Your Dorm is Your New Home for the Next 4+ Years-- Why Not Make it Cool?

t is essential for any college student to make their dorm room as comfortable as possible. With all of these changes, coming from your room back home where you were the majority of your life to this new environment; it is crucial to personalize your living quarters how you like. 

This is where you will be spending most of your time studying, eating, and sleeping. Whether you realize it or not, decor can improve your mood! 

So let’s break this down, where should you start? 

Lighting

Lighting in a room contributes to a lot of different factors of mood. Picture this, you’re in school and you’re adjusting to this new schedule, and tomorrow you have your first exam. You’re probably pretty nervous so you know that you need to get a good amount of sleep.

Circadian rhythm is the 24-hour cycle; otherwise known as your internal clock that will wake you up and help you fall back asleep. When the rhythm is disrupted, it can lead to insomnia or lack of proper sleep. If you have curtains in your room, be sure to open them!

With all of this in mind let's take a look at some of the different kinds of lights you can grab to add some character to your room. 

String lights

Probably one of the easiest methods to hang up some lights in your room would be to use string lights. This was always my personal go-to because I would pick up some hanging strips and then arrange the lights how I pleased around my room. Talk it over with your roommate if you have one and see if they would be ok with this! 

You can find them just about anywhere like Walmart, Target, or even Amazon. Take your pick of goldish or silver hues and use those neutral colors to brighten up your room. 

LED lights

No doubt you have seen LED lights in countless rooms of your friends, videos online, or maybe you have some of your own. 

These are strip lights that you can attach to the top corners around a room. They will come with a remote that will allow you to change the colors, or even make custom colors. 

Your entire room mood will change with whatever you choose to do, they cover all surfaces when the room is dark. 

You can find these at a lot of different places as well such as Amazon, Walmart, T.J.Maxx, Best Buy, etc. A quick google search will bring you to tons of different results. 

Desk lamps

This next option to implement into your dorm is one of my absolute favorite things I ever got for school. This is a Tronix desk lamp; it has LED lights built inside an adjustable head that you can tilt up or down. It is fantastic for reading or studying. It has different touch settings on the bottom and an option to raise or lower brightness. It does not take up too much space and it is easily compact when you eventually have to move out. 

If that hasn’t sold you there is also a USB plug that you can use to charge your device while you are working. 

I can’t tell you how many compliments I have gotten when people walked into my room and saw this lamp. 

Both my two roommates and sister got one after I had raved about how useful it was; and to no surprise, they all love it too. 

You can find this on Amazon, or eBay. 

Bedding

Your bed is your sanctuary; point, blank, period. This is where you will relax, study, nap, and sleep.

There are some things you can add to your bed that may make it more interesting/comfortable than say your roommates or the room down the hall. 

Reading Pillow 

Another very helpful addition to the college lifestyle is a reading pillow/pillow chair. After sitting on hard desks all day long it’s nice to lay back in a cozy pillow that will also prop you up while you work.

This can be placed on your bed where you can feel comfortable enough, but not fall asleep. If you do fall asleep with it at night though, it definitely helps prop other pillows up in my experience. 

You can find these at a handful of places; Amazon, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohls, Target, etc. 

Weighted Blanket

If you’re going to school somewhere on the east coast, or anywhere with typically low temperatures/harsh winters this is the product for you.

You may be able to get away with a comforter and a few blankets but what if I told you to simply bring a comforter and a weighted blanket? Might save you some money in the long run. 

It has been recognized that weighted blankets have become a very useful tool when wanting to sleep peacefully. In fact, a study has been done showing that 31 people who slept with a weighted blanket reportedly had a more relaxed night sleep; it is harder to toss yourself around when you have anywhere from 5-30 pounds on top of you. 

More research shows that weighted blankets are helpful because the “grounding” process which is when the blanket weight is pushing you down stimulating a type of touch commonly used in therapy that helps to lower stress and anxiety. 

So not only are you going to feel unbelievably warm, but you might wake up less stressed and more refreshed!

Bedside Caddy

Far too many nights I found myself studying up late then tossing my books and school supplies on the ground because I was too tired to get up and put them back in my bag. If I had had one of these it would’ve saved me a lot of trouble picking up all my stuff in the morning. 

A bedside caddy is a convenient storage center that can be placed underneath your mattress. You can hold notebooks, books, journals, pencils, and even your device here. 

People underestimate just how late you’re going to stay up doing work, this will simply help to keep your room organized. 

Let’s talk about cooking in your dorm next.

Pasta cooker

Café food can at times be nasty, so it makes sense that at times you’d rather cook something in your room than walk over and not like the food served. 

I love some good pasta. It is the kind of dish that only requires a few steps/ingredients and doesn’t even take long to make. 

This product is very useful if you want a quick tasty meal. And due to the fact that you most likely don’t have a stove, this is very convenient. 

Popcorn popper

Hate to break the news, but microwave popcorn is seriously bad for your health. Not only is it terribly high in calories but it can lead to far worse health problems; not to mention over time it could destroy your microwave. 

Trust me when I say you’re going to want to keep your microwave intact for as long as possible throughout your college career. 

As an alternative, buy a popcorn popper, kernels from the store, and some butter. Air pop popcorn not only tastes much better because it is fresh, but you can control what is going in your food (how much salt, butter, etc.) 

In the long run, you will be happy that you switched, I promise. 

Shower time

Now depending on if you have a communal bathroom, or lucky enough to have your own, you will need to shower at some point; so why not make it enjoyable!

Who doesn’t love to sing in the shower? 

Well, rather than getting your device wet by bringing it into the shower with you, buy a Bluetooth, waterproof speaker that can suction itself to the wall. You do not have to worry about it falling over and breaking! 

I used one of these in my bathroom at school and absolutely loved it. It is small enough that you aren’t carrying a million things with you to the bathroom and it has good quality sound. 

We hope some of these products you will consider purchasing! They can become great additions to your daily life as a college student-- might make your life a little easier!