As you get ready to head off for university, you probably have 101 thoughts racing through your mind – who might you meet, what should you be taking with you and how will you decorate your uni room when you get there? Of course, we can’t help with all of these questions. But if you’re looking for some inspirational uni room decor ideas, then you’ve come to the right place.
You might be moving into halls as a fresher. Or perhaps you’re returning in second year to live with your friends in student digs. Either way, the bedroom that awaits you is going to be pretty bland and sparse. Don’t just put up with a grim grey box of a uni room. Have some fun with decorating and make it a space that you love coming back from lectures to with the simple tips below.
Read on to learn how to decorate your uni room in this guide. You’ll find tons of great pointers from our creative director Patrick, a graduate in Product Design with a flair for the coolest decor.
1. Brighten up the space with a lively colour scheme
The classic student bedroom is bare with boring colours (at least when you first move in!) Your new home is almost guaranteed to have four grey or magnolia walls, a bed, desk, wardrobe and little else. The best starting point is to pick a vibrant colour scheme. Of course, you won’t be able to paint the walls or make any major changes when you get there, but you can still theme your uni room decor around your chosen colour.
Patrick has the following advice to offer about choosing a colour scheme:
“A pleasing pastel blue works well if you’re keen to create a peaceful environment to come back to. Gorgeous greens and multi-coloured themes are also great choices for making a statement with your uni bedroom. As you consider different colour ideas, start looking for furnishings early on and make sure you can find stuff that matches nicely before making your decision.”
2. Consider the lighting situation
When it comes to decorating your uni room, fairy lights are a must-have. A staple of uni room decor for decades, indoor string lighting is ideal for creating instant ambience in even the most drab of spaces. These types of lights are a versatile choice, too. You could simply hang them around the corners of your bedroom with command hooks – or make a light-up photo display for one of your walls.
Your typical out-of-the-box uni room will just come with one solitary pendant light in the middle (and this may not even come with a shade in some student housing). So why not upgrade your main light with a cool lamp shade that complements your chosen colour scheme? From here, you can think about adding in some secondary lighting with a desk lamp or two, which will also come in handy for late-night study sessions.
3. Create a cosy haven to hide away in
After a hectic week of lectures and socials, your room should be a place where you can escape to when you want to get away from it all – so choosing cosy uni room decor is priority number one. The beds themselves are often basic and uncomfortable, so why not take a versatile slab bean bag that you can lie on or sit back against if you just fancy reading one evening?
Our faux fur slab bean bag in brown bear
4. Bring the outdoors in
Patrick’s top tip when it comes to decorating your uni room is to breathe life into the space with plants:
“Instantly liven up your bedroom by bringing the outdoors in. If you’re particularly green-fingered, then some trailing plants and Insta-worthy monstera can be the perfect additions. On the other hand, if you’re not keen on the idea of looking after houseplants, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a few hard-to-kill succulents – or even something artificial!”
5. Make the space your own
When it comes to making a university bedroom your own, choosing a theme that says something about your personality is a great place to start. But there are also loads of other ways to put your own stamp on the space through your decor choices:
- Make a photo collage with pictures of your home friends.
- Choose some posters of bands or places you’ve travelled to (these can also give you a great talking point during Freshers Week!)
- Bring a painting from your favourite artist – or something you’ve made yourself.
6. Decorate the walls of your uni room
You’ll probably want to cover up at least one of the walls in your uni bedroom. At best, you may just have four dull walls that would look much better broken up a bit. In some cases there could also be unsightly patches or marks left behind by previous tenants. Bringing a large poster or wall hanging with you is an easy solution, enabling you to turn at least one grey wall into a work of art (or cover up a few holes here and there if needed).
7. BYOB (bring your own bedding!)
Depending on the type of student accommodation you’re moving into, you may actually be required to bring your own bedding anyway. But even if your student halls come with bed linen provided, this will often be very rudimentary. Take some of the comforts of home with you by bringing along your duvet, pillows and any extras you might want like blankets. This is also a great opportunity to complement the theme of your room.
8. Add a full-height mirror
It’ll be worth looking online to see if your new uni room comes with a full-height mirror already, but if not then it’s certainly worth investing in one. By allowing light to bounce around, a mirror helps to increase the amount of natural light and gives the illusion of more space in what could otherwise be a pretty cramped room. Of course, this new accessory will also make it much easier for you to get ready before a big night out.
9. Avoid losing your deposit
Patrick’s final piece of advice for your student bedroom decor is to decorate carefully and make sure you get your deposit money back:
“During all the excitement of decorating your uni room, you can soon fall foul of the rules that’ll determine whether your deposit is returned to you at the end of the year. And with the average student house deposit sitting at just under £300, this is a key point to bear in mind from a financial point of view.
“Before you start decorating, write down a full inventory of all of the existing items in your uni room, then take photos to show where everything is – this’ll make it easy to put it all back as it was at the end of the year. When hanging wall decorations, always stick to command strips instead of pins or nails to prevent any damage to the walls.”
10. Don’t forget the practical stuff
As well as looking nice and creating the right atmosphere, your uni room decor also needs to make the space into a liveable environment that supports you through your time as a student. Storage is an often-overlooked area: boxes that slide under your bed are a great idea, and you may want to consider a desktop bookshelf to keep everything organised without taking up floor space.
Other key practical considerations for decorating your uni room include:
- Bring a cork board and a calendar to help with planning deadlines around social stuff.
- Check whether your room comes with a comfy chair for sitting at the desk (and consider buying one if not).
- Make sure you’ve got enough coat hangers.
- Take spare bedding and a few sets of towels so you can wash them on rotation.
- Invest in a decent extension lead.
Next steps
This guide has covered some top tips on how to decorate your uni room, highlighting a range of decor ideas to get you started on the right track. Found it helpful? You may also want to take a look at:
If you’re looking for a bean bag to complete your uni bedroom setup, you could consider:
