REAL Dorm Inspiration

In August, there was a plethora of ideabooks and blog posts about dorm room inspiration.  However, I was disappointed by them over and over.  They weren’t realistic or even possible.  They showed pictures of items such as curtains and large furniture, which aren’t allowed in most dorm rooms.  Dorm rooms are SMALL and there are very many room codes.  At my college, you can’t have curtains or fabric hanging up on the walls.  You have to be very careful not to damage walls or other surfaces, and you are stuck with the supplied furniture.  Not to mention that college students are usually completely broke.

So I decided to share a real-life example of a college dorm room: mine!  As I mentioned, there are a lot of things I can’t change.  I’m stuck with the furniture, the carpet, the ceiling, the lighting, the paint color, and the curtains.  Please note that I am only showing my half of the room, the other half is occupied by my lovely roommate Linh (she is one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met!).

Above is my bed/dresser area.  The quilt on the bed was made by me.  You can see my slowly growing collection of pictures on the wall- frames are nice, but not very cheap, so this is a college version of a gallery wall.  One tip I have for people heading to college is to bring lots of pillows- your bed is also your couch, so it’s nice to have support while you sit against the wall.  I know it’s a little hard to see, but the lamp clamps to my headboard, which saves a lot of space on top of my dresser.  You can also see a bin with books/notebooks/folders on the ground- this is where I keep all of my school stuff, because I do all of my work on my bed instead of at the desk.

Here is another view.  You can see the couch/bed idea better here.  You can also see my hamper if you look close under the bed (it’s pink)- it has an opening on both the top and side, so it works perfectly under the bed, saving space in the wardrobe.  You can also see the back of my desk.

This is a pretty bad picture, but this is the top of my dresser.  The turquoise box thing is an old record holder that my elementary school art teacher gave me while I was home over Christmas break.  I use it to corral paperwork, sketchbooks, some reading books, my journals, pencils, and other things I use on a regular basis for homework or on my bed.  On top of that is my mom’s old jewelry box, which my grandma let me take this summer.  It holds makeup (that I rarely wear), spare change, and other random stuff.  On top of that is my little (currently almost dead) plant that I received from my college friends for my birthday.  To the left of the record box is the beautiful frame one of my best friends from home gave me for graduation, which she painted herself.

This is the ledge behind my bed- it houses a memory board that I use to store jewelry, my schedule, a couple of pictures, and my current (for the past 2 years) knitting project. The memory board is perfect for hanging jewelry without damaging the walls- all I did was use some sewing pins (at an angle) to hold the jewelry.

This is the other half of my half of the room.  This part houses my fridge, desk, and wardrobe.

Here’s my desk (sorry for the blurry image, the good one wouldn’t upload).  The chair (which was provided) is weird- it tilts back, making you think you’re going to fall.  The desk has a built in lamp under the hutch, which is actually very bright, so that’s cool.

This is my wardrobe opened.  It holds my toiletries, shoes, some of my clothing, winter stuff, towels, etc.  The drawer holds what little food I have and some more clothes.  On top of the wardrobe, I store stuff I don’t use all that often (including my butterfly chair).

Close-up.

And here is my shoe storage- it’s not the best, but at least they are corralled and they aren’t getting anything else dirty.  And yes, this is really all of the shoes I own.  And all of the clothes, for that matter.

So, there you have it- a REAL college dorm.  At some point, maybe I’ll convince some of my friends to let me share their rooms as well.

And I know, 2 posts in one day is pretty impressive for me! I’ll try to post more regularly.

Have a lovely evening!!

P.S. No, my room is not always quite this clean and organized.