At first glance, styling your dorm room into the space you’ve always wanted may seem pretty simple. Just pick out the look you want, add in some wall art that ties the look together, and you’re finished, right? Well...kind of. The truth is, though, that you may run into a few snags along the way. So, once you’ve decided exactly how you want your dorm room to look, you should probably know a few things about bringing wall art along to your dorm room’s look this year.

At first glance, styling your dorm room into the space you’ve always wanted may seem pretty simple. Just pick out the look you want, add in some wall art that ties the look together, and you’re finished, right? Well...kind of. The truth is, though, that you may run into a few snags along the way. So, once you’ve decided exactly how you want your dorm room to look, you should probably know a few things about bringing wall art along to your dorm room’s look this year.

From rules about hanging up decorations in your room that you might not have given any thought to, to figuring out the best way for you to get around those rules, here’s everything you need to know about choosing wall art for your dorm room this year.

Selecting Your Wall Art in the Face of College Dorm Room Guidelines

In a perfect world, you would be able to dress up your dorm room in whatever way you’d like, using whatever means possible. While most colleges have very few restrictions on what you can and can’t display in your room, they do, unfortunately, tend to have some restrictions on how you can display that decor in your dorm room for the coming year. After all, you’re not living in a place you own; you’re living in a place that’s owned by your school. 

Much like a landlord would, they have complete control over what you can and cannot do to your dorm room while you live on campus for the year - and they will enforce any rules they set. Different schools will probably use slightly different language as they lay out what is and isn’t allowed, but the gist will probably be the same. In the University of Pittsburgh’s Residential Handbook, for instance, they prohibit the defacing of any dorm room walls - which includes painting, drilling into, or causing damage to them in any way. The same can be said for Penn State and countless other universities all across the country.

You can check the residential handbook included on your school’s website to find out exactly what they do and do not consider damage to your dorm room. In most cases, you can face fines for any damage incurred in your dorm room while you’re living there, so be sure to learn about what you can and can’t do before selecting your dorm room wall art. You’ll save money when it comes to both buying excess decor that you won’t wind up using and having to pay for fines if you hang up your wall art with something that could cause damage.

How to Avoid Bringing Any Damage to Your Dorm Room While Hanging Up Wall Art

When it comes to hanging up your wall art using tools that won’t bring any damage to your dorm room, the art is going to determine the most effective way for you to hang it up. A wall tapestry, for instance, doesn’t use the same hanging hooks that a framed canvas of art might. Whether you’re hoping to hang up a frameless poster, a framed piece of art with a wire on the back to help you hang it, or even a calendar, the methods you’ll need to use are going to vary - so be sure to do your research beforehand!

If we can give you any piece of advice, it’s that Command Hooks are about to be your new best friend. Not only are they useful for helping you to hang up that wall art that you’d rather not just prop up on a shelf in your dorm room this year, but they’re also a great tool for helping you to dry out your towel after a shower so it doesn’t get musty or even hang up your jewelry or ball caps.

From hanging tapestries to canvases, there are different styles of Command Hooks that will help you hang up your dorm room wall art this year - and they’re super easy to apply. Each Command Hook comes with a double-sided adhesive strip, which you can stick to both the back of your hook and the wall. 

Simply make sure your wall is clean of any particles that could weaken the strength of your hook, apply one side of the adhesive strip to the back of the hook, and press the other side of the adhesive strip to the wall in the place you’d like to hang your wall art. You’ll need to keep  some pressure on the hook for a short amount of time to make sure it sticks well and let it rest without any weight on it for about five minutes, but after that, you should be good to hang up your dorm room wall art!

When it comes to hanging larger tapestries that are going to take up a larger portion of your wall, you may want to do a little bit more research before you decide what’s going to work the best for you. Many websites that offer advice on how to hang them suggest using nails, but since that is likely going to be against your school’s guidelines for decorating your dorm room, you may need to look further to find other methods. 

If you get an extra set of the double-sided adhesive strips when you get your Command Strips, they are a super simple and effective way to help you hang up a larger tapestry. All you’ll need to do is apply one side of the adhesive strip to each of the four corners of your tapestry and then stick it to the wall in the place where you’d like it to hang. Sticky tack is also a great tool if you’re nervous about the removal of your Command Hooks at the end of the year.

Using Principles of Design to Create a Dorm Room Look That’s More Put-Together Than Anything You Could Have Imagined

Picking out your dorm room wall art doesn’t have to be super complicated, but if you’re hoping to come to school with a dorm room look that’s so put-together you’ll be sad to see it go when you finally graduate, you can choose to make your wall are search as complicated as you’d like. To help get you started, we recommend taking a look at the principles of design to help you figure out what wall art will best suit the rest of the decor you’ve picked out for your dorm room.

If you’ve ever taken an art class after elementary school, you’ve probably learned a little bit about the principles of design, even if you weren’t explicitly learning about them. They are as follows: balance, emphasis, movement, pattern, repetition, proportion, rhythm, variety, and unity. While these nine principles originated in art theory, they can easily be applied to the design of things outside of art.

In order to make your room look as attractive as possible to the average eye, you’ll need to keep each of these principles in mind as you go about designing your dorm room. Depending on the bedding you’ve chosen for your room, the style you’re trying to blend together, and the other decor you’ve selected, you’ll want to pick out your dorm room wall art based on how they will help the entire look of your room to appear balanced.

You can pair some simple boho bedding with a bold and colorful wall tapestry for a balance of both colors and patterns Or balance a blue palette with pops of orange. One thing to keep in mind as you pick out your wall art is the color wheel. There’s actually a science to pairing colors, and while you don’t have to follow it to the letter, it’s pretty commonly accepted that colors located directly across from each other on the color wheel are most complimentary, while colors with varying shades and tones tend to be uncomplimentary. 

Wall Art You Need to Bring to Your Dorm Room This Year

Round Out Your Boho Look with a Mandala Tapestry

If you’re looking for some wall art that can be a statement piece in your dorm room this year, look no further than a mandala wall tapestry that is sure to make your room pop. Easy to install and super pretty, this tapestry is a work of art all it’s own - and if you do it right, you can easily put together one of the best boho looks in your dorm. Since your tapestry will be the showstopper in this look, you’ll want to pair it with some simpler boho decor. Think beige, fringed bedding and dream catchers in muted colors.

Polish Off Your Urban Fantasy with This Modern Subway Wall Hook

Not all dorm room looks have to follow a very particular color scheme or incorporate wall art that looks particularly artsy at first glance. If you’re hoping to bring some more industrial, useful accents into your dorm room decor, you really need to check out this Subway Wall Hook. Pair it with some classy black and white bedding and a poster or two of New York City to give your dorm room a sleek, urban look. Not only is this a fashionable way to add some wall art to your dorm room, but it’s also a great way to help you organize your belongings!

Add Some “Dipped in Gold” Touches to Your Dorm Room with Gold Dry-Erase Dots

Living in a dorm room and trying to stay organized isn’t always easy. If you’re someone who really wants to be able to stay on top of everything you have to do, but you don’t want to have to sacrifice on the design of your room while you do it, invest in some of these gold dry-erase dots! You can easily stick them to and remove them from your walls, and they’re a great way to help you stay organized, too, if you want! Add reminders about activities you have going on throughout the week or even a couple doodles to them.

Explore the Whole Universe Within Your Dorm Room with This Framed Moon Print

Not all of your wall art has to be made up of bold colors and patterns. Remember that designing a dorm room look that will be the envy of all your new friends is all about balance. If you’ve gone bold with some of your bedding or maybe even some of your other decor, you may want to go a little simpler with your wall art by hanging up a black and white framed art print displaying the different phases of the moon. Pair it with something vibrant and shiny, like a holographic throw, or something that twinkles like the stars, such as some fairy lights.

Channel Summer Days with This “Salty But Sweet” Hanging Tapestry

Already missing summer days out on the water when you haven’t even started your classes yet? Give yourself a sweet (and salty) reminder with this gorgeous tapestry that combines watery blues and coral into an easy way to reflect the sea back at you even while you’re studying away at school. This is one of those pieces of wall art that you can hang up pretty easily as long as you have some Command Hooks on hand. Pair it with some other nautically-themed decor to round out a classic look.

Give Yourself a Damage-Free Accent Wall with Some Peel and Stick Wallpaper

Chances are that your school won’t allow you to hang up any wallpaper that you actually have to paste to the wall in your dorm room, but there are ways to get around that. Give yourself a unique accent wall using a bold print on some peel and stick wallpaper. It’s super easy to apply to whichever wall you want to use as your accent wall, and it will be just as easy to peel off of the wall at the end of the year without leaving any damage. 

Whether you’re familiar with the varying rules you might be faced with when living under a roof owned by someone else or not, there’s more that goes into designing your dorm room into that perfect look than you might originally think. Get started with these tips today.