How to: Decorate your dorm room FOR FREE

You’ve been here for two weeks, staring at those white concrete walls in your dorm room, wondering how to make your surroundings a little more like home and a little less like a prison cell. However, you’re a college student on a budget. Even those “cheap” posters on sale are expensive – $10 for an 18 x 24-inch piece of paper with a palm tree is a little much.

Well, luckily there are some creative ways to cover those bare walls without spending a dime on decorations:

1. Paint Swatches/Post-Its

If you have a large space of white wall begging to be filled with color, this is the project for you.

Go to your local hardware store, like Home Depot or Lowes. Remember when you were little and those walls filled with paint swatches were the coolest things ever? Well, now is your chance to raid those shelves with a purpose.

Grab a ton of different colors and use them to make a pretty, abstract design on your wall. Just make sure to attach it with white sticky tack so you don’t leave little blue dots on those precious dorm room walls.

2. Magnetic Cookie Sheet

If your desk is cluttered with papers you don’t know what to do with, this type of project may really help you out.

Instead of running to Target to buy a corkboard for $13, turn an old cookie sheet into a magnetic board for free.

Have your mom send you the oldest cookie sheet in the house (which will give her the excuse to buy the new one she’s talked about getting for years) along with some magnets from the fridge that never get picked to display your little cousin’s latest masterpiece.

You could paint the cookie sheet to match the colors of your room or leave it as distressed metal. Place it on the wall using sticky tack and start organizing all those important papers that clutter your desk by using the fun magnets.

3. Vision Board

If you have a stack of old magazines lying around and no idea what to do with them, I have a solution.

Grab paper, scissors and tape then get to work. Browse the pages for pictures, quotes or anything that you like. Cut and tape the images onto pieces of computer paper, old cardboard or anything that is flat and lying around.

Get creative and make a collage, or just individually display the pictures of your choosing. What’s perfect to use to get those vision boards on the wall? White sticky tack.

4. Pictures

If you’re homesick or missing Bridget, your adorable pet dog, this is self-explanatory.

Instead of scrolling through your phone looking at pictures of Bridget lounging on the couch, print them out and put them up on your walls. Pictures can take up a lot of space and are guaranteed to put a smile on your face with a single glance.

Email: rachel.kramer@ubspectrum.com