6 DIYs To Fill Your Dorm With Photos

Filling your dorm room with photos is the best way to make it feel familiar and homely. Photos of family, friends or even a beloved pet are a huge part of making your space feel personal. So, if you are looking for a way to display them, these DIYs offer the perfect solution.

1. Washing line frame

Of course, the obvious way to display photos is in a frame. They may be perfect for larger pictures, but if you want to cram in tonnes of smaller photos, then the standard frame just doesn’t cut it. Luckily there is a DIY that not only ends up looking great but also displays a bunch of photos or polaroids at once.

To create this DIY, start with an empty frame. Remove the glass and paste some decorative paper into the back. It can be natural-looking, faux wood pattern, or even some wrapping paper that you happen to have lying around, just remember that this will be the backdrop behind your photos so you don’t want it to detract attention from them.

Next, you need to create the ‘washing lines’. These are pieces of string or thread with the edges stuck behind the frame. Simply clip your photos onto them with paper clips or, if you want to make it look extra cute, use tiny washing pegs.

2. Paperclip chains

When it comes to hanging photos, dorm rooms pose a challenge. You need to find a way to hang them that won’t mark or damage the wall, and pinning them to a pinboard can ruin the photo itself. Luckily, this DIY will keep your photos safe, leave no marks and take less than ten minutes to make.

All you need are some spare paper clips: standard silver for a more simple look, rose gold to look contemporary, or rainbow colours if you want to brighten your room. Link them together to create a chain and hang them in your room. You can blue-tack them to a shelf or wedge the ends under a heavy book, or you can pin them up on a board. Once you have them hung up, simply slide your photos into the clips to display them.

3. String art

Photos can be comforting when you are living away from home but they can also serve as decoration. Using only pins, string and clips/pegs, this DIY allows you to turn them into wall art that is a great alternative to filling your walls with posters.

First, randomly place around ten pins on your wall (if you don’t want to mark your dorm walls you can always recreate this on a pinboard). Then, attach string between them, winding it around the pins to secure it until you have created a large geometric pattern.

Once you have created the design, use pegs or paper clips to attach your photos and your wall art will be complete.

4. Photo wall hanging

If you want to create wall art with your photos but can’t risk pins in your wall, then a wall hanging is a great alternative. It only needs to be hung from a single point, minimalizing any damage to your wall, and can be super fun and easy to make.

To start you will either need a fairly straight branch (you can use any branch from your garden that you’ve cleaned off) an old wrapping paper tube painted white, or a wooden bar. Then, tie five long strands of thread to it, evenly spaced and of equal length.

Next, cut your photos into squares of the same size and attach them to the threads using a glue gun, pegs, or just by punching holes into the top and bottom and tying them on. For extra decoration, you can cut out shapes from coloured card and attach them in the same way, thread on beads, or make tassels for the ends.

5. Collage letter

Collage letters immediately put a personal stamp on your space. Not only will it be the first letter of your name, but it will be made up of lots of little memories that are important to you.

Starting with cardboard, draw up and cut out your letter as well as any photo that you want to use. It is a good idea to put a black and white filter on your photos so that they are coordinated. Then, using PVA glue (which will dry clear), stick your photos onto your letter.

6. Washi tape frames

Framing photos can get expensive if you want to fill your wall with them, and attaching hooks to your dorm room walls is a no go. Instead, washi tape provides the perfect DIY solution to photo hanging, leaving no marks when removed and looking so much cooler.

This DIY requires very little explanation. Washi tape is just decorative tape and you can really do anything with it, whether that is hanging your photos or designing fun frames for them on the wall.