Categories: Dorm Life

5 Ways To Spice Up Your Dorm Room Without Breaking The Budget

Your dorm room can be exciting at first. It’s a sign of independence, freedom, and having your own space. But the magic bliss of dorm life can quickly wear off when you get bored of the seemingly never-ending blankness of the brick walls and the overwhelming smallness of your room. The blandness of an undecorated room can really take a toll on you. It’s easy to make a dorm room more interesting, however, it can still seem daunting at first.

If you browse through Pinterest or Youtube videos you’re bound to find that many creators of dorm decor ideas expect you have an unlimited supply of cash and the time to stroll through the mall. The exciting prospect of decorating your dorm becomes stressful when you realize you don’t have the money, the time, or the crafting skills to create a Pinterest style dorm room.

But you can still definitely make things cute even if your budget is small! There are plenty of DIY projects that don’t expect you to have the skills of a Pinterest mom and cute decor items you can buy that aren’t super costly. Here are five ways to spice up your dorm room without breaking the budget!

1. Use Old Christmas Lights

Christmas lights can easily become “fairy lights” if they’ve only got lights with the color yellow. But if you don’t already have them you can easily find lights for cheap at the dollar store or online at Wish. Christmas lights can make your dorm room a little more bright in various ways. You can simply hang them up on the wall or you can get a little creative and pin-up photos to them. And if you’re not filling like you want to hang them on the wall, you can create a cute little glowing mason jar instead if they’re battery operated!

2. Decorate the Wall With DIY Melted Crayon Art

You don’t have to be an artist to create some cute wall art for your dorm room. And well DIY Crayon art may sound childish, it looks way better than it sounds. With just a hairdryer, a blank canvas, some glue, and of course crayons you can create a super cool creation to put on your wall. The best part? Zero painting or drawing skills are required! You can create the melted crayon art with the help of this how-to here.

3. Turn Your Ordinary Photos Into Polaroids And Hang Them Up On The Wall

These days you don’t actually need a Polaroid camera to create Polaroid-style photos. Instead with the help of a photo printing paper, a free photo editor, and some scissors. You can use a site like PicMonkey to make them into Polaroids or even opt for a site or app that is directly focused on just doing Polaroid-style photos. You can easily follow a basic tutorial to do it.

Once you’ve got them printed you can stick them onto the wall and make your dorm room a little homier. Also here’s a tip: if you’re going to make them well in school, consider printing them at the art department if your school has one. Many art departments have photo printing paper already so you don’t have to worry about going and getting it yourself!

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4. Buy A Cactus Or Other Drought Plant

You can easily find some cheap plants at the grocery store or flower place nearby. If you opt for a drought type plant like a Cactus, you won’t have to worry about it dying on you because you didn’t water it. These kinds of plants require little water and are a great addition to any dorm.

5. Get Creative With Washi Tape

Washi tape is a great way to make your dorm room cuter. You can use it to create wallpaper or to decorate your door. But really, the possibilities with Washi tape are endless!