9 Ways to Make Your Dorm Feel Like Home

Whether you shop at Wal-Mart, Pottery Barn, or the family attic, here are some tips for making your college dorm room as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans.

Image via Pinterest

Here are some tips for making your college dorm room as familiar as your family home and as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans.

First things first: this is not another one of those “dorm room makeover” articles. You may not realize it, but your surroundings, even the way you decorate your dorm room, can play a huge role in your college experience. It’s hard to control lengthy class reading lists, looming term papers, and overpopulated 101 classes, but you can control your dorm (well, as long as your roommate is okay with it).

Whether you live in a dorm, a frat or sorority, or an off-campus apartment, your room should be your sanctuary during the tough times as well as the good ones. So take control over where you live in college—it just might affect how you feel and how you function, academically and socially.

So, without further ado, here are nine ways to make your college dorm feel more comfortable and homey.

Come up with your comfort words

Define what you want out of your space. What words describe how you want to feel in your dorm room? Keep those words and goals in mind as you make changes that shift the emphasis onto you want to feel, instead of how you want your room to look. Have your roommates do it too!

Prioritize your bed

Sleep is critical, so make sure your bed doesn’t get in your way. Try adding an egg crate foam topper or spend $10 for a better pillow. It’s worth it. Bring a pillowcase, blanket, or comforter from your old room for a bit of home-grown TLC.

Use a light timer

Wouldn’t you rather wake up and/or return to the warm glow of lamplight instead of a dark and empty room? One practical tool: buy a light timer ($5 at the hardware store). Then set it to turn on in the evening and to go off before bed. It will be a gentle signal that says, “Welcome home!”

Warm up your floor

A rug underfoot makes getting up in the morning just a bit better, especially if you have a cold, hard concrete floor in your dorm. Even an $8.99 bath mat can work wonders, or you can go bigger for more comfort.

Decorate your walls

Claim your wall space in a big way! How about a flag of your home state or country, a collage of posters, 8” x 12” photos, or a patchwork of sarongs or tie-died flat sheets? You can do so much with your dorm room walls—you might be surprised!

Use photos to remind you of home

Download some of favorite faces and places onto a digital frame. Placed on a night table or shelf, it’ll connect you to past memories and allow new friends to see another side of you.

Get a comfy chair

A small corner of your room can become your “go to” place to chill out or unwind after a rough day. Options abound at yard sales, parents’ attics, and consignment stores.

Play some background music

Music is the fastest and cheapest form of relaxation transportation! Ask friends from home for their favorite songs and/or albums and make a compilation so you can all easily return to shared memories. Set up playlists to put you in different moods—for studying, exercising, relaxing, or partying.

Find free advice

You can visit ComfortLivingbyChristine.com to download two free essential tools for balanced living to create a lifestyle that offers comfort wherever you may be, connection with others as well as yourself, and pure joy.

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress
Joseph Johnsly

Joseph Johnsly

High School Class of 2021

It's an honor for me to be writing to share a little about my experience with CollegeXpress. I've been using CollegeXpress for about a year now, and the reason why I chose it is because it provides astonishing scholarships for every student around the globe. Besides that, this organization dispenses all the information necessary to help students get to college. CollegeXpress has helped me have an easier experience with applying to colleges and choosing the best fit for myself.

Mimi

Mimi

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress has provided me with tips that were for college students, but as a high school junior, they were still very useful. Not only that, it also gave me an idea of what to expect when it comes to going to college or already being in college. I want to say thank you to CollegeXpress, and I hope you continue the wonderful tips until I hopefully get into college and throughout my college journey.

Elizabeth Stafford

Elizabeth Stafford

High School Class of 2021

As a UK student moving to California due to my dad's job in the military, when I first signed up for CollegeXpress a few months ago, the college process ahead seemed daunting and incredibly stressful. That all changed after I started to explore what this website had to offer. Not only was I helped by the vast array of resources available to me, but through being a CollegeXpress member, there have been so many more benefits. There have been emails with college tips—all of which I found incredibly helpful—as well as invitations to events and notifications of scholarships that'll make college possible for me. Overall, I'm very grateful to CollegeXpress for all of these things and more. Not only have they helped me grow my understanding of the college process, but they've also helped me to grow as a person, giving me new skills that I can take with me through life.

Sonny Harris

Sonny Harris

College Student

For the entire year before college, I spent a lot of time deeply considering what major I wanted to go into and how to fund my higher education. After a lot of research, I came across CollegeXpress, which helped me ultimately find a ton of scholarships for which I could apply—and some of which I received! If it weren’t for CollegeXpress, I may not have found those scholarships as they didn't appear on any other scholarship search forum. Additionally, I learned more about the options I had been considering for my major through CollegeXpress’s resources. In the end, I chose to major in Computer Science, as it seemed best suited to me and the careers in the field seemed enjoyable, and I've never been more excited to move into my future! Ultimately, I want to thank CollegeXpress for offering their services. I received enough financial aid in scholarships to fund my entire freshman year of college and even got some money refunded which I used to purchase a new laptop, and I bought all of the books I needed for the semester!

Tariq Adam Khatib

Tariq Adam Khatib

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress helped me a lot. I am a Tanzania boy who finished my high school studies in Tanzania. I never knew I could get an opportunity to get a scholarship to study abroad. I am happy that now I know how to find the school to study abroad through CollegeXpress.

College Matches
X

Colleges You May Be Interested In

Stevenson University

Stevenson, MD

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI