Five tips for making your room in Halls feel like home

As soon as I decided I wanted to go to university, I started thinking about how I would decorate my room in the halls of residence. I started by printing out pictures, buying storage containers, figuring out which books I wanted to take with me and how I would organise everything. Now, thinking back to when I first moved into my new room, I remember looking around at the empty walls, desk, and bed, excited about what I could do to make it feel more cosy and homely.

How to decorate your uni room

So here are my five ways to decorate your university accommodation.

Pinboard

There are many great affordable photo printing apps, such as FreePrints, which enable you to print pictures to fill up your pinboard. Looking at your family, friends, pets, or even pretty pictures of inspirational quotes, can help if you ever feel lonely and it makes the room look so much more colourful! There are many opportunities to add to these photos during the year by using polaroid cameras and going to events which offer photobooths.

Posters

Posters are a great way to showcase your interests. HMV (which can be found in the Grosvenor shopping centre in town) has a wide range of great posters. However, you do need to be careful not to damage the walls of the University accommodation, so it’s best to stick on places that are less likely to be damaged, like the pinboard, or a surface with no paint on.

Plants

If you enjoy taking care of plants, having some in your room can help make it feel more like your own. Alternatively, fake plants are an amazing addition to your room to make it brighter and you won’t have to worry about watering them!

Personalise your room!

There are so many other things you can do which can make your room feel like your own – from the books you put on your shelves, to the pictures you have up on the walls. I’ve seen so many great ideas in my friends’ rooms, such as balloons for birthdays/holidays, themed decorations for Halloween and Christmas, tinsel hung around the mirror, butterfly stickers, record players and calendars! Seeing your friends’ rooms can really spark inspiration for what you can do with your own room and help you make it feel more like home.

Alexandra Cirlan

Alex is in the first year of a Psychology BSc (Hons) degree at UON and is living in the University’s halls of residence.