Student days are among the most exciting moments you will experience in your lifetime. That said, the first few days can be rather daunting.

Rooms in halls are generally plain and cold, with no reminders of home to conquer the homesickness.

While it’s a great blank canvass to begin a new academic year, you will want a few comforts to help you adjust to your new surroundings.

That’s why we’ve put together these tips to help you settle in.

Punctuate your room with cushions

With a small bed, a desk, a wash basin and not much more to make you feel at home, consider livening up your space with some accent colours. The easiest way to achieve this? Cushions, of course.

See if you can get mum to take you shopping before your move. A large supermarket or a place like Primark should give you enough choice at a low cost. And if the pillows provided by your accommodation are insufficient for a good night’s sleep, you have back up (although we would always recommend taking your own bedding for reasons we won’t go into in this post).

Bring a throw to put over your bed/student couch

Since you don’t have much choice over your colour scheme in halls, use a throw or blanket to cover up your bed or student sofa. Not only can this brighten up your room, but you can make your bed double up as somewhere to sit when friends pop round.

A throw also hides any unsightly boxes under your bed which can give a cluttered feel to a small space.

Additionally, you can use them to cover up grubby chairs and personalise the room.

Use your books as decorations

You may not have the budget for homely ornaments, but you can improvise with the one thing students have more of than anything else: books. Even if you are accessing the majority of your course materials electronically, you will most likely bring a few novels or a recipe book from home (if mum packed your suitcase!), so make them earn their rent by posing as decorations. Dot them around your mantelpiece, windowsill and bedside table. Create Instagram-worthy shelfies to level up your decor.

Boxes can make great bookcases

Don’t have enough space for your books? Improvise with boxes turned sideways. Line them up along your walls, wrap some fabric around them or customise them using collage or drawing materials. Then pop your books inside (why not colour-code them for more decorative flair?) and hey presto! A storage solution with artistic appeal.

Don’t forget your posters

No student room is complete without posters, so take advantage of the campus freshers fair to stock up on wall art that you can tolerate for at least ten months. Otherwise, bring your favourite posters from back home to keep you company during the semester.

Drape fabric over shelves, notice boards and other furniture

Bald cork boards and yellowing shelves that need a good lick of paint can be enhanced by light-weight fabric that you can pin in place. Go to your local market to pick up some low-price organza style fabric and drape them over the furniture items that look unloved.

Use fairy lights for a bit of sparkle

Pick up some LED fairy lights to create a sense of festive magic. You can dangle them around your window or across your ceiling. Be careful to ensure your lights are away from any soft furnishings and that the transformer part has plenty of room to stay cool so you don’t invite any fires.

Remember your other homely items

Other items that are not technically decorations, but can help to individualise your new space are:

• Photos
• Teapots
• Cups, mugs and saucers
• Holiday mementoes
• A rug
• A door rack for your scarves/bags

These items, while being decorative, are also functional. Aiming for useful articles can prevent too much clutter in such a small abode.

 

What are your suggestions for a homely student room?

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Too much stuff to take all the way home at the end of term? Call Rent A Space for affordable storage options for students.