TIPS: MY FIRST DORM ROOM

If you’re about to become a college freshman and thinking about how to decorate your first dorm space, you’ve no doubt already seen an example of what your new space will look like when you took the campus tour. Maybe you already know the dimensions of the room and square footage, and maybe you don’t.

In case you don’t, we’ll tell you that the average dorm room is 12x15. That’s not a lot of room.

You’ll need to conserve space and stick to many of the bare essentials. In this post, we’re going to discuss ways to do this. (NOTE: No product shown below is directly endorsed by the authors. So, if you buy it, and it doesn’t work out, we are not responsible.)

TIPS: MY FIRST PLACE 101

‘Tis the season when many high school grads, college grads, and even continuing college students look to begin a new phase in their lives – the first dorm room, the first off-campus apartment, the first no-roommates apartment. Because we want to help you avoid some of the mistakes we made ourselves when moving through these phases, we’d like to offer up some helpful hints when planning out these firsts.

PUT DOWN THE ALLEN WRENCH…AND BACK AWAY

From the time we left the nest and embarked on quests for our own spaces, we’ve all thought about interior style and how to approach it. It’s engrained in us early on that those spaces should look like they were ripped right out of an episode of Cribs, Sex and the City, or Selling New York. (A fallacy, we should add…)

And what happens? Many panic and run to IKEA, fill their blue buggies with whatever looks fun or urban chic; transform their space into a neutral nightmare with every wall painted a shade of beige or cream; or build bookshelves with plywood and cinder blocks, and throw in a couch that may have last decorated a street curb, in an effort to seem “green”.

Don’t worry, there is hope. It is possible to pull back from the ledge of neutrals and flat-pack furniture, and even the “rescued” furniture of our college days. You can still find the “just right” personal style for your space.

On this blog, we’ll guide you through the DOs and DON’Ts of leveling-up your space’s style, whatever kind of space it is. And, don’t get us wrong, we don’t hate IKEA – your apartment shouldn’t look like page 75 of their catalogue.