College Necessities: The Anatomy of A College Student's Room

To be a college student, you have to maximize your resources as much as possible. The same holds true for a college student’s room: The space and functionality within it needs to be maximized. There isn’t a lot of space, and it needs to serve as a home away from home. More importantly, college students are on a strict budget. College students need to stick to the essentials, and they have to utilize their space wisely to sleep, get college work done, unwind and enjoy some of the simpler things in life. Let’s take a look at an efficient college dorm room.

Think Two-in-One for Sleeping Arrangements

Most college students aren’t going to have a large amount of space so it’s best to use it wisely and consider two-in-one piece of furniture like the sleeper couch. Sleeper couches look like a couch by day and fold out to become a bed at night. If you want a desk in your room to do your work, consider a bed that sits high up on a platform above your desk. You could also get a couch desk to do work on your bed. Still better yet are the combination bed, desk, drawers, shelves and wardrobe in one structure.

Your Work Area

It’s important to have a work area for college projects and reading. This space needs to be efficient too. Many college students use clip-on desk lamps to provide focused lighting. Desk lamps won’t cause problems with over-illuminating the entire room, and you won’t have to worry about them knocking over or taking up too much room. You’ll want to utilize as much wall space as you can. Get little holders, tiny shelves, and find other ways to affix things to the wall for easy access. For example, small wire cup holders can hold pencils, pens, small staplers and more. A lag screw eye loop, wire, a clothespin and a pencil case can be a handy way to store pencils, loose change or coupons. Clothespins are great for holding keys, cords and USB cables.

Where and How You Eat

Some colleges don’t allow students to have a hot plate or an electric skillet in their rooms. If you’re allowed to have one of these, go for it. Electric skillets can be used to cook quick and easy food. However, you will need a way to wash it. Be sure to have a way to do that before you get one. Also, you’ll either need wipes to clean up splatters or you’ll need to put something down before you cook to prevent messes. Your desk can double as a place to eat, but you can also consider making yourself a breakfast nook with a little shelf. For an extra cozy effect, put it near a window so you can look outside when it rains or you want to people watch. If you choose to have a little nook, you can make another area your own coffee station. College students live on coffee. If you are going to have a small fridge in your room, place your microwave on top of your fridge and make a coffee station on top of your microwave. Packaged pasta and rice, combined with a precooked protein, can be cooked easily in a microwave.

Your Storage Possibilities

In a dorm room, shelves will be your best friend. Some rooms come furnished. You’ll need to work around this. If you have a dresser, consider rolling up your clothes to save on space. You can store other things in your drawers. Use shelves where possible. This can mean having a shelf over your door and other unsuspecting places. If you don’t already have a desk under your bed, consider hoisting up your bed with bed raisers or build a raised platform for it to place a fridge shelves and other things beneath your bed. You can create a makeshift desk on the side of your bed with a few chains, screw and a piece of sanded plywood. You’d be surprised by how many things you can store in a small space if you focus on utilizing every space you have available.

College is one of the best times in life, and it can be made so much better by being equipped. The college dorm is probably the first instance of making room in a small space. Utilize the space you have, think outside the box for storage, and take a trip to your local hardware store. You’ll be surprised by what you create.

Ready to take your next big step? Read our essential article, Things to Prepare Before You Graduate, next!

Sources:
Ameritech.edu
ModernDigsFurniture.com
TheDailyMeal.com
DormCo.com