So you're about to head off to college, leaving behind all aspects of the life you've known for the past 18 or so years. The biggest separation is about to take place… No, we're not talking about you and your parents, your pets, or even your high school crush. You can officially say goodbye to the seemingly massive bedroom and say hello to the pint-size dorm you'll call home for the next year! While many freshmen assume this is going to be the seemingly most difficult transition, customizing your room and making it comfortable and welcoming, just like home, are just a few trends away! First, maximize your storage. While the closets seem pretty crammed and tiny, hanging organizers for shoes and clothes greatly help in the attempt to make more space. Many stores offer plastic storage with additional drawer space that can be a huge life savor when you have more items than space. Also, look for hangers with multiple hooks, and think about adding an additional closet rod to hang more of those clothes you just can't live without! Next, consult your roommate. You're going to be living there for a whole year, so make sure you choose a color scheme you both love. One of the biggest trends this year has been ordering bedding from the UK suggested bedding website, which offers great mix-and-match options for roommates to have coordinating colors while adding their own personal touches to these fairly drab areas. Another big trend has been the photo collage boards, which are available in an array of patterns, prints and designs. Something many students overlook is the lack of lighting in rooms, which is when a basic lamp with a fun, trendy shade comes in handy. Last but for sure not least, invest in a curtain. As many rooms this year displayed, they aren't just for windows. Many students are turning to curtains to separate their sleeping space from the chaos of the closet and storage space. With these few tips and trends, you'll be on your way to a clutter-free, home-like environment in no time!
When we compared dorms to sorority house bedrooms, there wasn't that large of a difference. You could tell that the girls still decorated their bedroom with fun and bright colors and of course coordinated those colors with their roommates. A trendy lamp and curtains could still be found in almost every bedroom as well as tons of pictures or collages. Since the rooms in the sorority house were only a little bit bigger than the dorm rooms, making the most out of the space available was still a major trend. You could find storage bins under every bed and shoe organizers in each closet.
If you were to compare dorm rooms to sorority house bedrooms you wouldn't find too many differences. Girls usually decorate their bedrooms about the same. Before move in day roommates have already color coordinated just about everything, from bedding to lamps and from curtains to rugs. They even go so far as to already have pictures together in cute frames with their greek letters on it. Each and every bedroom has their own customized look...just like in the dorms. The major trend that you'd probably notice is storage. Unfortunately the sorority house, holding about 70 girls, doesn't offer very spacey bedrooms either. In order to fit all your clothes, shoes, and school books, you have to get creative. Shoe organizers are definitely still popular as well as storage bins. The beds in the house can be lofted and so it makes it a little easier to store things under there. Lots of shelves are also a necessity to keep all your little odds and ends on. The rooms can still feel small like the dorms, but if you make the most of your space everything should work out.
27 comments:
It's been a couple of years since I've lived in a dorm room but it sounds like the trends are essentially the same as they were my freshman and sophomore years. Like you mentioned, storage is a huge challenge that dorm room residents face and it's one that isn't going away. Once you and your roommate figure out a system of organization that works best for the both of you the rest is easy! One thing my roommate and I chose to do (we lived in Ingles Hall) was to loft our beds. This gave us much more floor space for storage bins and our dressers were able to fit nicely underneath. Another creative idea we had for storage was to use a shoe organizer that hung from the door as a place to store snacks like granola bars, crackers, etc. That way when we were rushing out the door for class we could easily grab breakfast or a snack on the way out!
As a freshman here at UK and living in the dorms this year, i can say that this article is spot on about all the basic needs and dorm trends. I think one of the most important things about living in a dorm is talking to your roommate before hand. You can coordinate bedding, and color schemes. My roommate and I decided to order the same bedding but in different colors, and then base the rest of the room off of that! It really makes the room come together and looks cute matching. The dorm may look small at first sight, but if you have the right storage techniques you can really make a small space feel big. To maximize my storage, I bought lots bins to stack on my shelves. I also bought lots of those white hooks that can stick to the wall and then be pulled down when your done. I found that those helped me hang things on the wall and utilize more of my wall space. When living in such close quarters, every little piece of space counts!
Even though I was a freshman last year I can still remember freaking out about not having enough room in those little rooms we call home for the next year. However, this article gives great advice on how to maximize the space given to you. I had hangers that were created to hang more then one shirt on them which made it convenient to bring a lot more clothes to jam into that little closet space. I used ever corner in that room for storage which helped with the clutter and my room seemed a lot more organized. I also had a lot of hooks on the wall to hang up towels, jackets and purses. The shelves above the beds I kept cute basket storage bins filled with random stuff that I brought to college.Such as movies, food, and cleaning supplies. My roommate and I coordinated our bedspreads from a cute store called Anthropology which gave our dorm room a more homey feel.We also had a rug between our beds and cute decor that hung from above each of our beds. Making our dorm room organized and adding our own personal touches made it feel like home, and made living in a dorm room not so horrible!
Katie Buckley
My roommate and I decided not to have a matching color scheme for our dorm. I am lucky enough to live in a suite dorm, so the space in our dorm is more desirable. When I first started thinking of what I wanted for my dorm I decided to go with the color scheme of my two favorite colors: navy and yellow. I wanted simple decorations and a simple comforter so I wouldn't get tired of it. I chose a navy comforter and yellow accents for my room like desk accessories. I even decorated a bulletin board myself by getting navy, yellow, and white ribbon and pinning it along the border of the board. I even got navy, yellow, and white paper to put behind pictures that I arranged on my wall. My favorite dorm room purchase was a shelf with six different shelves that I bought from IKEA. It's as tall as my bed so the storage space is incredible. I don't know what I would do without it. I also like our sheer white curtains in our room because it ties in her side and my side because we both have white frames on our side of the room. I think decorating for a dorm is a lot of fun, especially because it's a way to express your personality. I actually really like my dorm but I am really excited to move into an apartment or house next year to decorate the kitchen, bathroom, and living room!
Having lived in both a dorm and a sorority house, I can definitely attest to the fact that organization is key. Fortunately, most stores cater to college girl's tastes when it comes to organizing- for example, I was able to find cool wicker baskets to hold my sweatshirts at Urban Outfitters, which suited my more rustic taste. Also, the temporary hooks that you can buy to hang up on the wall are a lifesaver- I use them for holding my necklaces and my bathrobe. As they noted in the post, the worst thing about dorm living may be the ridiculous lack of lighting. When I moved into my dorm I felt like I was living in a dark cave, but a lot of girls especially hang up christmas lights in the dorm for a more festive feel. As they said, when it comes to dorms, you really just have to make the best of what you've got--after all, it's only for a couple of years.
This article reminds me of all the problems I faced in the dorm last year. I had a really great dorm experience but it took me a few weeks to really learn how to organize all of my things so that I still had room to move around in. All of the ideas in the article were really practical ideas that would have been super helpful when I was in the dorm last year! Very good article, I would recommend any freshman living in the dorm to read it and use some of their ideas.
As a jounior/senior here in Lexington I have basically seen it all. I, for one, have never lived in a dorm room the entire 4 years I have lived down here. My freshman year I lived in Greg Page, the apartments on campus. It was not at all what I expected but the living space and room space was decent. But as we all know, nothing like living at home and having the space that were used to. A couple of my friends lived in the dorms freshman year and I saw how little of space that they had to make do with the things they brought from home. Anywhere you live though I feel like will never be big enough for all the clothes and accessories that girls build up over the years. That is why storage is key to making room for everything to fit in tight spaces. I live in a house now and still have plastic bins that I keep my clothes in. Lighting as mentioned in the blog is also a problem, not just for dorms, but for houses also. My room for example doesnt have a light fixture so I have multiple lamps to make things decorative and also to be able to see of course. Decorating is a huge key to making yourself feel at home and making your room look cute. It is a great idea to ask your roommate(s) how they are decorating their room to make sure that yours looks ok as well. For instance my roommates, we all share a bathroom, and we had to get together to make sure everything that we had or were going to buy matched. College is a great experience to express yourself in the living space that you are given!
Unlike most freshman, I did not live in a dorm. In highschool I stayed in a dorm at the university for a cheerleading camp and absolutely hated the space. I knew just by looking at the dorm I could not fit any of my things in there. I told my parents that I was not meant to live in a dorm. While I cheered for the University of Kentucky for a year, most of all the girls lived in the dorm, so I spent most of my time there my freshman year. I was jealous when I saw how cute my friends dorm rooms were, by decorating with the most popular trends and this article does a great job explaining what a dorm is all about. There are some many great points with how you can be spacious with organizing hangers and storage boxes. If I could re-live my freshman year and had this information, I would probably reconsider my decision about living in a dorm.
Oh dorm life how I do not miss you. Because I was a student athlete I was forced to live in the dorm my freshman year with a teammate. I am a girl who has more clothes, purses, and shoes then I could ever need so storage was a huge issue for me. Move in weekend was horrible. I was in tears majority of the time because there was NO WHERE to put all my things. I lived in Blanding 1 and there is no storage under the beds there so everything that wouldn't fit in the closet had to be put into crates or totes and shoved just about anywhere they could fit. I hated my entire freshman year just because everything I owned was a wrinkled mess and getting dressed every morning was a challenge because I had to dig through totes to find an outfit.
Decorating was very fun I have to admit. At the time zebra print was huge and me and my roommate decided to make our entire room zebra print and pink. We deffinately had the cutest room on the floor!
~Ashley Carnes
It's been several years since I was a freshman in the dorms, but I can certainly remember the challenges it posed. Space definitely was a huge issue, especially sharing it with someone else. Storage is key. My closet (if that's what you can call it) was packed from side to side with clothes while tons of shoes covered the bottom. I actually used the website they referred to about bedding for the dorms, which ended up working for me. We decorated the best we could with pictures and little odds and ends, but in the end it was just a cramped dorm room with zero space for even one person.
-Hannah Sanders
This article is very informative and gives alot of insight on how to utilize your space. The hanging organizers for your shoes and clothes was a great suggestion to save on closet space. I particularly liked the hangers with multiple hooks for those million pairs of jeans that you will need in the winter. I agree with the article that collage boards, lamps, and curtains add to the appeal of the room. Having the right coordination with your roommate will bring about a great living area.
Stacey Harris
The article gives very good information about how to coordinate with your roommate to make sure that everything is cute and goes well together. I never lived in the dorms, and I've always had a lot of space to store things. This year I moved into the Lex apartments, and its as if my room was a dorm room. The blog is correct when they say that having enough storage space is key. I think that the more storage the more comfortable you can be with your living arrangement. It also makes it easier to be more organized with school. When you don't have a lot of space to put your belongings it makes it easier for you to stay clean since your dorm room could look dirty easily.
Lexy Ball
This article reminds me of absolutely everything I dealt with my Freshman year! My roommate and I had so many things; the people unloading our cars said we were the first to move in with 3 car loads of stuff! We were freaking out at that point, but we must have been better dorm room decorators than car loaders. Our stuff fit, but it was for sure crammed. One thing you mentioned that we could have used was the hanging storage container that hangs in the closet; that was our biggest crammed spot!
Paige Martin
This article was rally helpful! It was so hard for me to pick-and-choose what clothing to leave behind. As a result I brought mostly everything, and it all barely fits. I'm living in a normal sized dorm room with 2 other roommates. Thankfully, they aren't as clothes/shoes obsessed as me so they were able to give me some extra space! The curtain idea is something i def. want to try out now to break the room up a little bit. Its exciting to shop around for cute decorations and ways to make your space your own. I have thoroughly enjoyed decorating my space and I cant wait until next year when it can be bigger!
-Jackie Basta
When I first moved into the dorms last year I was so surprised by how small the rooms were! I thought that there would be no possible way all the stuff I brought would fit into my tiny dorm. Like you suggested in your blog the space savers were key! I bought some of the tiny pink cubes and put a bunch of my things like books and food in them. I also found the hangers with multiple hooks extremely helpful. My roommate and I coordinated our room somewhat but I think it looked better because everything wasn't perfectly matched. I guess the point is that the rooms are small but with all the proper space saving techniques you can make your room look super cute and still have extra space!
When you come to college, you have to make the most of the small, sometimes drab living space of the dorms. A bright bedspread adds a splash of color to the room, and then you can coordinate the color schemes of your room around that. When I was a freshman I ordered my bedspread that was mentioned from the UK catalog, and I loved it! Storage is also very important. I bought the pink storage drawers in the picture for my dorm. They were very practical and I still use them today. This article is very informative and gives great suggestions on ways to make your dorm room colorful, fun, and space efficient.
When I came to UK last year as a Freshmen I had no idea how small the room actually was. I was not prepared with all these storage units so I was forced to go out to target and get a bunch. I loved all the things i found because it added so much more to my room last year, and i still use them today in my apartment! I wish i could have read an article like this before i came to school last year, so i knew what to bring, and how to store all my stuff i brought with me!
Laura Montera
Decorating rooms has never been my thing. I lived in dorm rooms my freshman year and now I live in an apartment. All of my rooms have been very plain and simple. Being an athlete, the only time I'm really in my room is when I wake up and when I go to sleep, so I find it very unnecessary to spend several dollars on decorations when I can spend that same money on clothes, shoes and food. My teammates on the other hand love to shop for decorations and have gotten pretty creative with their new apartments. I have helped them shop for things before as well and I must say I'm pretty good at it! :) This entry has a lot of good ideas for ways to store your belongings that I wish I knew when I lived in a dorm. It definitely would have helped!
Being a freshman this year, I was in for a major shock when I saw just how small the dorms were. Everyone says the dorms are small, but you really don't realize it until you're there. My roommate and I coordinated our room with my bed being purple and hers blue and purple. Both of us brought so many clothes that we couldn't fit them all in the closet and drawers, and there isn't any storage room under our beds. Seeing as we couldn't live out of bags for the year, we bought storage bins that come in a pack of four and can be set up like cubbies and put them on the ledge above our beds. You definitely have to be creative and use every bit of storage you can. This article would really help any student moving into a dorm or sorority house, whether they are attending UK or not.
The one thing i enjoyed the most about living in the dorm was decorating it. Reading this made me think back to what I did in my room freshmen year when I had problems not being able to put things away because of lack of storage areas. To make my room not look like a jail cell with the all white walls. I got blue Christmas lights, hung them up, had a lot of pictures of friends, and had bright bedding to make it more comforting. With the storage problems, my roommate and I decide to take things home during winter break so we could help each other out and not have such a messy room.
-Irene Sisman
I live in an off campus dorm called the UK Wesley Foundation, which actually used to be a sorority house. So I am pretty familiar with the lack of space. I was so unprepared when I first moved in my freshman year. I focused too much on trying to make my room cute, that I totally ignored the fact that I would not have space for all of the things I brought. I actually ended up putting some of my clothes in the trunk of my car to allow more space in my room. After living in a big bedroom all alone for 18 years, I had no idea how to live in a tiny room with a roommate. Sharing space was very hard for me but all of the storage containers helped, especially the ones that slide right under your bed. They serve as great storage, and no one even knows they are there. They're a great help in organizing any room.
I like how this article gave information on storage ideas and how to coordinate your dorm stuff with your roommate. I live on campus in the dorms and my roommate and i chose not to cooordinate our stuff.I love picking out stuff for my dorm and making my room away from home feel as comfortable anf homy as possible. I think its better not to coordinate everything with your roommate because then your side will represent your personality. The rooms are small so the tips about storage really help. I liked the idea about the hangers with multipule hooks, and the extra rod in closet for the clothes you just cant leave at home. I myself had a very hard time deciding what to bring and what not to bring.
-Daneille Clark
I lived in dorms last year so I agree with what they are saying, it is infact very hard to transition from a huge bedroom to sharing a small room with someone. I infact shared a normal size dorm room with two other girls so finding space was very hard to do. However these tips they named is exactly what the three of us did and it helped us be able to fit alot more of our belongings in our room. I agree with everything they said and think these tips about storage can really help people who live in dorms stay orangized and fit more of their things in their room.
-Andrea Keller
As a student who has never lived in a dorm before I thought these tips wouldn't really help or relate to me, but after reading I found many of these tips helpful. I recently moved out of my big room and into an apartment off campus with a friend of mine. While my new living space might have a bit more room than a normal college dorm some of the ideas listed here I thought would be great ideas to apply to my new place. Being a 21 year old girl I moved with a lot, and I mean a lot, of shoes. The tip of the hanging organizers to house them is a really good idea. I can also relate to trying to coordinate color schemes with my roommate in the living room. Since we have two very different styles it was hard but we were able to do so using small accent pieces. So while I might not live on campus, many of the trending dorm ideas can be tied to off campus living as well.
Kristin Gibson
Even though I lived in the dorms a whole three years ago, its tough to forget the tiny amount of space campus housing gives you to cram all of your belongings in. I remember seeing my tiny cement block of a room for the first time on move in day. My first reaction was to sob. After letting my emotions get the best of me, my roommate and I decided to make the best of the situation. We color coordinated our room and made it as cozy as possible. We hung cute frames, and added curtains to the window and closet separating our clothes from out living space. To fit all of my clothes into that tiny closet we went to Target and bought hangers that could hold up to five shirts, and a plastic set of drawers for the unnecessary amount of t-shirts I brought from home. I also purchased a shoe rack to hang over our door that could hold around 30 pairs of shoes. Even though our new living arrangements were far from convenient we made the best of the space given to us and ended up loving our new home. By the end of the year my roommate and I wished we could have stayed in our little cement box of a room. I still look at Kirwan Tower every once and a while wishing I could go back to my room on the fourth floor.
Regina Bohl
As a resident adviser I still live in the dorms, but I am now able to utilize a much larger living space. The tips mentioned in this blog are very helpful not only for me, but especially for incoming freshman. The advice to utilize a curtain as a room divider is very helpful, as well as the tip to invest in extra lighting. The dorm room lighting can be very limited and the small space does not allow for huge floor lamps. Finding creative and smaller means to light the room can be as fashionable as it is useful. The curtain allows for extra privacy which can be difficult to find in the dorm life. The curtain can be drawn when getting dressed, when someone is trying to sleep, or it can simply be used as a decorative item to warm up the room. As a resident adviser I now have a double room all to myself and I am now trying to find ways to make the room feel warmer and cozier with two beds and four huge walls. I have recently painted a canvas to hang on my wall to add color and bring some life into the room. Adding extra lighting, picture frames, and cute organizational boxes, as mentioned in the blog, has helped to make my room feel more like home. Small details, as mentioned in the blog, can light up a room and make it feel much more personal.
-Rebecca Ellington
This article gave good insight and perception about what living in a dorm room is really like. It also provided ways to make the transition a little bit easier with ideas of how to overcome the size of the room. I found the same to be true when I lived in the dorms my freshman year. Me and my roommate were pressed for space and it was nothing like having your own huge room to yourself. Needless to say we both brought way too much to move in day, and ended up having to send most of it back with our parents. One thing I found different about this article than my actual experience was the need to contact my roommate before. When I moved in the first day, that was the first time I had talked to my roommate. There was no color coordinating of bedsheets or anything of that matter. Then again I'm sure that is where two guys living together and two girls living together differentiates itself. But either way sharing a room with someone of that size definitely is an experience.
Darek Hirschfeld
Post a Comment