August 18, 2018, by Lucy
How to Decorate Your University Room
Whether you’re moving into halls of residence or into a house away from campus, the chances are that your options décor wise are quite limited in regard to accommodation contracts and inventories. Nonetheless, in spite of any contractual obligations, nobody wants to live in an empty cell or a room, empty of signs of life or personalisation. So, this is where I come in. Read on if you want to know how to transform your living space from drab to fab whilst complying to the requests of your accommodation provider.
Make Use of Command Hooks, Magnets and Pins
Due to the cost that any potential wall damage takes to repair, most landlords and accommodation providers forbid the use of blue tac on walls. Indeed, although it seems handy at the point of use, its removal is more than painstaking. Even white tac is damaging to walls, so don’t be fooled into using it! Against the magnolia paint common to many forms of student accommodation, the tac persists to leave an oil-based residue on the wall. Likewise, the use of tape also leaves the risk of peeling the paint off of the wall!
So, where does this leave you in terms of decorating your walls? Well, that’s where command hooks and strips come along (yes, I know I’ve talked about them before). Coming in a range of shapes, sizes and forms, these strips can be used to attach anything from posters to canvases onto your walls. Simply peel of the corresponding adhesive side to the wall and hanging and allow the bond to form.
Prints
Now that you know how to hang things to your wall, it’s time to get thinking about how you actually want to decorate.
Many people fight against homesickness by turning their uni rooms into a home away from home which makes sense since this is where you will be sleeping and waking up for the academic year. One way to turn your room into a little bit of home is by filling it with pictures of your nearest and dearest, reminding you of all the good times and people that surround you.
Other people use their rooms as a means of expressing their personalities: filling it with bits and bobs that represent their inner being. During Freshers’ Week, a poster fair pops up whereby you can purchase a range of prints (art-related, film-related, music-related, etc) to fill the blank canvas walls. Or, you can think about hanging fabric prints such as tapestries and flags, both of which are good ways and preventing any possible markings making their way onto the wall. Bonus!
Lighting and Brightening
My room in halls of residence was dimly light by a single yellow tinged dome light, meaning that it was dark at the best of times. To make matters worse, it was on the ground floor and had a window overlooking a busy path. As a result, I chose to increase my privacy by having the curtains drawn for the majority of the day, reducing the quality of the lighting even further. To help brighten up my room, I found that fairy lights and lamps made the room for advertising.
On the other hand, my room in second year accommodation couldn’t have been more of the opposite. With its south-facing windows and sky light, my room was brighter than the sun has been during this unprecedented heatwave. However, what my room had in light it lacked in space. As seen on numerous housing television shows I invested in an over the door mirror and instantly my room appeared much bigger than it really was.
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