College is a time of change and discovery for everyone. You’ll be living away from home for the first time, and will have many kinds of experiences as you go along. Your room will be your personal comfort space, and it is best that you make sure it is as comfortable as it can be. Turn your plain dorm room into a place you love coming home to after a long day of classes. Use decorations that fit your personality and your space. Here are some tips you can use to get started on fixing up your new room!

How to Choose Wall Decor for Your Dorm

There are a few things that factor into choosing the perfect wall decor, especially for a dorm room. You have a lot of things to consider. You’ll be moving into a brand new space that may not have too much room, be living with a roommate or two, and be in close proximity with lots of other people. You have to consider the size of your new space when choosing wall decor. You can do this by checking out your school’s website if you haven’t been to campus yet. A campus tour before your move-in date would also be a good choice. Find out if your dorm room has plaster, brick, or concrete walls. That will determine what types of things you’re able to hang, and also what methods would work best to hang them. Find out if your room will be cramped or spacious. You don’t want to overload a small room with too many decorations. At the same time, you don’t want to leave your large walls near empty because you didn’t bring enough. 

Consider wall decorations that will let your roommate in on parts of your personality from a glance. Choose items that show off your likes and that your roommate is also likely to appreciate. Figure out if you’d like to show off a style that is more bold or more subdued, or one that is loaded or minimalist. Whatever you choose is something you will see as soon as you enter your room everyday. Make sure your decorations are something that you’re happy to see!

Peel and Stick Wallpaper

This Peel and Stick Wallpaper is great for dorm room walls. You can easily turn one of your plain walls into a really cool statement wall. This white brick background will really stand out and look close to real! It will be a great contrast next to the bland walls around it that are found in each room. People will wonder if you got the only room on the floor with pale brick walls until you let them know the truth! It’s such an easy way to have the look of an inside brick wall without the brick. 

Peel and stick wallpaper can also make decorating easier. You can stick many of your posters, pictures, and wall art right on there without having to worry about your dorm room walls being damaged. You can even draw or paint all over the wallpaper if you would like. And on the last day, you can simply peel the whole thing off and move on. 

Another great idea is to create your own art piece with peel and stick wallpaper. Instead of sticking it directly to your walls, you can stick this wallpaper onto a canvas like a piece of cardboard or wood, and place it onto your wall as if it's a painting. It will look like an expensive piece of art, but actually be quite cheap!

Tapestry

A tapestry is a really simple way to add a fun design to your walls without any permanence. All you have to do is hook one right onto the wall until you want to take it down. It is so easy, you can consistently alternate tapestries if you want. If you get bored easily or simply want to change the vibe of your room, change up your tapestry! You can find them in any color, and they often have really unique and intricate designs. 

This Tapestry from OCM has an awesome design that can really command attention. There are so many different patterns throughout it that you can get lost staring into it, trying to figure out the intricacies of the patterns. It has a somewhat hypnotizing quality to it that will give your room a chill vibe. The different blues go well together and will enhance the decorations you have around it. 

There are several different ways that you can hang a tapestry. You can place it directly onto the walls, fold it onto a frame as if it's an art piece, or hang it over a rod. One great way to hang a tapestry is to make it into a canopy. Hang it onto the ceiling and have it drape down the walls. It will make for a really cozy bedroom or seating area. 

License Plate Frame

You’re probably excited to be a student at your school. Maybe you loudly cheer your school on at games or you proudly say its name to whoever asks you where you study. You might already have t-shirts, sweaters, and notebooks that showcase your school spirit, but you can also show it off on your walls! This license plate frame will be a great fixture in your dorm room. Get one that represents your own school and mascot. 

Of course, if you have a car, you can certainly use it for your license plate, but this is a creative way to repurpose this frame. Using it for pictures would also be a great idea. You can slip multiple small pictures into the edges of the frame, or you can fit a few slightly bigger pictures neatly behind it. Maybe do both and have it be a picture collage. 

There are several different ways to use license plates and license plate frames to decorate your walls. You can use one to frame wall hooks to create a coat rack, or use it to frame a small mirror. You’ll be able to show your love for your school and get some great use out of this frame. 

Wall Hanging

A wall hanging is a wall decoration that goes up very easily and has minimal effect on walls. It will add a lot to any space, especially when it's an image you’d love to see again and again. A wall hanging can have many kinds of images on it. You can find wall hangings with abstract images, some with bold patterns, and some with pictures of nature. A large wall hanging can work for a big or small space. If you want a smaller wall hanging, try pairing it with one of a similar size and place each on opposite sides of the wall. 

This wall hanging from OCM is made with polyester yarn. It has a rustic, bohemian field to it that will give your room a similar feel. The beach image will make you feel serene and remind you of good times. You can go with different shades of blue, black, and white for other items in your apartment to decorate it around a similar theme. 

A wall hanging would be a great addition to any room in your apartment. Your bed would look awesome with one of these on either side, or with one right above it. It would also be an excellent addition to your living room walls. A wall hanging can be made up of many different kinds of fabric. It can be made with yarn, wool, or metal among other things. You can even make your own out of materials like feathers, sea shells, rocks, or even flowers. 

Wall Art

Bare walls are not the most exciting thing to look at. You can cover your walls in whatever art most interests you. These mini art prints would look great on anyone’s walls. There are different picture options to suit your tastes. They are also available in different frame colors. You can get white, black, light maple, and walnut. Choose one that looks great against your walls or that matches your dorm room’s furniture. The paper that the art is printed on also happens to be of very high quality. You don’t have to worry about your art deteriorating anytime soon. 

Since these pictures are small, they won't take up much wall space. You can fit them anywhere you want. There is also a small hole in the back that makes hanging these up simple. It will be made to order just for you!

There are so many different ways to embrace wall art. You can place your framed art in unique locations not usually seen in the average home. Try hanging a piece of art in front of a window. Make sure it is smaller than the size of the window if you would still like enough light to shine through. You will have your sunlight and a cool art piece hanging in front of it. 

Message Board

This message board will be a cool addition to your space and also be lots of fun to use! The ornate frame will add an antique touch to the walls. It will look good with whatever decor you have in your room. And aside from decor, you can use it to send important messages. Write and receive notes from your roommate whenever you’re not in the room together. He can read a message you wrote to him on the way to a class when he returns from one of his. 

But of course this board doesn’t have to be used for serious things. Write silly phrases that make you laugh to glance at, or draw funny pictures on it. You can even use it to keep score when you play games with friends. The ways that you can use this message board are endless. 

You can even create your own message board. You can pick out some chalkboard paint, a frame, and a canvas, and then put it all together yourself. You can use the average black or dark green chalk paint, or you can go with white or another unique color. As long as you use a smooth surface, the paint will go on easily, and since it won’t make any contact with your actual walls, it is perfectly apartment safe. 

Rug “Wallpaper”

Everyone is used to having rugs decorate their floors, but have you ever tried using one as wallpaper? A rug can be an easy way to add pattern and texture to a wall that can’t be painted. A rug with a bold pattern will look like an art piece on your walls. The texture will give it a fun detail that’s not usually seen in wall art. 

You can use a small rug or a few small ones and make them look like little fuzzy paintings, or you can cover an entire wall with a large rug and have it look like it's covered with fuzzy wallpaper. It is a unique addition to any space. You’ll get to have patterned walls without the paint job. You can even use a rug as a canvas where you can hang your other art pieces!

This rug from OCM features an abstract graphic design pattern that will complement many different design choices. The neutral colors will work well with any other colors and patterns that you have in your apartment. It is soft and durable, so it will hold up to a lot of use, but that won’t be much of a concern since it won’t be under anyone’s feet. 

College living is an exciting experience that you get to share with many similarly excited classmates. You’ll want your space to be an oasis in the midst of all the chaos surrounding you. Decorating your space is the best way to do that! With the right purchases, you can turn your dorm room into a comfortable home away from home!