Uni Room Décor: Styling Your Student Digs

Is there any room more multi-purpose than a university dorm room? Whether serving as a late-night study sanctuary, pre-party dressing room, or a stylish slumber space, your university halls or house-share will occupy many roles during your undergrad years. Discover our top decorating tips to making your new student digs a home-from-home.

Given its uniquely flexible nature, satisfying uni room décor seems impossible, right?

Wrong. And we’ve got the inside knowledge on how to decorate your university room; fusing flair and function into a neat little haven, perfect for whatever you need it to be.

But it’s more than just amazing aesthetics; there are genuine benefits to your wellbeing – mental and physical – to a well-designed dorm, ranging from boosting mood to improving your levels of energy and efficiency... which, let’s face it, you’re going to need.

Whichever way you slice it, uni room décor is important, and shouldn’t be overlooked as you settle into your new surroundings.

Whether you’re a social butterfly or a bit of a wallflower, you’ll need a space that’s uniquely yours. Somewhere to decompress and recharge your social batteries. Somewhere to get some much-needed headspace as you navigate the challenges of shared living. Somewhere to serve as a sanctuary, whenever you need it.

Truthfully? You’re not just styling a room, you’re creating a home-from-home. You may not have scope to change much, whether that's down to tight budgets or strict rules on decoration, but you can make it cosy.

But before we tap into our inner interior designer (we’ve all got one), let’s set some ground rules...

Uni Room Décor: Five Deadly Sins

Before we discuss what’s in, let’s take a moment to agree upon what’s out; the ideas that’ll have interior designers reaching for their pitchforks and torches.

Uni room ideas have evolved; the grungy crash-pad is a thing of the past, replaced by cosier, more homely spaces. As such, the following ideas have gone to style heaven:

• Empty bottles stacked on window ledges
• Posters without frames
• Textbooks stacked on floors
• Things that aren’t tables being used as tables
• The dreaded floor-drobe

Just kidding. Kind of...

Joking aside, the way you decorate your university room needs to reflect who you are. And our uni room inspiration is exactly that – inspiration. We fully encourage you to twist, tweak and otherwise subvert our suggestions.

How to Decorate Your University Room

Truthfully, there’s no one-size-fits-all style for uni room décor, and we’re totally on board with following your creative instincts.

But we hear you: it can be a little overwhelming to stare at what is, essentially, a 12 x 9-foot box that's going to become your home.

Except it isn’t a box. Not really. It’s a haven. It’s your haven. A place you’ll get all gooey and nostalgic for when your university adventure is over. And you could start by filling it with:

Fantastic Fairy Lights

A bonafide staple of modern uni room décor, fairy lights are almost as versatile as the room you’ll be hanging them in.

Whether you’re looking to design a bespoke study space, bathe your bed in soft vanilla-hues, or simply disguise, um… well-worn walls, fairy lights are your friend.

Side note: vanilla fairy lights are everyone’s go-to, but if you’re eager for something edgier you might consider red, or even orange fairy lights.

It's always smart to stay on your hall rep’s good side by making sure you’re safe to bring electricals into the building. Check first, as you'll likely need to have them PAT tested and approved.

Potted. Planted.

They decorate. They oxygenate. They look blooming great.

Don’t doubt bringing some fabulous foliage into your uni room décor. There’s a plant for every aesthetic, from boho-inspired trailing ivy, to ultra-Zen peace lilies.

Whichever style you opt for, adding plant life to your dorm will offer a burst of colour that’ll contrast neatly against your (likely magnolia) walls.

Aside from their decorative delights, incorporating plants to your living space also offers profound psychological benefits, including, perhaps most importantly, alleviating types of stress associated with long-term use of computers.

Stylish Storage

Honestly, we could’ve written an entire article on storage. And, if you’re already browsing photo galleries of your future halls of residence, it’s easy to see why.

Economic storage of your stuff is key to uni room décor. Let’s face it, you’ve got to fit everything you own – and everything you will own – into one room. And that’s before you factor in a metric-ton of textbooks.

And so, in the ultimate test of fusing flair and function, you’ll need to weave storage into your style. But how?

Essentially, it’s a case of smart storage. We’re talking:

• Stylish storage baskets
• Ultra-neat desk caddies
• Tidy desk-top shelves
• Boho-chic clothing rails and door hangers

You’ll be surprised how quickly your space-saving choices will become an aesthetic. And you cab snag baskets, caddies, and free-standing shelves in a variety of colours and materials, so you can keep your unique style sensibilities in mind.

Work smarter, not harder.

Decorative Duvets

Problem: you want to bold statement wall in your dorm room, but pesky uni guidelines don’t allow for painting.

Solution: Swap out the focus wall for a focus duvet.

Hear us out. In such a compact space, your duvet is going to immediately draw the eye, not to mention serve as significant part of the overall décor. So, the duvet you choose needs to complement your room – or totally contradict it.

How? Easy. If you’re stuck with drab walls – and you will be, they’re student digs – snag something bold to serve as contrast. Polka dots? Yes. Geometric patterns? Yes. Tarot-themed? Oh, yes!

Let your duvet display your style. Trust us.

Picture Perfect

You may be striking out on your own, but you’ll want to remember the people you love, right? The friends and family who’ve been cheering you on. But why settle for late-night Instagram scrolls?

Instead, immortalize your loved ones – and the friends you’ll make – in a gallery wall.

Whether you go old-school and pin polaroids to a corkboard, new-school and peg photos to a wire grid, or no-school and string ‘em up as a DIY garland, they’ll serve as an ultra-trendy reminder of home.

Not a photo-fan? No problem! You could further personalise your space by using Command Strips (AKA your new best friend) to affix some framed posters to the walls.

And so, we turn creative control over to you. Got any ultra-creative uni room ideas? We'd love to hear about them in the comments below. And don’t forget to check out our sleep blog for tips on how to get enough shut eye as you study.