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Hey, hey it’s the middle of the summer — which means a certain portion of our readership is getting ready to send their kiddos off to college! My first (and only) dorm room was a pretty special hive filled to the brim with rock star posters and whatever cute stuff my best friend’s mom bought us (because I was flat broke), but that doesn’t mean I’m not full-on enthusiastic about virtually decorating the dorm rooms of your offspring! And lest we forget: at least half of this could totally work in an adult home, or a kid’s room. Or all three.
Technically the Take It by Storm Alarm Clock isn’t in stock yet, but you can sign up to be notified as soon as it arrives. Also, since I like to play fair, there’s also a clock with the USS Enterprise ($25) on it.
These Geometric of the Eye Wall Tiles ($40) look cool, but the best part is that they’re MAGNETIC! Functional wall decor = epic dorm room win.
The info on the Body of Work Print Set ($25) isn’t at all up to date, but if you have a vintage fiend/med student in the house these will be a hit. Related: the Learn, Rinse, Repeat Shower Curtain ($33) does have all the correct names for bones on it.
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More organization: the Feline Organized Door Hooks ($15) are super wall-friendly since they fit over a door — you don’t have to screw them in.
The Free Verse Reveries Pillowcase Kit ($25) = perfect bed decor for the budding writer in the fam. The pillowcases come with washable markers, making the set great for last minute notes, dream chronicling, or whatever else you might want to scribble on a pillowcase. I’m also fond of the camera-adorned Give It a Snapshot Pillow ($40).
Oh heeeey One Small Stoop Floor Mat ($25)! You would be so adorable in just about any room, ever.
Yes, the Treat Your Shelf Light ($30) is totally a Gummy Bear shelf light. OMG, y’all.
Everyone needs somewhere cute to put their soap, right? For some reason the Flounder Around Soap Dish ($7) makes me think of The Sims, but I can’t figure out why.
AND FINALLY: my favorite product! The Notable Adventures Message Globe ($15) is a whiteboard globe with a dry erase marker hidden in the axis. BRILLIANT.
College grads: did you ever live on-campus? Did you love it? Let’s all go back and share our memmmmmoriees.
This makes me miss my dorm room so much!!! I can picture all of it pretty well, since I’m only a year out, but if anything, that makes the nostalgia even greater! One of my favorite memories was walking back from the library at 2am with my friend and stopping in his dorm room to eat shrimp Cup-o-Noodle and watch Will and Grace before continuing on to my dorm room. It was freezing and I neglected to dress appropriately for the evening/early morning.
I only lived on campus for one year since it was much more expensive than renting a crappy apartment. That one year was awesome, though! I was lucky enough to become best friends with my roommate. I liked the convenience of it, and the social aspect, although that got out of hand sometimes – like the days when I just really needed to finish a project and someone stopped by to hang out EVERY TEN MINUTES.
Also, we did some fun decorating – I made sure we decorated for Halloween and then left the skeleton lights up all year. My roommate worked at a theater back home so she always brought old movie posters to decorate with.
I lived on campus at two different colleges- for two years in NYC where our dorms were in an old book binding factory and the building had 2,000 students living in it, and for one year at Evergreen State, where my dorm was an apartment in (what always reminded me of) a little blue cabin with a few other dorms in it, looking out at the forest.
Needless to say, it was two very different dorm experiences!
Oh geez, I lived on campus for four years — three as a resident advisor. One of my favorite things I did (and this was super cheap!) was buy scrapbook paper to “wallpaper” next to my bunk. It make my little corner so cozy, and it was rearrangeable/removable when I wanted a change.