Arranging your dorm — ‘Make the space your own’

Get ready. That small 10’7” by 15’4” room in North Complex is your home for the next nine months. If you are placed in Coyote Village, count your blessings, as you have more space to decorate and make the space your own.

Believe it or not, that little room can be completely transformed with some décor brought from home or bought on the cheap.

Avoid those things from Walmart in the college section, if possible. Don’t get me wrong, some of that stuff can be nice, but ask yourself if you want to walk down the hall and into a room, only to find the same old thing as in your room, in theirs.

Make the most of your space.

To be honest, I was not sure how much space I would have available to work with, though I tried to plan out what would go where before I arrived to move in.

I like to keep things organized and for everything to have its own place, and there is room to do that.

There are ways to make that small rectangle of a room feel a little more like home than when it does when first arriving.

Some people choose to install carpet. I was used to cold, hardwood floors so just a few rugs worked for me.

If you’re like me, you don’t like to look at various bottles of hair products and/or toiletries every time you sit down to study or look in the mirror. I prefer to use them and put them away so there is room for other prettier things.

Bring photo frames of family or best friends or pets that can be hung up or placed on the shelves, along with other trinkets to remind you of home or make the space your own and not just another college student’s.

The bookshelves can be used to store book and textbooks, but there is also a huge drawer with a great deal of concealed space for you to claim in between the two desks.

Be prepared as the regular drawer is deep and can house an endless array of sticky notes, a stapler and plenty of highlighters — I used a silverware basket to store pens, pencils, markers and such in an organized but simple way.

A person would be surprised just how organized the closet can be. For some simple ideas, I had a hanging clothes organizer on the side with the three drawers.

A plastic container to house socks and such fit along the side of the organizer.

An easy-to-build shoe organizer could hold 12 pairs of shoes, or more if able to double up with flats or sandals. It fit perfectly horizontally along with a cloth hamper and my toiletry tote, while also serving as another shelf.

Don’t forget about the little details, because those can be a small factor in how life on campus plays out.

Simply make the space your own, and in my opinion, organized.