Tips for decorating your dorm
A short guide on how to make your dorm a home.
Moving into dorms for the first time can be daunting. For a lot of UTM students, this is your first time living away from home. Here are some tips to bring familiarity to your dorm and to your new life as a university student.
My first tip would be to make the dorm space your own. Sites like Instagram, Tiktok, and Pinterest can help you get an idea of the aesthetic decorations you want to bring forth. Fairy lights or LEDs can be a creative way to personalize your room’s vibe. An extra throw pillow or chunky blanket can bring a pop of colour to the room and make it feel cozier. Adding a plant (fake ones work too) to your windowsill can bring some life to the room, or even a nice fragrance depending on which plant you choose.
Make use of the wall space. Command strips are a great, cheap way to stick personal items on your wall without worrying about damaging the paint. UTM will have vendors selling posters outside of the Blind Duck within the first month of school—pick a few that speak to you to hang in your room. Or bring a poster from home for some familiarity. Instead of a poster, you could also hang a corkboard. These are versatile—you can pin pictures of loved ones, artwork, poetry, or small mementos to remind you of home. You could also use it as a vision board; pin on some pictures, phrases, etc., of what you hope your university life will look like.
This next tip may seem childish, but bring an emotional support item. This could be an item from your childhood, like a plush toy or an old blanket. It could be something that reminds you of someone you love, like a hoodie from an older sibling, or a gift from a friend. Or your support item could just be something you’ve had for a long time, like a backpack or water bottle that you’ve had since elementary school. Any item could work, as long as it brings comfort to your new university life.
Last piece of advice: home is where your people are. Living in dorms will feel more peaceful when you make some friends in your building. You can use items like a deck of cards, a videogame console, or even a board game as a starting point to build friendships that could last years.
