We could all use tips when it comes to the difficult choices made when decorating our respective college habitats. Unpacking is only one step in the process of making a dorm your home-away-from-home, but decorating takes a room from the place where you keep your things to the place where you can feel comforted, inspired, and relaxed. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind during this process.
To Theme Or Not To Theme?
Themed rooms are a very common way for roommates to bond over a common interest. Common themes include beach paradises, black and white motifs, pink and polka-dotted looks, and even "High School Musical" devotion that extended past graduation into Notre Dame move-in.
Sometimes a chosen theme can help navigate the wide range of room decor options. With a theme, roommates can go wild in the creation of a cohesive ambience. But there are some down sides to a theme. A tropical haven might not seem so warm with the change of seasons. Or the phrase "orange is the new pink" might make you panic if your room looks like set from "Legally Blonde."
It's important to decide if a theme will be overbearing or too inflexible for you before you commit to it. Once you gauge this, dive into your chosen motif or divert to a more eclectic, diverse look.
Points for Creativity
Making dorm room decor takes a lot of flexibility and compromise. You have to combine the tastes of anywhere between two and six people. Being considerate and letting each persons preferences have a presence in the room not only will make for peaceful roommate relations but also for peace of mind. Eclectic nirvana can be achieved by making everyone happy in your living space.
At the heart of compromise is creativity. Creatively incorporating all parties allows for a new comprehensive look. Creativity is not only vital to the personality of a room but also essential for making the room functional. Creativity is crucial in making the most of small or oddly shaped rooms found in older dorms and in spicing up boring, homogenous spaces in newer dorms.
Stay Classy, Stay Yourself
Your dorm room environment should be a place where you feel comfortable, and one great way to increase your comfort is to surround yourself with things that you like. This can mean pictures from home or posters of your favorite movies.
One big mistake made particularly by campus males is making prominent displays of poor taste. Obviously taste is subjective, but certain interests begin to scrape the bottom of the barrel. The best and most prevalent example of this is found in rooms that are adorned purely with drinking memorabilia and posters of ladies who are wearing varying amounts of clothing. It's clear that you like women and drinking. But is it really the best interests to highlight? Well, not only does it generally lack class, it also lacks originality.
The message here is not to be someone that you aren't but rather to show how diverse and high-quality your interests are. Allow your room to speak to your credit rather than your detriment. Be prepared to use both sides of your brain when it comes to dorm room problem solving, and you will be ready to tackle any obstacles in the way to making the room of your dreams.
