Once you move out of your parent’s house, and sometimes long before then, your room becomes your office, and your playground. The difference is, once you move out, you have to completely start over as far as decor goes, unless you have Southwestern Inspired Outdoor Decor, but your parents aren’t going to foot the bill. even worse not all of us can afford good professional painters to repaint your room. If you’re in school or just recently graduated, odds are you’re making things happen in your life while hovering around the poverty line while worrying about making loan payments at the same time, so decorating your room is probably somewhere near the bottom of your list of things to do. Believe me when I tell you that even you, a self-proclaimed poor person, can have nice things too. You know the obvious painting tricks, but if you aren’t looking to make any commitments anytime soon, try out some of these simple ways to spruce up your room.
Image by Kristen Kerstner
We all did that dorm room photo collage wall, right? Hands up if you’re still doing that. It’s okay because that collage satisfies a lot of your needs, but there are ways to take you collage to the next level. Peel off the tape you’ve been using to hold up your photos, and pop them into some frames. You can buy a whole set of frames from Walmart or Target for about $20, and your wall will instantly have a more grown up feel. If you’re ready to take things a step further, pick a few a your favourite photos to keep on display to keep on shelves and use the frames you just bought for some fancy paper.
Image by Kristen Kerstner
Art can be incredibly expensive, and despite your growing need to support artists and photographers, your pocket book might not be ready to support that need quite yet. A cheap an easy way to satisfy your wall’s gaping negative space is to frame some fancy paper. Lotka and Chiyogami papers are personal favourites, and they come in seemingly unlimited patterns. Find a paper store, and go wild. You’re bound to find something that suits your tastes. If paper isn’t your thing, and you’re feeling up to it, you can always try making something yourself. The picture on the left shows some original artwork that, I promise, takes no artistic ability and that effectively doubled as artwork, and a makeshift headboard for the entirety of my undergrad.
Strips of fabric can also make incredible wall hangings. We’ve all seen people hang flags on their wall, or Urban Outfitters incredibly expensive tapestries, so you knew it was possible, but maybe you haven’t considered buying some fabric you like and tacking it up on the wall. You can choose to use a little or a lot. Hang a piece, or run a strip from the ceiling to the floor, frayed or hemmed, it’s up to you.
Image by Kristen Kerstner
Though it’s a huge plus, your room shouldn’t just be nice to look at, it should be functional too. If your room is small, you may have set your sights on a coat rack for all your not-clean-but-not-dirty clothes you have taking up your valuable floor space, but you probably left the store disappointed when you realized they can be surprisingly pricey. The solution is simple. All you need it a piece of wood and a few hooks. After you’ve screwed the hooks down, hang the wood on the wall and you’ve just made your own coat rack. While you’re at it, buy a few extra hooks. Even if you have a jewellery box, it most likely doesn’t have the space to adequately store all your long necklaces. Screw some hooks into the wall for jewellery, or if you don’t want all your goods on display, buy some S hooks and hang them on the rod in your closet. Pro Tip: S hooks also work nicely for holding belts, scarves, purses, and a lot of other thing you need to be able to easily access but may not want out in the open.
Shelving can be incredibly expensive or incredibly cheap. Go for something cheap and try out a low hanging shelf. Buying a shelving unit may appear to eat up the precious little space you have, so hang some thin shelves close to the ground to create some extra storage that doesn’t look bulky.
Image by Kristen Kerstner
These are just a few ideas, but don’t forget to take advantage of all the stuff you have around you. The drawers from an old dresser can make really cool shelving; mason jars can be used as picture frames, vases, or candle holders; and old clothes can be sewn into new pillow cases.
