The Ultimate Guide to Decorating Dorm Room Walls

Worried you can't personalize your dorm room? There are plenty easy ways to make the space your own--without breaking the rules! We did some research and found the absolute best options.

Dorm rooms: most are old, institutional, and just plain dull. You’ll be living in this teeny, tiny space for the whole school year, and we’re sure you’ll want to do some decorating to make it your own. But most colleges have a lot of regulations regarding what you can put on your walls. No paint, no tacks, no nails—no fun!

There are some easy ways to get around these restrictions to make your dorm a place you’ll want to come home to. We looked online and found some of the best wall décor for college students; everything is removable, reusable, or safe for room inspection.

To avoid buyer’s remorse, be sure to review your own school’s rules before you invest in anything. (And one more thing about money: always look for coupon codes and shipping deals for online purchases! A quick Google search can usually yield valuable discounts for well-known websites.)

Pinhead? We’ve got you covered! Just click the image, and you’ll be directed straight to your boards, so you can save any of these pinteresting ideas for future reference!

Wall decals

These dorm-safe stickers are easy to apply and remove from smooth walls, and they can often be reused after each application. Available on sites like Etsy, DormCo, and Fathead, wall decals can be decorative or functional—or both!

Striking peel ‘n’ stick

Huge self-adhesive stickers are a great way to enhance a boring, white wall and show off your interests. Display your favorite animal, flower, or sports team with these choices—but the options extend beyond birds, poppies, and Gators, of course. There is a sticker for anything your heart desires if you look hard enough! Removable decals also make cool decorations for theme parties and holidays—think a space-saving fake Christmas tree when you aren’t allowed to have the real thing.

Practical décor

You don’t have to stick a life-size Tom Brady on your wall to make it prettier. These options are less overwhelming than those monster decals but just as ornamental, while also serving a purpose (not that Tom doesn’t! Sigh . . .). Anyway, these message boards and timepieces don’t require a screw or nail to hang on the wall; all you do is peel, stick, and use. So easy, attractive, and R.A. approved!

Rooms with a view

These “windows” are ideal if the view outside your dorm room—or lack thereof—leaves much to be desired. They could also dull the pain of homesickness with a familiar scene or help you escape to your happy place during a study session. Fathead offers a wide array of Instant Windows, but there are other options that cater more to a college kid’s budget too.

Temporary wallpaper

Removable wallpaper can add color to your dorm that looks permanent but easily peels away at the end of the school year. Use it to cover your entire space or just an “accent” wall. You can even create your own unique patterns with blank canvas wallpaper, made for the artist in us all! Temporary paper can be pricey, but Dormify.com has some pretty good deals, regularly offering discount codes and free shipping on minimum purchases.

Photo collage

Nothing says “college” like a wall plastered with your favorite photos. There are a lot of ways to hang up your pics: you could create your own wallpaper by covering the entire surface, make a fun shape like a heart, or hang them up like laundry on a line. You can even use visually similar shots to create a sort of photo-wallpaper effect. Whatever you do, make sure you use a safe adhesive—like dorm tape or blue painter’s tape—to avoid any damage. You don’t want to ruin your photos or pay fees to repair your blistered walls at the end of the year!

Paint swatches and samples

Paint chips are all over Pinterest! Those little swatches are free for the taking at home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot, and they can be used for a number of creative projects: accent walls, murals, arts and crafts . . . the list is as long and as captivating as a rainbow. Even Martha approves of this colorful and economical trend!

Rainbow rooms

These vibrant works of art make us want to run to Sherwin-Williams and steal every paint sample they have! Your rainbow wall can be as big or as small as you like. All it takes is some patience and creativity to customize this project for rooms of all shapes and sizes.  

Funky patterns

You don’t have to restrict your paint-sample wall art to rainbows. Patterns like chevron, stripes, or polka dots can spice up any free space and take a lot less planning and fewer swatches than a fully covered wall. You could also create a mosaic design if you’re feeling really inspired! (Check out this pixelated paint-chip portrait of Marilyn Monroe—how do people do stuff like that??)

DIY paint-chip crafts

Paint samples can also be used for fun little projects that you can transport home after you take them down—just don’t make holes in the walls to hang them up! Display your one-of-a-kind paint-chip picture, calendar, or garland using Command hooks or their ilk. They stay on the wall using a self-adhesive strip and easily come off without any residue. And they can hold up to a few pounds—perfect for a small canvas or picture frame!

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
Abhishek Kumar

Abhishek Kumar

High School Class of 2022

As a high schooler, I know how hard it is to plan for college. You have to consider a lot of factors: SAT/ACT scores, college searches, scholarships, and more. CollegeXpress has been a helpful resource that solves all these problems. One can easily create a free account and search away. They help you search for scholarships and colleges, they have graduate program search, they have lists and rankings, and so much more. CX also has a lot of articles and advice to read—whether it’s financial aid, test prep, campus visits, internships/careers, or anything. Not only that, CX gives out free scholarship money to students who sign up and create a free CX account. I love CX and will continue to use it! Thank you CollegeXpress for making my college journey easier!

Nikole Dixon

Nikole Dixon

$500 Refer-A-Friend Scholarship Winner

Towards the beginning of last year, I was searching for scholarships to apply to through my school, town, websites online, and anything else I could find. I asked tons of questions [online] about scholarships and the best places to find them because I was desperate and I needed as many as I could find. I came across a ton of bogus websites but as soon as I found CollegeXpress, I knew I had to tell other people about it. It was definitely the most helpful site I came across, so I told my friends about it. . . . CollegeXpress is definitely a website worth giving as a source.

Keydi Banegas

Keydi Banegas

Scholarship for Students of Color Winner, Class of 2022

CollegeXpress is a great application that helped me search for many different scholarships, and it narrows the scholarships depending on how you set your profile. Not only that, but it helps you choose different colleges to apply to by finding matches through the description of your profile. It was the best experience for me.

Lexie Knutson

Lexie Knutson

High School Class of 2021

This whole website has helped me overcome the attitude I had before. I was scared to even approach the thought of college because it was so much. I knew it wasn’t just a few easy steps, and I panicked mostly, instead of actually trying. Without realizing it, CollegeXpress did exactly what I usually do when I panic, which is take it one step at a time. With college I forget that because it’s more than just a small to-do list, but this website was really helpful and overall amazing. So thank you!

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.

College Matches
X

Colleges You May Be Interested In

Brown University

Providence, RI

Allegheny College

Meadville, PA

John Carroll University

University Heights, OH