DIY Dorm Deco?

[LizQuincy]

I've recently moved into a single-room college dorm, and was planning on spicing it up. But I am yet to come up with any great ideas.

There's TONS of dark wood everywhere. And white concrete walls. Since I'm by myself, I have a lot of room to work with. And I want to make it a good place for studying, sleeping, and hanging out. And pretty.

Ideas? Please. Thank you.

xo

P.S. I did get wall-to-wall carpet cheap from a remnant. Way better than a rug, and I can sell it when I move out.
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elizabeth

[amelia]

I know they're totally cliche, but I love fairy lights. I spiced mine up by making little cups out of origami paper, punching a hole in the bottom, and putting it over the bulb. The effect is really pretty and colorfull.

[strawberryjulius]

I did a similar light effect...right after Christmas there are HUGE sales for left over lights, I bought two 20ft strands of small purple bulbs for 99 cents a strand, then I took fake flowers (I used purple morning glories) and took them apart, and pushed the petals over the bulbs. It's really cute and fun!
Creative shelving is always a must in dorms!!
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who needs a beat when the beat just goes...

[becca_13]

fabric, fabic, fabric. hung on walls, made into pillow covers, whatever - it makes all the difference in a sterile room. i also am a fan of a corkboard collage. i used to plaster my dorm corkboard with cards, ideas, photos....

[quixotic]

i've lived in various dorm rooms over the years, and by far my favourite one was the one i shared with a good friend. during the summer before rooming together we concocted our room. the best highlights were: getting an old loveseat and covering it with blue fluffy fabric. it was so eyecatching that we made new friends just from people who would see it while walking by, and a coffeetable constructed out of a piece of wood and four cardboard tubes for legs. we painted them ourselves and put a checkerboard design on the top in case we ever felt like playing checkers. both of them were huge conversation starters with everyone that came to visit!

another idea is that if you have a really boring wall, instead of fabric, you could use old thrifted record covers. i covered a huge wall in one of my flats in them, and it made me giggle everytime i looked at it. old record art is amazingly cheesy and guaranteed to lift your spirits when you've got exams!
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http://www.craftivism.com: wee, yet mighty!

[LizQuincy]

i had a few record covers hanging, but the sticky tack I bought wasn't so sticky...

The concrete walls are really limiting.

I am on a break now and plan on going to the fabric store again and looking for curtains, etc.
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elizabeth

[hodge]

i agree with the fabric suggestion.

collect old ugly canvases (not in frames) from thrift stores and garage sales and stretch hot pieces of fabric over them, staple gunning/thumbtacking/hot glueing it to the back of the frame. insta-art! you can do a bunch and arange them in a cool configuration over your bed or whatever. if the frames are too much of a pain in the ass, you can just tape together several pieces of cardboard box (all cut to same size) and staple your fabric to that. this can also double as a message board (like a corkboard) because you can stick pushpins into it (this was a craft idea on the old getcrafty site).

[naturallysteph]

I like the fabric idea, or you could even try covering your walls with pretty wrapping paper. A friend of mine did that in college & her room was always so pleasant to be in.

-- Steph

[LizQuincy]

Yeah I am trying to find big enough pieces of foam core to cover with fabric.

I need to get this done before the end of first semester.... no timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
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elizabeth