It’s almost time. Back to school, or college as the case may be. You can tell by the scent of #2 pencils in the air and Bed Bath & Beyond ads for dorm room doo-dads. It’s no wonder BB & B and Target and such push dorm room decor this time of year. Back in 2012, the National Retail Federation estimated that dorm room decor was a $50 billion a year industry. That breaks down to $907.22 per student. So we decided if you’re going to spend just shy of a grand on your dorm room you’ll want some inspiration to turn it into a stylish retreat. These 8 dorm room makeovers will get you started on the right track.
First up is this typical cinder block cell arrangement. Look familiar?
After some furniture rearrangement and a big helping of style, this is what it looks like now. For more detailed pictures of the makeover, plus shots of what the rest of the room looks like now, visit Dormify.
The resident of this Ole Miss dorm forewent the usual colors for black, gold and pink.
Bubblicious. For more detailed pictures of the rest of the room, visit Decor 2 Ur Door.
There’s no “before” for this next makeover, but just look at the “before” of the last pair. (Oh, dorm rooms, how predicable you can be!) After all the doo-dads, it’s absolutely lux! (Well, as lux as a cinder block room can be.) For more pictures of this room and a bunch of others, visit After Five Designs.
Emily and Vanessa somehow crammed two lofted beds and two study areas in their dorm room…
with the help of an ingenious ladder (to get to the beds) that also serves as a bit of a privacy screen. See more pictures of this makeover at Apartment Therapy.
This dorm room is gigantic, comparatively speaking, to the last two. Before, it was just as institutional, however.
Now it’s positively lovely thanks to maxii style. For a slideshow of the makeover, visit Houzz.
Spotted this b & a on Pinterest with no credit, but whoever made it over gets EXTRA credit. (See what I did there?)
If this dorm room at The Fashion Institute of Technology is representative of ALL their dorm rooms, sign me up. It’s huge! It has it’s own private bathroom and kitchenette. But, alas, it was still very dorm-y.
After Target, yes Target, got its hands on it and pimped it out with their Essentials line of products, this is what it looks like now. For more details and pictures, click here.
For our last dorm room makeover, we return to our friends at Apartment Therapy. This time the student is Laken, and this is what the dorm room looked like on move-in day:
After, the room is sophisticated, welcoming retreat. Lovely. For more information and pictures about Laken and the makeover, click here and here.
Feel free to share this roundup on Pinterest to inspire others headed to a dorm room!
