A dorm room is your own personal sanctuary, so you want to make sure that it looks great. Coming home to a plain and boring space every day is not ideal. You certainly don’t want that for your home away from home. You’ll want to put your own personal touch on your room and make sure it truly represents who you are. In a dorm room, you might not be sure how to add that personal touch since you are somewhat limited in what you can do with the space. 

There are, however, plenty of ways to get around whatever those restrictions might be. Rules don’t have to get in the way of your fun. You can’t paint the walls, but you can certainly cover them with pictures you love! And there are easy ways to do this that won’t cause any damage to the walls. Your walls can be heavily adorned with pictures that will be easily taken down once it is time for you to pack up and leave. Here are the 9 easy and dorm friendly methods that anyone can follow to get pictures up on the walls!

Command Strips

Command Picture Hanging Strips are quick and easy to use. The strips lock in and keep pictures hanging tight to the walls without any residue left over when they are taken down. There are just a few steps you have to follow. Simply rub down the area you will use with rubbing alcohol, and then separate the strips and remove one side of the liners. Once you stick them to the photos and press them against the wall, you must wait about an hour for the adhesive to build. 

When it comes time to remove them, there is a simple, mess free method to do it. It takes a few minutes and leaves no residue behind. And they are made to adhere to many types of surfaces. It works on painted walls, tile, wood, and painted concrete. It can easily hold up picture frames and will stay up as long as you need it to. 

Slothy PhotoClip 

These Slothy PhotoClips provide a fun and creative way to hang your pictures. These photoclips are attached to a 4-foot long cable that can be used to make fun picture collages. There are 7 clips attached to each cable, and they are shaped like sloths! It's a humorous twist on regular clips and is a wonderful addition to your photographs. You can hang your photos horizontally, vertically, or in zig zag patterns. Buy more than one and drape them across each other or connect them to form a longer chain. Combine photos of all different sizes to hang up to make your walls look even more fun! 

Photographs are easy to add and remove from these clips. They are gentle and won't harm the integrity of your pictures. You can even choose to have a rotating cast of photos. Switch out some of your photos once in a while to change up the atmosphere slightly. There are loops on each end of the cable so you can hook them onto little pushpins. Pushpins are super easy to use and cause very minimal damage to walls. 

Double Sided Tape

Double-sided scotch tape is great for hanging pictures. It's one of the easiest ways that you can do it. Tape is something many of us use on certain occasions. This tape is not much different from regular tape. It is easy to stick onto a photograph and then stick right onto a surface. It works just fine on walls. You can easily take off any sized strip that you want. Just place the strips onto the back of your photographs. It will stick well and last as long as you need it to. Just make sure you get a strong brand, like Scotch double sided tape. 

This tape comes off just as easily as it goes on. You just have to pinch it and peel it right off. It will not damage the walls in any way. These strips of paint are thin and hardly noticeable. There will not be any residue left whenever you finally take the strips of tape down. The walls will look just the same as they were before once your photos are removed. 

Mounting Putty

Mounting Putty is ideal to use to hang up photos for many reasons. It is soft and can even be fun to use. It has a texture that is vaguely reminiscent of PlayDough. You can easily customize the size adhesive you need because the putty is moldable. You can make it big or small, or change the shape depending on the shape of your object. It adheres to porous and non-porous surfaces alike, so it will likely work well no matter the quality of your dorm’s wall.It can hold up to one pound of weight, so it is perfect for lightweight photos. 

This putty is extremely easy to use. All you have to do is mold it to your liking, and apply pressure when you stick it to your photos and then to the walls.  It will mold itself to the shape of whatever it is stuck onto. It is very strong, so you won’t have to worry about your pictures falling off. And when you remove them from the wall, your surfaces will still look amazing! 

Trickle Photo Display

This photo display is a really cool and artsy way to display your photos. It is not something you often see, it is a really awesome and unique idea. You can display up to 20 photos on one entire rack. The photos can be of any size. This display is made of wire with a chrome finish, and has five vertical rows. It makes for a nice and neat display. The top row has a curvy shape that was inspired by clouds. The bottom part was inspired by rain, and you can insert pictures onto the top and the bottom part. 

This photo display comes with mounting hardware to make the process simple. You won’t at all have to suffer to put this together. It will be easy for you to hang it up and just as easy to take it down. Your pictures are also held very gently between the round clips, so they will not be damaged. Your memories will be even more fun to view when they’re showcased on such a great display piece. 

Cube Storage Organizer

This is a less conventional, but really creative way to display pictures. You can place pictures on frames into the nooks, or even stick them into the wall space and treat the nook borders as frames themselves. Plenty of pictures and can be placed outside of the nooks. You can have them face forward or lean them to the side. Another interesting, but different photo display option is to paste pictures on every flat surface of this space. This would look really cool when covered in photos. It will be sure to make a statement. 

This OCM 6-cube organizer is a great choice. It's a neutral color and has a great design to it that would make whatever you place into it look great. It can be used to display many other items besides pictures. You can add vases, clocks, and other decorative items in between the pictures. Stuffed animals and souvenirs would also be great to place in between the photos. It will look great in any corner of your dorm room. 

Hot Glue Gun

A hot glue gun is a commonly used item for arts and crafts and other DIY projects. It could look intimidating, but is actually really easy to use. People of all ages can use them just fine. A hot glue gun has many uses, but is really great for sticking pictures to walls. To use a glue gun to hang your pictures, place some tape on the back of the pictures and put a dab of glue on the tape. That way your photograph doesn’t get damaged. After you do that, do the same to the wall. Your photos will stick to the wall perfectly and be easy to remove. It will leave no residue behind. 

There are many options available when purchasing glue guns. There are small and simple ones and some that are somewhat more complicated. There are glue guns with different temperature settings, and ones that have metal drip catchers so glue doesn’t leak anywhere when you set your glue gun down. Most come with plenty of glue sticks and they are easily replaceable when they run out. 

LED Light Photo Clips

To hang your pictures, use these LED Light Photo Clips from OCM. These will lighten up your photos and make your room look like it's always decorated for a party. They will look super cool in the dark and still look awesome in the light. You can also hang these up anywhere in your room. It is an awesome way to add a fun touch to your pictures. There is nothing plain about these! You can hang these straight across your wall, wrap them around a lamp, or drape them across your headboard. You can even hang these LED light photo clips in a shape since they are so flexible. Form a circle, a square, or even a star. 

These are very easy to put up and will not cause damage to the walls. You can easily use little push pins to help keep them up. One of these comes with 10 photo clips. That gives you room for plenty of pictures! You can even buy more and have lots of your dorm room space lit up by tons of awesome photos. 

Decorative Tape

Decorative tape is a really fun way to add more color to your walls. You can essentially create a makeshift picture frame with any style of tape you choose. You can go with one style of tape if you would like a more cohesive look to your room, or you can go a bit wilder and choose tapes of many different styles and colors. You can match your “frame” colors or you can choose mis-matched patterns. Whatever style you go with, you’ll have lots of fun hanging pictures with these!

Good quality decorative tape does minimal damage to walls. As long as you purchase a good brand, it should come off easily and leave no residue when it's time to clear off your walls. This kind of tape will give your room a fun look in the moment and come right off with minimal effort. It is very easy to tear with or without scissors, and the style choices are endless! There are so many companies offering decorative tape. No matter what your style, you are sure to find decorative tape that suits your taste. 

College is an exciting experience, especially when you live in the dorms. While living in your temporary home, you’ll find that decorating it to your liking makes the experience far more comfortable and enjoyable. Your personal photographs will really make your space feel like home, so make sure to use some of these great tips to get those photos up!