My Own Space

My dorm room is my happy place, my safe space, and the place where I feel most comfortable. I made many intentional design decisions when decorating and arranging my dorm room that I would love to share with you. I hope that my design decisions can guide you in your own journey of creating your perfect dorm room.

I love natural light and I hate harsh lighting.  Natural light makes me feel very relaxed and ambient lighting emitted from table lamps, string lights, etc feels soft and comforting.  I chose to orient my bed along the wall with windows so that every morning I am greeted with natural light to smoothen the transition from sleep to wake.  I also never use the overhead lighting as I have found that most dorm rooms have extremely harsh and bright overhead lighting.  As a substitute, I have a table lamp and a set of string lights I use to illuminate my room at night, and I allow my window to be the natural light source for my room during the day.  This makes me feel most at ease and comfortable when I’m in my room.

The color palette of my dorm room includes my favorite colors – all very soft tones that mix well with each other.  I combine light blue with chartreuse and pink accents and these colors are all tied together by a patterned rug in which they all appear.  Being surrounded by your favorite color(s) is great, and a perfect way to make sure that your room doesn’t feel too busy or overwhelming is by having one piece of furniture, decor, or art where all (or most) of the colors in your preferred palette appear.     

Including a mixture of textures and patterns is a great way to add dimension and depth to your space.  Instead of choosing a flat duvet cover or bedspread, consider one with details such as fabric texture, interesting stitchings etc.  Combining texture and pattern in layers creates a three-dimensional and more intriguing space for you to interact with.  

Lastly, consider the smell of your dorm room.  It can be very calming to be surrounded by a relaxing and pleasant scent.  Investing in a diffuser, air freshener, or air spray will set the overall mood of your room to be a place for comfort.