10 Unconventional Ways To Use Twinkle Lights In Your Dorm Room
Twinkle lights are a great way to add a little pizzazz to a dull dorm room. This year, change it up and go for something a little outside the box when you hang up your twinkle lights! Check out these 10 unique ways to use your twinkle lights for some inspiration.
1. Mirror Lights
If you’ve ever even set foot in a dorm room, you know the lighting situation is less than ideal. This year instead of toughing it out, line your mirror with twinkle lights! You’ll have a perfect selfie location when your friends come to visit, and you might ACTUALLY be able to see getting ready to go out and doing your makeup! To keep the lights in place, use clear electrical tape. It’s incredibly strong and it’s safe to use with wires!
2. Make A Canvas
Decorating your dorm room with personal pieces of art is always a great idea! Why not attract attention to all that hard work you put in to make your decor by making it light up? To make a light-up canvas, you’ll need battery-powered twinkle lights, a blank canvas and paint! Paint the canvas with a personal quote or image (a city skyline or even the Eiffel Tower looks especially spectacular). Once the canvas has dried, mark with a pencil the places on the canvas you’d like to light up. Drill small holes through the canvas from the back, and poke the individual bulbs of the strand of twinkle lights through the canvas and ta-da! These look super cute on your wall and your friends won’t believe you made it yourself!
3. DIY Canopy
Even though you’re most likely sleeping on a Twin XL, you can still sleep like a Queen / King with this super easy and fun DIY. All you need is some sheer curtains, a metal ring and some twinkle lights! Just make sure your curtains are flame-resistant! Sew the ring into the curtains overlapping the curtains on one side leaving a small opening on the other side. Pinch the material at the top of the hoop and fasten a smaller metal ring to the top of the curtains. Hang the canopy from the ceiling (You can look for Command options for those of you living in a semi-permanent location) and drape your twinkle lights on and around the canopy. The results are beautiful and the canopy will add a little bit of glam to your room!
4. Use Your Lights To Hang Photos
This hack is probably the easiest DIY ever, and the finished product is adorable. Hang your string lights on the wall from corner to corner, leaving lots of slack in the middle. In between the bulbs of the string lights, place a small clothes pin. These are what you will be using to hang your photos! Polaroids look especially cute,, because they add a bit of a retro vibe to the DIY. If you want to get fancy, you can set up your lights in a zig zag pattern to cover your entire wall with pictures!
5. Your Own Personalized Sign
This hack does take a bit of artistic skill, but we have confidence in you! If you have a huge empty space on your wall and you have no idea how to fill it, try making a sign using your twinkle lights! Think of an inspirational word, or maybe just a word that has special meaning for you. Lightly trace the word on the wall with a pencil and mark a few places on each letter where your pins will go. These pins will act as the backbone for your sign, so make sure you’re hitting all the locations you feel will need a little extra support (the loopy letters will require more pins!). Place your string lights in between the pins, using the letters you traced as a guide. This might take a few tries, but your effort will be well worth it!
6. Create Your Own Starry Sky
If you and your roommate are looking for a fun and easy way to set your dorm room apart from the crowd, try this trick! Connect your string lights to an extension cord, and run the cord up the seem between two walls using adhesive that won’t chip paint (We want that deposit back). Run the string lights back and forth horizontally across the ceiling, using more adhesive. Your ceiling will look super cool when the lights go out, and your room will almost certainly be the hang-out room. For an added element, purchase lights that flicker and they’ll look like stars!
7. DIY Clouds
If you like the look of string lights but don’t want your entire room to be covered, try this DIY cloud project. Take a paper lantern and fasten a hook to the top (to allow you to hang it). Secure a small styrofoam sphere to each side of the lantern and fasten a hook to the tops of these as well. Pull apart cotton balls (or just buy loose cotton) and hot glue the cotton to the outside of the pendant light and styrofoam balls, making sure to cover it completely! Place battery-powered string lights inside the paper lantern to make the cloud glow, or double up the strands and allow them to dangle out the bottom to create a rain cloud!
8. Bottle Lights
For a little added ambiance without all the struggle of hanging and securing the lights to your walls, go for a simpler approach! Gather up some old bottles and remove the label. Get some battery-powered twinkle lights and string the strand through the opening of the bottle until there is no slack between the battery pack and the lights. The battery pack should sit comfortably on a flat surface. Tape the cord to the back of the bottle and you’re all set! If you want to get super crafty use different colored lights in every bottle!
9. Curtains
Living on campus means that your dorm room is always on display for anyone who happens to be walking by. Using twinkle lights as curtains is a great way to create a little bit of privacy without completely blocking out the rest of the world, and it’s a cute way to put your creativity on display! Set up your twinkle lights vertically, securing the strand at the top to create a waterfall effect across your window. You can even use lights in fun shapes like stars or hearts!
10. Waterfall Lights
This last hack for twinkle lights is a classic twist on the traditional way to hang twinkle lights. Hang your lights vertically across the length of your entire wall to create an accent wall in your room! Secure the lights at the top and bottom to make it easier to start the next row. If you have trouble keeping your lines straight, trace out some lines with a pencil and a ruler first and follow the lines when you string your lights! To take this look up a notch, use double-sided tape to hang a sheer curtain from the ceiling in front of the lights, about an inch away from the wall. This will soften the glow of the lights and make a great background for selfies!
