push to design more luxurious dorms over the past few years, it's your job to transform your dorm room into a more livable space. This is your home away from home while you’re going to school, so you’ll want to add as much comfort and personality to the room as possible. Given the small size of the room, designing a dorm becomes a test in utilizing space in the best possible manner.

Use these dorm room ideas to spur your creativity as you design your space.

Dorm Room Wall Decor

A dorm with plain and bare walls is boring and isn't going to cut it in college. You need to cover walls with the best possible decor you can come up with on a college budget. Here are a few wall decorating ideas for a dorm room.

Clothesline Picture Holders

Clothesline Picture Holders with Lights

Adding lights alongside photos on the wall brings added attention to wall decor and casts a positive light in your dorm. Bringing in your own light source also means you can turn off those ugly florescent lights.

Organized Photo Arrangements

So simple and decorative.

Letter Picture Collage

Take the letter of your first name and personalize it with photos in the best way possible. This is where your personality can really shine through as you showcase some of your best moments in life.

DIY Inspiration & Mood Board

Combine all of your favorite keepsakes and pictures on an old frame. Such a great look and conversational piece for your room.

Dorm Bed Ideas

Unfortunately, the bed is the centerpiece of most college dorm rooms. You can either hide it the best you can or accentuate it by adding duvet covers, throw pillows, and other bedroom decor.

Bed Risers for added space underneath

Privacy Curtains for your Bed

Curtains and sheets can also be draped below the bed to hide storage areas.

Lights + Canopy + Beautifully Arranged Wall Decor

DIY headboard

Matching Bedding and Wall Decor

Desk

Your desk is your sanctuary when it comes to getting work done in your dorm. You don't want plain and boring; you want something that inspires, keeps you motivated, and puts you in a positive mindset.

Personalize your Desktop

Add your favorite Instagram photos under a plexi top surface.

Dorm Storage and Organization Ideas

Your room would be a chaotic mess without proper organization. Consider these storage ideas to help keep your dorm room neat and organized.

Tower Storage

Use all the vertical space you can.

A closet hanging shelf keeps things hidden, yet easily accessible and organized along with a space-saving, collapsible design that is perfect for the student going off to college.

Stacked Laundry Baskets use less Floor/Closet Space

Organizers

Storage cabinets that dual as steps to a bunk bed

Efficient Clothes Hangers

How to hang clothes to allow for more room

Shelves for Textbooks

Dorm Entertainment Ideas

If you are hosting any parties or hangouts in your dorm room, it's always good to have some centerpiece of entertainment that catches the eye and becomes a nice conversational item. If you want to properly entertain guests, you need to bring a certain wow factor.

Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector

The HDMI Pocket Projector can connect to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop through HDMI cable and project up to 60-inch wide video on your wall. The projector doesn't take up much space and is much easier to move in and out of a dorm room than any big-screen TV.