When it comes to college decorating, just start small: clean the nacho sauce off the wall and un-glue your roommates head from the floor. For the rest of you, there are things you can do to make your place look nice without spending a bunch of money. We lived in a house Junior year that made Eddie’s trailer from Christmas Vacation look like Buckingham Palace, but by the time we finished it, you would never have known. We didn’t have to knock down walls, or re-drywall the place either. Take the time to try some or all of the following college decorating ideas:
1. Buy Dimmer Switches
Lighting is a key component to creating a great looking place, and is one of the simplest college decorating ideas. Whether you’re living in a dorm, apartment, or house, lighting plays a crucial role in the overall ambiance of each room. Nothing kills a party faster than bright fluorescent lighting. A cheap and simple way to improve the lighting of your place is to buy dimmer switches. You can find these almost anywhere. They’re very easy to install, and they allow you to use bright lighting for studying, and dim lighting for parties, movies, dinners, etc.
2. Buy Some Candles
For the guys… we don’t care how much you can bench press, or how many beers you can slam… no guy is too manly to buy candles. When it comes to college room decorating, candles can provide several benefits to a room that needs improvement. Simply put… they smell nice, they look nice, and they give off great lighting. A few key areas to place them are kitchen tables, coffee tables, night stands, and desks. And yes, candles smell much better than the Fabreeze you typically use.
3. Clean Up Your Cords
This is one of the college decorating ideas that won’t cost you a dime. Your desk is probably the best place to start, but try this for all the cords in your place, including the ones running down the walls. The simplest option when college apartment decorating is to strategically place your furniture so you can’t see all the random cords hanging everywhere. If you’re convinced this isn’t possible, you can drill a small hole in the wall, feed the cord through, and pull it out of another small hole you drill near the socket (but be careful). Another option is to buy white tape (or whatever color the wall is), condense all the cords into one, and tape over the pile.
4. Clear Off Flat Surfaces
While college room decorating, start with one surface at a time, and don’t feel like it all needs to happen at once. Begin with your desk, then move to your coffee table, keep clothes off the mattresses, and so on. The general process for making this work is simple: Throw away anything you don’t need (which is probably most of it), and put everything else in its’ correct place. If you don’t have a designated place for a particular item when college decorating, make one. Not only will your place look much nicer, you’ll probably enjoy being able to find things as well.
5. Frame Your Posters
Using scotch tape and thumb tacks to hang up posters of girls in bikinis isn’t “sweet” anymore, and is not a good way of college decorating. And we’re not saying you need to go out and buy a bunch of expensive artwork. In fact, you can even keep your poster of John Belushi chugging a bottle of Jack Daniels… just put it in a frame. You can buy nice, cheap, plastic frames from Target that will fit most poster sizes. If not, you can always cut the poster down a little to make it fit. Trust us… frames make a huge difference for college apartment decorating.
6. Build A Bar
A lot easier said than done, right? But if you’re decorating college apartment or house, having a cool bar for drinking, eating, and watching TV, is pretty awesome. We built a different bar each year we were in college, starting our sophomore year (after we were out of the dorms), for under $100 each time. Split between a few roommates, it’s well worth the cost. If you’re absolutely certain that you and your roommates are not capable of building a bar, see if one of your dads can help you with this college decorating ideas.
7. Display Alcohol Decorations Nicely
In other words, that pyramid of empty beer cans in the corner of the room is getting pretty lame. Why? Because girls don’t care how much you can drink, your parents are wondering what they’re paying for, and oh yeah… it smells bad. Try to be a little more original when college decorating. Go to amazon.com and buy a few nice tin beer signs. Fill up a glass vase with wine corks or beer caps. Make a cool lamp out of a liquor bottle. You get the point.
8. Focus On The Floor
Remember college decorating tip #4 about clearing off flat surfaces? Guess what… the floor is (or should be) a flat surface too. Start by picking things up off the floor, and put them where they belong. Next, get the vacuum out and use it. You’ve been watching your mother do it for 18+ years, so you must have some understanding of how they work. This college decorating tip literally takes 10 minutes, and will separate your place from about 98% of the places on campus. Be sure to keep the vacuum handy so you’ll be more likely to use it again.
9. Experiment With The General Layout
When college room decorating, take a look at the major pieces in each room and how they’re arranged. For example, in the living room the major pieces would be the couch, recliner, television, and coffee table. Try to focus on a layout that’s practical, but also aesthetically pleasing. Take the time to try different arrangements, and you’ll likely find one that works better than the others.
10. Invest In A Few Nice Accent Pieces
Spending a couple bucks on a few nice accent pieces such as plants, a modern window treatment, throw pillows, etc., can really bring some life into a room. These are exactly the kinds of college decorating ideas that make the difference between having a nice place and a great place during your college experience, and they don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, ask your parents to buy them when they drop you off at the beginning of the year, or when they visit for parent’s weekend. They’ll probably be impressed that you’re actually taking pride in your place and want to encourage the college decorating habit.