Dorm rooms are honestly depressing when you walk into them for the first time. All the white brick walls, tile floors, wood furniture, it screamed out insane asylum. My goal was to make my dorm room feel like my regular room at home as much as possible. Here are a few tips I can give you on how to make your dorm room feel personalized to you.

My roommate and I just got a tapestry for each side of our room. My side has a blue theme, hers has a purple theme. I think these are so much prettier to look at than white brick walls. I finally feel like I don't live in an insane asylum.

2. Carpet

This is my best tip for you. I hate hard floors, I wanted carpet in my dorm. I got the dimensions for my room and had carpet cut out to these dimensions. It is so nice to have and no else in my building has carpet in their dorm room. It's a huge conversation starter too when you have your door open. I don't know how many times I've heard, "These people have carpet in their entire room?!"

3. String Lights

This on is pretty basic, but I thought I would mention it. Dangly lights, lantern lights, string lights, there are so many to choose from. They not only add more light, they create a nice ambiance in the room. I especially like when lights are put against a tapestry.

4. Light Color Theme

Dorm rooms are small, that's just a fact. Don't choose dark colors for your main theme of your room. It makes the dorm look even smaller than it is. Light colors brighten up everything, brings your mood up, and makes the dorm feel larger.

5. Leave Open Space

You don't need to fill up the entire room with stuff. You need to leave just blank space to walk around or just look at. It makes the space look larger and I just feel better because it doesn't feel so cluttered in the room.

6. Fish

I wish I could bring my dog because I miss her a lot. But since I can't, I needed some other thing to give me a little responsibility. So my roommate and I got a fish! We named him Steve. People who come into our room love him too. It's a fun little addition to add to your dorm room.

7. Lots Of Lighting

Bring lots of different brightnesses of lighting into your dorm. Sometimes the main light on the ceiling it too much. Sometimes a small light on your desk isn't enough. I like having lots of lighting to choose from for whatever I am doing.

8. Furniture Tape

This is a fun project to be creative with. The wood dresser and desk in my room needed something, they were so plain. So I brought some sparkly tape and made pattern designs on them. It makes it look a lot prettier and more interesting to look at.

9. Pictures

If you want your dorm to feel like home, then bring pictures that remind you of it! There are so many options on how to display pictures in your dorm. Just look up "Photo Wall" on Pinterest. So many good ideas.

10. Glow In The Dark Stars

My room at home had glow in the dark stars, so I thought if I brought that to my dorm room it would make it feel like home. I put it right over my bed and my roommate did the same over her bed. It's so neat to look at it while it's dark. It makes it less of a dorm room and more of a personalized room that you live in.

Dorm rooms don't always have to be the small, ugly, boring room that they give you on the first day. Just because it's a college dorm room, don't accept that you can't change it into something beautiful. It's like a blank canvas and there is so much work to be done in it. With almost two months of living in my dorm, I have made so many modifications, updates, and switches. But I finally now have a dorm that I can bare to live in because it doesn't just feel like a college dorm room, it feels like home.