Every college student has felt the pains of moving at least once, and for many students, changing locations can become downright annoying. One way to make a boring dorm or apartment your own is by do-it-yourself decorating.
Students don’t necessarily need to be artistic or creative to do this, though, because many simple, relatively inexpensive ideas are out there to transform a place of residence from a run-down, old dwelling to an interesting home with personal style.
Brenda Dwamsley, the assistant manager of Michael’s Arts and Crafts store in Eugene, suggested hollow wooden boxes with lids.
“They serve a dual-purpose of extra seating,” she said. “Or wooden crates can be stacked and also used to store things,” which is essential for college students who often don’t have much space to work with.
A wooden crate is $5.29 at Michael’s. Both the wooden boxes and crates can easily be painted and then followed with a coat of acrylic sealer.
While twinkle lights are one option for adding light to a room instead of overhead fixtures, Dwamsley had another idea for adding creative lighting to a home.
“You can make lights out of so many things now,” she said. “For instance, you can use wicker baskets for lamp shades and just spray-paint them.”
Goodwill and other secondhand stores are great for finding random items to turn into lampshades. The stores are also perfect to search for old sheets or blankets with bold prints, which can add a splash of excitement when thrown on your couch, bed or hung on a plain white wall.
Another simple way to spruce up a wall is by framing pictures of friends or artwork. Who cares if it’s not the best art anyone’s ever seen? It’s still an original piece that would look good placed on a wall with a cluster of other framed artwork or pictures.
For those who are daring, any good garage sale or secondhand store can provide old plates in an array of colors and patterns. Why not use those as art? A new trend is to display them on a wall, and holders specifically for hanging plates are available at any home store.
Crystal Smith, an employee in the paint department of Jerry’s Home Improvement Center, suggested painting if your landlord will allow it. She recommended using light colors because they help a small room seem larger. Dark colors are something to stay away from because they will be much harder to paint over when you move out.
If painting isn’t an option where you live, Smith recommended painting furniture to add color to a room.
“Go to yard sales,” Smith said, “and pick up furniture you want and then spray paint it. That way it’s cheaper and less work than painting a wall.”
Another item Smith liked was spray paint that turns almost any surface, such as wood, plastic, metal or glass, into a chalkboard. One can covers 12 square feet, costs $4.69 at Jerry’s and can later be covered with a couple coats of primer.
Instead of painting directly onto a wall, Smith suggested buying a 12×12 piece of plywood, spraying it with the chalkboard paint, and then nailing that into the wall.
“That way you won’t ruin the wall and you can take it away with you when you leave,” Smith said.
Other projects await creative decorators at the local fabric store.
Terri McRae, who works at 27th Street Fabrics on the corner of 27th Avenue and Willamette Street, said it is easy for beginning sewers to make curtains, tablecloths, throw blankets and pillows. Pillows are especially easy and can add flavor to a dull bed or a less-than-exciting piece of furniture.
“I know students don’t have a lot of time, so these ideas are pretty simple,” McRae said.
Not simple enough? Posters are always better and show more personality than a naked wall.