3 Must-Try Tips to Make Your Dorm Room Feel Like Home, According to Experts

Your dorm should be your home away from home, but it can be hard to imagine that when stepping into the empty space for the first time.

Looking around the room, it doesn't feel like there's much potential for personality—white walls, empty drawers, and a flat, uncomfortable mattress don't tell much of a story. But, let our editors guide you in the right direction.

Three Spruce editors share stories from their time in college dorms and how they managed to turn these blank slates into rooms filled with unforgettable memories.

Mia: Things Come and Go, But Memories Are Forever

The summer before my senior year, my dad accidentally donated all of my dorm decorations.

Please, take a moment and mourn the loss of all of my items. I used to store them in plastic bags in our garage, and my dad (bless him) unknowingly put them all out to the curb for a donation pickup.

When did I notice, you may ask? The week before move-in day.

I hadn't had much luck when it came to my college living situations, from temperamental roommates to a 7th-floor dorm with no air conditioning (it was always a comfy 86 degrees). I was so looking forward to my senior year, as I finally was living in the nicest apartment building on campus with my closest a capella group friends.

So even though I had just lost all of my precious belongings, I was determined to still have a good year and craft a dorm that felt like a home and a haven from crazy college life.

My mom and I went on a mission to replace all of my lost dorm essentials with rapid speed. Thanks to numerous trips to Target and HomeGoods, we were able to scoop up new bedding, towels, and pillows, combing through the few options left after the August dorm shopping rush.

I got much of the decor you can see in my room above, from a fluffy gray comforter to a woven yellow-and-jute rug.

As I frantically shopped, I started to realize how little the particularities of items meant to me. A comforter is a comforter, a pillow is a pillow.

I would (accidentally) give away everything again if it meant I would always have the support of my family rushing to shop with me the week before move-in day, the irreplaceable memories made with friends inside those dorm walls, and the safest respite from the chaos that can be college at times.

Your dorm will feel like home if it's filled with love. Luckily, none of my photos and mementos were in those donation bags, and setting those up in my many dorms always meant the most to me. I'd lay in bed at the end of a long day, look around at the photos surrounding me, and instantly feel a peace I couldn't find anywhere else on campus.

Those would be my biggest pieces of advice—keep your dorm filled with what comforts you most, and please, always label your bins and bags.

Sara: You Don't Need to Break the Bank to Create a Dorm You Love

Like many others, the college I attended required new freshmen to live in the dormitories on campus and share a temporary living space. I was excited to move in and get started with the new semester, but my dorm room was one of the original dorms housed for women—they dated back a long time, and everything had seen better days, to say the least.

Living in such a historical dorm came with strict rules on decorating: no holes in the walls (not even push pins!) and no ruining the paint (turns out, it's potentially dangerous if you scratch the older walls).

With these strict decorating guidelines in mind, I took to Pinterest and searched for dorm room inspiration. I found many great dorm room decorating ideas, but many of the options would not work due to space issues and wall decor limitations.

I thought about wall stickers and temporary wallpaper, but on a college budget, I couldn’t afford such an extra expense. So, I turned to gift wrapping paper as temporary wallpaper to make an accent wall on my side of the room. This was a stylish and easy wall-safe option to add personality to a blank space.

I found that gift wrapping paper with a more sporadic and non-strict repeating pattern was the best option for this dorm room decorating trick. I went with a black floral gift wrapping paper for my first attempt, and it turned out great!

Attaching it to the walls was the tricky part, as I used double-sided gift wrapping tape or blue sticky tack to keep the wrapping paper attached to the walls. This dorm-friendly wall decorating trick was a simple solution that stayed up throughout the semester but was easy to swap out for the holidays and seasonally without having to buy seasonal decorations which I didn’t have any room in my shared space to store.

Years later I still use this affordable wall decorating trick in my apartment long after I graduated college and it works just as well as it did back then.

Jane: Find What Resonates With the Current You

When it came to decorating my dorm room, it was important for me to curate a space that felt cozy and happy the moment I walked in, whether it was back from class or the library. Since it was my home away from home, I wanted to make sure vibrant colors were being used to uplift my mood and there were a bunch of textures to create warmth throughout the space.

As an incoming freshman, since everything felt so new, I knew I wanted to incorporate important memories of my family and friends in my space.

I printed out various photos and edited them with the same VSCO filter, so they would all have a cohesive look when laid out together. I aligned them into rows on my wall and hung up a boho-inspired dreamcatcher in the middle to break up the photos.

Since my campus was near some quaint and cute towns, I always made an effort to explore during the weekends to see if I could source any worthy finds.

There was a local farm and nursery that would carry the prettiest plants and flowers, so I would often go to pick up some seasonal flowers to give my room a dose of greenery. It's also a subtle way to transition your room with the seasons without swapping out too much of your existing decor.

As I entered my junior year of college, I knew I wanted to revamp my space since I was moving to a new building. Although I loved all my photos and decor from past years, it didn't resonate with who I was becoming at the time, so I knew I needed to find inspiration that did.

I looked through Pinterest and Instagram and saved tons of potential ideas, so I could narrow it down as the move-in date got closer. I wanted my space to lean more into a minimalist style with a pop of pastel, so it could still feel lively.

I used clear thumbtacks to hang each flower stem and tried my best to line each row up. In the middle, I used a Command hook to hang a small mirror so it could easily reflect any natural light from our windows throughout the room.

For my bedding, I said goodbye to my blue set for a light and airy white set instead which grounded the whole space and allowed the wall to shine on its own.

College is all about self-growth and, every year, you'll notice small changes in yourself which is completely normal. It's important to create a dorm room that reflects these changes within you, so you always feel at peace when you're relaxing, studying, or just hanging out with friends.

Whether that's revamping your entire decor or swapping out a couple of things, honor who you are and what you like, so you don't ever have regrets after graduating.