Do you remember the show Trading Spaces on TLC? If not, let me briefly explain the plot. Two sets of homeowners would trade homes for two days, each one getting the help of a professional designer. Each set of homeowners would work to transform a room in the other team’s house for under $1,000. I got to thinking about this show the other day, and I figured it would be a great idea for people living in the dorms. You may want to give it a try the next time you get a desire to design. Here’s a look at how the process would work.

The Rules

The teams of decorators have to be the same size. It could be you and your roommate vs. two other people, or it could be a whole sorority versus a whole fraternity. Just make sure everyone is under the same time constraints. Set a budget that you think is realistic to the project, and set a timeframe that works for everyone. Then all you have to do is pick a day to get started and complete the project under your own guidelines.

The Results

Theoretically, all of the participants in this project should end up with awesome looking rooms. Of course, you may end up with a group of people who just pull a prank, but that would be in poor taste. Make sure you pick an opposing team that will take this seriously, and then do your best to give them a great space to call their own. If everything works out correctly, you could do this every year.

If you need some creative ideas before starting this process, check out the Lowe’s How-To Library. It should have all the ideas you need to make your experience a success.

My husband and I have recently been discussing the idea of buying new furniture for our home. We’re moving into a new apartment soon, and we would like to have new furniture to fit the space. This led us to a search online because we know we can find the best selection and the lowest prices on the internet. This process got me thinking about the pros and cons of buying furniture online, since it is usually something that happens in stores. I compiled my analysis into this lovely little article in the hopes of helping other people figure out whether they should buy furniture online or not. So, let’s get started, shall we? Here is a quick comparison to help you determine what you should do in your furnishing future.

The Pros of Buying Furniture Online

Low prices: The prices for furniture online are always lower than the prices in stores. Online furniture retailers don’t have to cover the same overhead that other stores have, so they are able to offer lower prices on all of their best pieces online.

Extensive options: You can find furniture online that you cannot find anywhere in stores, especially if you live in a small town. My husband and I really want a white leather sectional, but we can’t find one that works well for our needs anywhere but the internet. You may have the same experience in your search.

Easy selection: You can easily see all of the furniture you have to choose from on a website. You can’t do that with a store. You have to browse through aisle after aisle until you hopefully find something that will work for you.

Quick comparison: With a website, you can easily compare two pieces side by side to figure out what you want. If those two pieces are on opposite sides of a store you’re looking in, you may have a bit more trouble.

The Cons of Buying Furniture Online

No testing: If you buy your furniture online, you don’t have the option to test it out before you pay. You could end up with a really uncomfortable chair or a cabinet that doesn’t look good in your room’s lighting. This will basically turn your investment into a waste of money, unless you’re lucky enough to have everything work in your favor.

False advertisement: You may not get the exact product that you ordered if you buy online. A white couch in a picture may turn out to be yellow when you get it home. You really can’t tell what you’re getting until it comes in.

Shipping prices: Shipping furniture can be pretty expensive, depending on how big it is and where it is coming from. You have to keep that in mind when you start weighing out the costs.

Blind trust: You have to hope that you are going to get the furniture you ordered when you work online. You never know who you are giving your money to, so you have to be prepared to lose it all just in case. That sucks, but it is a high possibility.

Think about the pros and cons listed above, and you will hopefully see where you should put your scholarship money. Whatever decision you make, I hope you get the furniture you need to make your home your own. Now wish me luck in my search. I think I’m going to need it! (wink)

When most people think about changing the color of a room, they imagine using a quick coat of paint to get the job done. While that may be an option for some people, a lot of dorm residents don’t exactly have that luxury. Many dormitories will not allow you to paint the walls in your room because they would have to paint them back after you left. Don’t worry though. There are some simple ways you can add color to your walls without using paint. Here are some ideas to help you get started.

Use Large Wall Art

You may be able to create a painted look just by hanging large pieces of art on the walls. You could put a minimal amount of holes in for the nails, and then you could hang up a huge piece of art to make your room look better. This doesn’t have to be anything printed. It could literally be a solid panel of color. As long as it is braced well and it looks in line with your design, you should be just fine.

Change the Lighting

Sometimes all you need is a little change of perspective to make your room look different. You could change out the light bulbs into a different color and then transform your walls and everything in between. This may not be ideal for studying for your online colleges, but it could still get the job done. Just use a red bulb, a blue bulb, or anything else you can think of, and your room will look completely different soon enough.

Hang Fabric on the Walls

You could also cover the walls with fabric without having to actually paint them. Hang curtain rods from the ceiling or the top of the walls, and then you can just drape long panels of fabric on the rods. This will allow you to take down the “paint” when you leave and still cover up any paint you don’t like. If you don’t like the look, just take the fabric down and pick something new. It’s that simple.

You may feel confined in your designs because you cannot paint the walls, but this just gives you a chance to explore other options. If you can think outside the box in the right way, you should be able to find a technique that works for you.

Mirrors are great tools to make a small dorm room look bigger, but that doesn’t mean you have to just hang one on the wall. You can use mirrors as artwork in your dorm room, making them focal features, rather than simple accessories. There are tons of creative ways to use mirrors in a dorm, depending on what you are allowed to do with your decorations. If you explore your options fully, you may be able to transform the look of your space. Here are some ideas you may be able to use in the future.

Checkerboard Wall
I was watching an episode of HGTV Design Star last night, and one of the designers made a really cool wall of mirrors that mimicked a checker board. It had a bunch of square tile mirrors on the wall, and they were raised to different depths to give the wall dimension. You could do something like that, or you could literally make a checkerboard pattern out of mirror tiles. Play around with some ideas until you find something that works for you.

Mirror Stripe
You may be able to make your ceilings look higher by putting a vertical strip of mirrors on your wall. If you can find a mirror that is as tall as the wall, great. Otherwise, you may have to get titles or a series of small mirrors to cover the space. Put some molding around the edges to give the mirrors dimension, or paint thin lines around it for the same effect. Just make sure it doesn’t look like something you cheaply threw together, even if you did

Mirror Mosaic
You could get bits of broken mirror and use them to create a cool mosaic for a wall or a piece of furniture. I have done this several times in the past, and I have found that it is best to do this with other glass tiles. That gives the mosaic dimension, rather than just looking like a broken mirror. You could make a mosaic desk top to write on, or you could make a really cool wall hanging. It’s up to you.

Find a creative way to use mirrors in your dorm room, and you will make the space seem much larger than it is. You don’t have to be a construction worker or an interior designer just to make something cool out of mirrors. As long as you are willing to think outside the box, you should be good to go.

A walis tambo is a traditional broom made and used in many Asian countries. It is one of the most basic brooms still in existence, but it is still a sufficient cleaning tool for homes, apartments, and even dorm rooms. Over the years, the tambo has faced stiff competition with the invention of modern brooms. Swiffer and models like it seem to be the biggest competition of all. How does the tambo stack up to its modern day counterpart? Let’s find out…

Wear
Since the walis tambo is a reed broom, it can be a little rough on hard wood floors at times. The reeds used in the tambo are soft, so they do not do as much damage as those of some other Filipino brooms. Nevertheless, you may find less wear with a Swiffer over time, depending on what sort of floors you need to sweep.

Culture
There is something appealing about the culture behind the tambo that makes it seem more effective, even if it may not necessarily pick up as much as some Swiffers do. When you think about the hard work that goes into creating a walis tambo, you can’t help but use one just to show your respect to the men and women who sacrificed their time to make the broom. A Swiffer is impersonal, no matter how well it may clean the home. You could find the charm of the tambo enticing over time.

Money
Most people do not realize just how much money they have to spend to keep up a Swiffer. When you add up the cost of the broom itself and the pads you need to change regularly, it can be a highly expensive cleaning solution for your home. If you use a Swiffer Wet Jet, then you also have to add in the cost of batteries and cleaning solutions. If you are living on a teaching career budget, a tambo may be the most logical solution for you.

Environment
Tambos are also better for the environment than Swiffers are because they do not create any waste with pads and accessories. The brooms themselves are made by real people in small factories, not by wasteful machines that pollute the air as they make the brooms. If you’re a tree hugger (which isn’t a bad thing in the slightest), you might choose the tambo over the Swiffer.

You will be the only one who can determine which option you like better, but at least now you have a good idea as to how the tambo stacks up against the competition in the modern world. Test out both options in your dorm room and see what happens from there.

I think that recycling should be a mandatory activity across the world. With the depleting resources we have on this planet, every bit of help counts. Americans in particular throw away tons and tons and tons of materials that could be recycled in the future, and most of them do this because they just don’t have a recycling program in their area. If your dorm doesn’t recycle, you may want to start a program there to help the environment. This doesn’t take much effort, and it may actually unite the people in your dorm. Consider it a win-win situation.

Here are some ways that you may be able to set up a recycling system in your dorm.

Reasons to Set up a Recycling Program

Before I get into how to set up a recycling program, I thought it may be nice to shed some light on the sheer importance of this process. I found this article on GreenWaste.com that has some really interesting statistics about recycling in the modern world. Here are some excerpts from this article to put things into perspective:

• Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save:
  • 3.5 cubic yards of landfill
  • 17 thirty foot (pulp) trees
  • 7,000 gallons of water
  • 380 gallons of oil
  • 4100 kwh of energy

  And, at the same time eliminate 60 pounds of air pollutants

• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.

• Because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than 1% of the total U.S. waste stream, even so, the energy required to replace the just the aluminum cans wasted in 2001 was equivalent to 16 million barrels of crude oil, enough to meet the electricity needs of all homes in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, San Francisco and Seattle.
• During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 more 12-ounce aluminum cans are made. Let’s recycle them.
• Although recycling is the most common method of plastic waste pollution prevention, less than one percent of all plastics products are recycled in the U.S. Americans throw away 25,000,000 plastic beverage bottles every hour!

Do you see the sheer power of recycling and what it could do for your life and the lives of others in the future? If so, you need to think about setting up a dorm recycling system.

Different Ways to Recycle in a Dorm

For the most part, all you need to create a recycling program is a place to put the recycling and someone to take that to the recycling center. You would be a natural volunteer for the second job, but you could always ask leaders in your dorm to alternate doing this. Find out where the closest drop off center is from you, and then all you have to do is make a plan to visit it once a week.

In terms of collecting the recycling, the easiest thing to do is to get some labeled trash bins and put them in the lounge or by the elevators. If you put them somewhere people would easily be able to get to them, you will have a better chance of those people actually using them to recycle. They can just pass by on their way to their medical assistant training and not have to worry about going out of their way to recycle. Put at least one set of recycling bins on every floor, and just keep an eye on them throughout the week. You should be able to have success that way over time.

Think about the information above and really try to use it in your dormitory. It just takes one person like you to make a big difference in the community. The time to do something is right now.

If you want to instantly transform your dorm room without paying any money, all you have to do is clean it up. This may sound like an overly simple approach to dorm design, but that is the easiest way to make your room look ten times better. I’m not talking about shoving everything in the closet at this point. I mean actual cleaning to get rid of the dust and dirt in the room.

If you haven’t cleaned your dorm room in a while, now may be a great time to start. Doing this will give you a better space to work on your paralegal courses and whatever else you need to take care of. Here are some tips to help you make your dorm room look the best it possibly can.

Move Everything to the Center of the Room

One of the first things you need to do if you want to make your dorm room sparkly clean is move everything to the middle of the room. This will give you access to all those mangy little corners that you probably never touch on a regular basis. You would be amazed by how many dust bunnies you probably have lurking in the corners of your dorm room. Make a clear path to all the walls so you can clean the corners that you never get a chance to see.

Dust Everything You Can

Dust collects everywhere in a dorm room, and people can tell whenever they walk in. you may not be able to see a lot of the dust, but it’s there – trust me. Try to clean off every surface in the room, including the ceiling fan and all of the pictures you have hanging on the walls. You can do this with a vacuum if you want to, which will save you from having to fling the dust in the air when you clean. I do this with everything in my house, and I have to admit, it saves a lot of time. You could have the whole dorm cleaned up in five minutes if you learn how to use your Hoover like a pro.

Use Furniture Polish

If you have wood surfaces in your dorm room, try to put some Pledge on them to bring out the beauty of the finish. This is kind of like putting wax on a car. Sure, you already have a clear coat. That doesn’t mean you can’t make it shiny with some wax. Do the same thing with furniture polish, and you can make your dorm room look like a million bucks.

Put Everything Away

When you have the whole dorm room clean, put everything where it belongs. Fold all your clothes and put them in the closet or dresser. Put your books on the shelves you bought for them months ago. Collect all the beer cans and throw them away where they belong. Then make an effort to keep your room clean every day. This may sound like a challenge for a rebellious college student, but it is something you just have to get used to. You’ll feel much more at home in your dorm room if you can do this.

Buy a couple cleaners to use in your dorm room, and try to put them to good use. You only have to clean up once a week or even once a month, depending on how dirty your dorm gets. Just make an effort to tidy up as often as you can, and the awesome designs you have in your dorm are guaranteed to shine through.

Have you ever thought about getting a degree in interior design? This could open up a ton of doors for your life, assuming you like the design process in general. I have always thought about taking my ideas to a new level with a degree like this, but I never really got the chance to go through with the program. Nevertheless, I know what it takes to become an interior designer, and I also know what kind of opportunities are available for those with interior design degrees. Here is an overview of what you could do with an interior design degree in the future.

Jobs for Interior Design Degree Holders

There are tons of job opportunities that come with interior design degrees. Most people think of becoming interior designers, but they do not consider the different levels of positions they could work in or even the different areas they could manage aside from design itself. Listed below are some of the most common job positions available for interior design graduates soon after they complete their degrees.

• Senior Interior Designer
• Project Manager
• Kitchen Designer
• Interior Designer
• Design Director
• Construction Manager
• Assistant Interior Designer

Industries for Interior Design Degree Holders

There are also several industries that you could choose to work in as an interior design graduate, depending on what you want to do. This is kind of the same as a fashion designer working on an accessory line. Even though he or she may have a degree designing clothing, he or she can use knowledge from the degree program to make jewelry, bags, shows, and more. You can do the same with your interior design degree. Here are some of the many industries you can work in with this degree in hand:

• Office Furniture
• Interior Design
• Home Furnishings
• Engineering Services
• Construction
• Architecture
• Architectural Design

Annual Earnings for Interior Design Degree Holders

Of course, we have to talk money here. We can’t just say that you have great opportunities before you. We have to explain what you can make. As sallow as it may be to focus on money, you know that’s what you’re really thinking about at the end of the day. Here are some salary statistics for interior design degree holders that you can keep in mind for the future.

By Experience

• Less than 1 year: $31,233 per year
• 1-4 years: $35,291 per year
• 5-9 years: $44,458 per year
• 10-19 years: $59,883 per year
• 20 years or more: $60,796 per year

By Employer Type

• University: $38,000 per year
• State & Local Government: $51,500 per year
• Self-Employed: $35,875 per year
• School District: $44,292 per year
• Private Practice: $43,089 per year
• Non-Profit Organization: $34,000 per year
• Franchise: $30,723 per year
• Federal Government: $83,000 per year
• Contract: $32,000 per year
• Company: $42,404 per year

Does that sound like enough money to sustain your lifestyle and then some? If so, you may want to strongly consider getting a degree in interior design. This should not take that long for you to do, and it could lead to an exciting job opportunity for you. Just make sure you have the right passion for this profession, and you’ll be on your way to success in no time.

The bedding you use in your dorm room will define the space. Can bring a whole room together, or it can throw everything off. You may be psyched about the basic blue comforter that you could from K-Mart last year, but that probably won’t be enough to really wow people that come into your dorm room. In order to make jaws drop when they open the door, you need to buy some badass bedding to use in your dorm. There are thousands of options to choose from, so you may have to take some time to find the best bedding for you. Here are some tips to help you pinpoint the perfect solution from the start.

Find out the Dimensions of the Bed

If you are using the bed that came with your dorm room, you need to make sure that you know how big it is. Most people assume that they are working with a full size bed, only to find out that it is an extended twin. My dorm bed was about six inches longer than standard twin beds, so I couldn’t use any normal sized bedding. I had to buy something specific to my bed dimensions. You have to make sure whatever you buy is going to fit your bed in the end.

Think about a Theme

Chances are you have some sort of theme you are working with in your room, even if it is just a set of colors or a certain shape. You need to extend that theme to your bedding. You could actually plan that out in reverse, where you pick your bedding and then choose the theme for the rest of the room. Either way though, you need to pick something that is going to work for the space as a whole.

Consider Comfort

One thing you may not think about at first is the comfort that your bedding will provide for you. It needs to be a thickness that you can live with. Anything too thick will make you hot, and anything too thin will make you cold. Since you can’t change the temperature in your dorm room, you at least need to get bedding that will keep you comfortable. Otherwise you’ll be finding excuses to stay at the local Holiday Inn.

You also need to make sure that the bedding you buy is going to be soft to sleep on. I once bought a set of sheets that looked incredible, but they were really itchy and hard. I ended up getting a new set a few weeks later because I just couldn’t stand it anymore. You need to make an effort to pick something that you will actually enjoy sleeping on. Otherwise you could end up hating your bed.

Look for Versatility

Sometimes it is nice to have bedding that you can change up from time to time. You could get a reversible comforter or set of sheets that you could pair with different covers as needed. Seeing that you will probably be living on no essay scholarships, you will need to make sure that you stretch your money as much as possible. That means you have to buy stuff that can handle double duty tasks.

Picking out the right bedding may seem like a challenge, but it is possible with the right amount of effort and consideration. Take the time to think about what you really want, and then find something that fulfills your needs. With the right setting at the right selection, you should be able to choose the perfect piece for you.

Dorm rooms are incredibly small, and college kids are incredibly messy. Put the two together and what do you get? Clutter. Lots and lots of clutter. This is something that you really can’t avoid while living in a dorm room, no matter how creative you are with your organization. You can stash most of your things away under the bed or in the closet, but there will come a time when you just have too much overflow to contain. What do you do then? You get creative. There are plenty of ways to make clutter look purposeful and even cool. You just have to think outside the box. Here are some tips to help you turn your messy dorm room into an artistic expression that people will be talking about.

Hang Stuff on the Walls

If you have a hard time finding space for your shoes or clothes, start hanging it up on the wall like art. No, this does not mean to cover your walls in thongs and boxer briefs. It just means that you may want to put your shirts, shoes, or pants on display as if they are pieces that people should look at. This gets the clothes off the floor, and it allows you to store your things away with ease. You can get as creative as you want with this, just as long as it looks like you meant to put stuff on the walls. You should be able to pull this off with a decent eye for design.

Create a Sculpture of School Supplies

Your textbooks will inevitably start to pile up in your room, so why not make a piece of art out of them? You could turn them into a topsy turvy pyramid of sorts that has papers scattered around it. As long as you keep everything functional, you could make a really funky piece of art for your dorm room. This saves you from having to find space for your bookshelf or cabinet because you can just leave your books on display. They will become a conversation starter, not a big pile of crap in your room.

Establish Organized Clutter

Sometimes all you need to do is organize your clutter to make it more presentable. You can buy personal organizers to hold your pencils, hair supplies, notepads, receipts, or anything else you need to organize. The clutter will still be there, but it will look well put together. I have an organizer on my desk that holds all of my office supplies. It is filled to the brim, but it looks nice because it is well organized. When people can see that there is a method to your madness, they will react positively to your clutter.

Cover with Class

If you cannot find a creative way to display your clutter, try to cover it. You could put decorative panels around your desk to shield it from the world, or you could try to hide everything in a special cabinet. If you have a desk with empty space below it, you could put a cloth on top to hide anything underneath. This may not be the most creative option in the world, but it does work. You just have to find the right cover for your needs.

Try to minimize clutter as much as you can, and then organize whatever is left over. I know this can be hard to do at times, but it will make a big difference in the experiences people have in your room. If you can make your space look like it is still clean and well organized in the end, you will have a great looking dorm room.

Keeping the memory of your family alive may be as simple as putting a picture of them on display in your dorm room. You could do something as simple as putting a photo in a frame, but perhaps you would like to have a slightly more unconventional display. Whatever your style may be, it can’t hurt to have one or two focal points on your walls that people talk about when they see your room. Listed below are a few creative ways that you could go about showcasing your photos. Use these ideas to create a unique photo display in your dorm room that you and your family can cherish for years to come.

Canvas Art

Have you ever thought about turning your family photos into actual works of art? You can get your photos printed on canvas, and they will look just like works of art. There are options to do this that can fit any price range, but this is a unique way to see your family photos without actually having them on photo paper. Canvas photos look more professional than traditional photos, and they can be framed just like pictures in an art gallery. Your family will surely love a display like this in your dorm room.

Family Collage

If you feel like getting crafty one day, you can use an assortment of family photos to make a unique collage in your dorm room. Simply get a piece of cardboard or something else to act as the backing of the collage and set out your pictures in random order. Then when you like what you see, you can put some collage glue on the back and front to seal the photos in place. This can be a fun family project that anyone can do, and it is guaranteed to be one of a kind.

Clothes Line

Photo displays do not always have to be professional. While it is a good idea to have some professional photo displays in your dorm room, you can also have some that are a bit out of the box. For instance, you can hang a string on a wall and use clothes pins to hold photos along it. You could also use this to display Christmas cards or rewards that your kids get at school, depending on your needs. All you have to do is see the creative purposes behind unexpected items in your dorm room.

Pots and Pans

You may not get a lot of cooking done in your dorm room, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t put out some pots and pans. Cut your photos to the size of the pots, and then you can display them on the bottom or inside (depending on the look you are going for). You could simply push them in for now, or you could actually put a sealant over them to seal them in for good. When you’re done, just hang them up on the wall next to your AIMS scholarship certificate.

Conclusion

Creating a unique display for family photos is a great way to show your loved ones how much you care. Whether you want photos printed on canvas or something else for your family, the memories you create through your displays will last a lifetime. Take the time to play around with some of the ideas above, and you will surely come up with something that suits all of your needs at one time. All it takes is a little creativity on your part and a good set of photos to put on display.

When you move into a dorm, you may only think about getting your bed, your clothes, your TV, and your microwave. Everything else is going to magically be there by way of the dorm fairies…right? Nope, that is not the case little ones. The fact is that you have to bring your entire life to your 10×10 dungeon – I mean dorm room – so you need to make sure you have everything you need before you leave home. There are a lot of items that you are probably going to forget, and then you’ll have to stretch your tiny living budget to accommodate for the missing items. Here is a list of some must-have dorm accessories that most people miss when they first go to college.

Vacuum

I know the idea of cleaning while you’re in college may seem totally absurd, but you are going to need to do it at some point in time. If you have carpet or a large rug in the room, you will need a vacuum to remove the rubbish. (I wrote that with a British accent, in case you couldn’t hear it through the words ). You can buy a small vacuum that will tackle the small area you’ll be living in. You don’t need something huge. For $20 or so, you’ll have a cleaning machine that will keep your dorm bug free – hopefully.

Curtains

You may not have more than one or two windows in your dorm room, but those windows will need to be covered at some point in time. My husband was ever-so-fortunate enough to be right next to the street light when he lived in the dorm, so he had a bright ass light shining into his room every night as he slept. Some simple curtains could have helped him avoid that whole situation, but he forgot to bring them from home. You can staple a sheet to the wall for a temporary solution, but you really need to think about some darkening curtains instead. That will make a big difference in your abilities to control light in the room.

Ear Plugs

You probably don’t use ear plugs at home now, but you will most likely need to in a dorm. Even dorms with noise restrictions tend to be noisy at night because of everyone moving around quietly. If you want to ensure that you get to sleep at a decent time, you will need some foam inserts to drown out the noise. I use these a lot whenever I work because I get distracted by noise outside my house. They are pretty darn effective at keeping the peace so you can concentrate, making them perfect for studying, sleeping, or meditation. You can buy a full pack of them for $2 or so, so you won’t have to spend a lot to get the peace you need for school.

Fans and Electric Blankets

Most dorm rooms don’t have ceiling fans, nor do they have independent temperature controls. If you get really hot in your dorm room, you will need a fan of some sort to cool you down. In the same light, you will need electric blankets to keep you warm if the room gets too cold. You just have to do whatever it takes to create a suitable environment for you to live in.

Make a list of the items you use on a day to day basis, and try not to forget any of them when you move into your dorm. That way you can have an enjoyable experience from the first day you arrive at school.

Fancify: (verb) to make fancy. A word I made up for the purpose of this article, just because I thought it sounded cool.

With the vocab lessons out of the way now, I want to talk about that boring old ceiling light that you probably have in your dorm room. This is the fate of just about every college student out there living in a dorm. There’s just a big dome light on the ceiling that has absolutely no design or personality to it. If you want to keep a theme running in your dorm room, you need to touch every part of it. That includes that stupid little light fixture. Listed below are some fun ways you may be able to spruce that thing up without necessarily spending a ton of money.

Chicken Wire

If you surround the light with chicken wire, you can use the fence-like pattern of the metal to hang stuff from. Make sure that you keep the chicken wire away from the light a bit to avoid excessive heat transfer. Then you can hang Christmas ornaments from the wire or long strands of beads and crystals. Basically you can turn your light into a chandelier without having to fork out the money for an actual chandelier. If you want to find a way to hang something quirky up, you could do that too. Mechanical pencils, CDs, book marks, and Coke bottles could all work if you got creative.

Suspended Window

Another cool way to liven up that boring dome light is to suspend a window underneath it. You can find an old-looking window at just about any second hand construction or design shop, and then you can use brackets to mount it from the ceiling. I have seen windows like this at a local Habitat for Humanity store, so you may want to see if you have something like that in your area. You could get creative and use some sort of stained glass, or you could just look for a standard window with standard window panes. Whatever the case may be, you could probably create a pretty badass light fixture with just an old window and a little labor.

Plastic Cups

I talked about a Sparkleball a few weeks ago, and this idea is sort of inspired by that. You could take some plastic cups and glue them all together to form a hemisphere. Then you could hang the dome over the light you have to emit light in a cool new way. You have to be careful not to get the cups too close to the light in case they start to melt. Worse comes to worse, you can take off the glass dome covering the light and just keep the light bulb inside. If you do this though, make sure you keep the glass dome somewhere safe and easy to access. That way you can find it when you move out at the end of the semester.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to learn how to become an artist just to make a cool light fixture for your dorm. There is no reason to have a boring ceiling light when there are so many easy things you can do with it. Take pride in your dorm room, and do whatever it takes to make it your own. If that means you have to take the time to hang chicken wire on the ceiling, so be it. The time will be well worth the ooos and ahhs you get whenever it gets done.

If you enjoy decorating your dorm, you may enjoy decorating homes as a whole. There are some people out there that are just born to design, and those people are the ones that make the world a beautiful place to live in. Interior designers are becoming more sought after with every year as businesses and individuals alike strive to have the best looking space on the block. If you have a good eye for design and a passion for helping people out, you may do well working as an interior designer. The tips below will help you assess this job closely so you can consider if it is a good career path for you.

Common Job Duties for Interior Designers

The job duties of an interior designer will depend on the clients he or she has to work with. Common responsibilities include:

• Consulting with clients to come up with a design theme
• Creating presentation boards to share a vision with a client
• Shopping for paint, furniture, and accessories to go in a room
• Customizing pieces of furniture to suit a design
• Painting walls to save money on labor
• Updating a client with the status for a project
• Overseeing other workers for a project
• Making sure that the design plans are executed effectively

As an interior designer, you will only spend a small portion of your time coming up with actual designs. The rest of your work will involve making those designs come to life. Some people assume they will just be able to make presentation boards all day long, but that is far from the case. This is the kind of profession that requires leadership skills and effective multi-tasking at all times. If you think you have what it takes to do that, you may look into becoming an interior designer in the future.

Common Pay Rates for Interior Designers

Interior designers have the potential to make a lot of money, depending on the area they work in and the kinds of clients they attract. A designer in a small, middle-of-nowhere town is going to have a harder time making a good living than a designer would in New York City. Let’s take a look at some of the salary charts below to predict what you may make in this career.

Salary by Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year: $25,209 – $50,023 per year
• 1-4 years: $27,306 – $49,632 per year
• 5-9 years: $31,556 – $59,202 per year
• 10-19 years: $30,325 – $70,376 per year
• 20 years or more: $29,517 – $109,145 per year

Salary by Industry

• Architecture: $30,888 – $58,972 per year
• Office Furniture: $29,230 – $50,446 per year
• Architectural and Engineering Services: $33,207 – $56,071 per year
• Furniture, Home Furnishings: $19,164 – $43,492 per year
• Residential Home Construction: $20,256 – $50,259 per year
• Retail: $26,531 – $59,000 per year

Salary by Employer Type

• Company: $29,100 – $57,584 per year
• Private Practice: $28,100 – $55,519 per year
• Self-Employed: $20,226 – $116,923 per year
• Other Organization: $27,250 – $59,500 per year
• State & Local Government: $28,337 – $104,715 per year
• Contract: $9,804 – $97,871 per year
• College or University: $24,511 – $97,871 per year
• Franchise: $29,032 – $43,747 per year

If you have a true passion for interior design, the money won’t matter. Nevertheless, it is nice to figure out whether or not you will be able to make a decent living in this field. Check out the educational requirements for interior designers and see if you can get started soon.

Storage spaces in dorm rooms are not always convenient, especially for girls out there who love to shop for shows. If you have a large shoe collection that you cannot figure out a storage space for, you may need to think outside of the box. That way you can come up with a way to make your shoes readily accessible without having to throw some of them away. The tips below are designed to help shoe enthusiasts store all of their wonders in their dorm rooms until they get a chance to go back home. Read on to figure out how you may want to store your shoes in the future.

Under the Bed Shoe Storage Containers

A lot of companies have now made show storage containers that slide right under the bed. You can put each pair of shoes in a little compartment in the container, and then you can slide the whole thing underneath your bed. This is better than putting the shoes under there by themselves because it allows you to access any of them whenever you want to. We have all experienced the problem of having the perfect pair of pumps hiding in the back of the bed five minutes before we have to leave for a hot date. You know you have. If you can get a storage container to pull in and out, you will never have to go through that problem.

Wall Displays

If you are proud of your shoe collection, show it off like an interior designer. You can put your shoes on display and actually make wall art out of them. Use shoe boxes or box lids as the shelves on the wall, and then you can put your shoes out on top of them. Any time you have a shoe that you want to wear, you can just pull it off the wall and put it on. This is a great way to enhance the aesthetics of your dorm and put your shoes some place at the same time. You might as well make the most of the opportunity.

Shoe Drawers

In some cases, you may just have to put your shoes in a special dresser drawer. That way you can pull them out at any time, but you can’t see them whenever you don’t need to wear them. If you have too many shoes to fit in one drawer, you can still store some in the closet or under the bed. You could also try stacking them on top of one another to save space. Just make sure that the shoes that you wear most often are some place that you can easily access them. Otherwise you will not be able to get as much use as you should out of your storage container.

Closet Door Shoe Holders

My grandmother used to have a shoe container that hanged over her closet door, and I always thought that was a little old-fashioned. When I went to college though, I thought it was the perfect way to save space in a cramped dorm. You can buy shoe holders that hang over the door, and then you can just shut the closet to prevent people from seeing them. This is a great use of space, and it can still give you easy access to your footwear. You can only use something like this if your closet doors actually open, so keep that in mind. As long as you have that sort of setup going for you, you could save a ton of space with an over the door shoe hander.

Most dorm rooms tart off drab, boring, and lifeless almost, all in an attempt to make them look neutral. I remember the first time walking into my dorm room. I thought it looked like a prison cell – no exaggeration. I literally looked out the window to make sure there weren’t bars on the outside. After a fresh coat of lavender paint per the request of my roommate, the place started to get some life back into it. If you are thinking about painting your dorm room in the future, you need to find the perfect color for it. Here are some tips to help you design your personal space so that it is a true reflection of your personality.

Know What You Can and Can’t Do

Before you start fantasizing about the colors you can put in your dorm room, you need to think about what the rules may actually be for your dorm. Some dorms will only allow you to put a few pre-selected colors on the walls. That was what happened with me. Talk to reslife and see if they have any suggestions as to what you can and can’t do. You may find out that they can give you all of the pain supplies you need. They just can’t let you use a whacky color. If you choose to do that, you may get fined – big time. It is best just to know your options and see where you can go from there.

Pick Something Light and Vibrant

Dorm rooms are inherently small, so you don’t want to put a dark color on the walls to make your space feel like a cave. Try to gravitate towards lighter colors that are going to make the room seem bright and cheerful. Maroon or navy blue just isn’t going to cut it, but candy apple red or periwinkle blue may work. You just have to compare some of the different colors you could put on the walls and see which ones seem the most inviting. That way you can make your teeny tiny space feel as big as possible.

Get Inspired

You may want to find some source of inspiration to help you pick out the color for your walls. This could come from anything – your bedding, a rug, a piece of art you plan to hand, or even the colors of the buildings you cans see through the window. Your paint color is going to set the tone for the whole room, so you need to make sure it is something you can work with. There is no reason you paint the walls olive green if you plan to use pink and purple bedding. You need to find a logical source of inspiration for your paint color before you use something that just doesn’t suit your design ideals as a whole.

Test out Different Colors

Once you have a few different colors picked out, do a little test with them. You may be able to get a sample of paint from the store to try, or you could bring home some paint chips to hang on the wall. Make sure you look at the paint in the dorm before you select it before it may look different in a store. You need to see the colors in your dorm under your lighting. If you like what you see, you can buy the paint you want and get to work. Then you will have a new looking dorm room in no time at all.

When you walk into a dorm room for the first time, it almost always looks dull and dingy. A lot of that has to do with the small window in most dorm rooms and the one $.35 light bulb hanging from the ceiling. If you want to have a little pizzazz in your dorm room, you may want to think of some creative lighting ideas for the space. By “creative lighting,” I’m not referring to a disco ball that you saw hanging in another person’s room on your floor (even if that is a fun idea). There are plenty of unique lighting options out there that can illuminate your dorm so you can enjoy being in it. Here are some suggestions you can use to light up your dorm in style.

Sparkleballs

Some of the funkiest lights I have ever seen for a dorm were basically giant balls of Christmas lights that had plastic cups all around them, otherwise known as sparkleballs. These balls were made popular back when I was in high school, but they are still prominent to this day. You could potentially make your own plastic cup balls, but it may just be easier to buy them. If you have some free time on your hands, you could give the craft project a try. With some plastic cups and a little elbow grease, you could create your own quirky chandelier to use in your dorm room. If you want to make your own sparkleball, here is a free guide: Plastic cups + Lights = Sparkleball. You can also watch the video below…

Rope Lights

Rope lights are great for dorms because they are fairly bright and really easy to install. You can usually find a lot of rope lights around Christmas time, but they sell them all year round in home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot. You can also find them online if you don’t mind waiting for them to be shipped to you.

Rope lights are literally long plastic ropes that have lights in them, and they come in a ton of different colors. You can turn them into a border between the ceiling and the wall, or you could wrap them up your headboard if you have them. You just have to think creatively, and you should be able to find some good use for them.

Icicle Lights

Another way to add a little sparkle to the walls is to use icicle lights, just like you would at Christmas on a house. You don’t have to get actual icicles though. You can find these lights shaped like stars, snowflakes, happy faces and much more. The point of them is to just hang down somewhere, so you can find a way to make that happen if you look around the room enough. You could use them to line a closet of yours or maybe even illuminate a vanity area of you have one. It just depends on the design you are going for in the space.

Blacklights

If you want to give your room a true cool-kid vibe, you may think about installing a black light in it. You can either buy a black light bulb for an existing fixture in the room or you can buy a light to hang on the wall. Then you can add neon-colored decorations to make them really pop in the room. This may not be the ideal lighting to use for studying, so you might want to get some regular lights to use too. Otherwise you may not be able to learn much in your forensic science degree. If you think outside the box a little bit, you should be able to come up with a creative way to illuminate your dorm and wow your guests at the same time.

Who says that shelves have to be boring planks of wood with no personality? It’s about time for us all to think a little outside the box. Shelves are great for dorm organization and design, and they can literally change the look of your walls if you use them correctly. For this article, we are going to step outside of the normal realm for dorms and give you a few unconventional ideas to keep in mind. Hopefully these will inspire you to get imaginative in your own dorm room in the future. Here are five creative ideas for shelves that you could use at any time.

Books

You can use old textbooks to make shelve in your room if you want to, depending on what they are. Simple buy brackets that are long enough to support the books and attach the brackets to the walls. Then you can put the books on the brackets just like you would wooden shelves. You can choose to have the binding showing or the pages showing, depending on the overall look you want for the room. You may even want to alternate pages and binding to give your walls a bit of a hodge podge look. That will get people talking whenever they come in.

Cabinet Doors

If you need a fairly large shelf to put somewhere, why not use an old cabinet door? Go to your local Habitat for Humanity or a thrift store of some sort and try to find an old door with some character. Clean it up a bit and then mount it to the walls horizontally. As long as you have the right brackets underneath it, you should be able to keep the door or doors secure on the wall. Then you could use them to hold large pictures, figurines, or anything else you want – aside from a TV.

Movies

Have some old DVDs that you don’t watch anymore? Why not turn them into shelves for the dorm? DVD cases aren’t very strong, so you won’t be able to put much on them. Nevertheless, you could put more DVDs on top or some cool movie-themed figurines to decorate the walls. You could also use CD cases or old records if you want to. It just depends on where you want to take the idea. Look for some form of entertainment that comes in a case, and you should be able to set up a really cool display on the walls.

Cereal Boxes

If you want to have a cool food theme to your dorm room, you could use cereal boxes as shelves. Take the cereal out of them and replace it with sheets of cardboard, wood, foam, or something else to fill the space. Then you can seal the top of the box and put it on a bracket on the wall. You could do this with just about any food boxes out there, from Hamburger Helper to cake mixes and beyond. Think about what you like to eat and put that on the wall.

Binders

Binders can make fun book shelves because they are cheap to buy and sturdy enough to put something on. Since most binders are angled when you lay them flat, you will need to use two of them to make one level shelf to use. This may require you to glue the binders together, depending on how much they sip on top of one another. You will just have to test it out to see what works.

If you put your mind into creative mode, you should have no trouble coming up with a fun shelf idea to use in your dorm. Your friends will be jealous of your creations the second they walk in the door.

Living in a dorm can be a somewhat fun experience, but it can suck to have to move your furniture back and forth during the summer months. If you happen to live in an on-campus apartment, you may be able to bypass that sort of move through a process called summer storage. In this program, you can leave all of your belongings in a place for the summer months and pay a reduced amount of money in rent to store it there. This saves you from having to drag it to mom and dad’s house and then drag it back up to your apartment. Here is a closer look at the summer storage program so you can determine if it is right for you.

Rent Reductions with Summer Storage

In most cases, you can get two months of rent for the price of one month if you choose to go through summer storage. If you are paying $600 a month for the place you are living right now, you can pay $300 a month for July and August. Then when you come back to resume your software engineer degree, you will have to pay your regular rent price again. When you think about the money it costs to move back and forth from school, this money may not seem like much of a sacrifice. It just depends on the living expenses you normally have over the summer.

Stipulations for Summer Storage

Before you start trying to find ways to live in your dorm for the summer without paying for a month of rent, get the ideas out of your head. In order for you to enjoy the perks of summer storage, your apartment actually has to act like a storage unit. That means that you cannot go into it for anything for the duration for the duration of the summer. Most apartment owners will set the limit for eight weeks, so you must be out of the apartment for that long before you return. The day you return, you will have to start paying a regular rate again.

If you happen to forget something in your apartment, you may be allowed to visit the place once or twice more. You will only be allowed to go in for a short period of time though, and you will need the owner’s permission to be able to do that. You can check with your apartment complex to find out what the rules are, but then you need to make sure you stick to them. Otherwise you will be breaking your contract, which could cause you to pay full rent for the summer.

Is Summer Storage Right for You?

Summer storage isn’t for everyone, so don’t jump to conclusions that this could work out for you. If you are going to have to pay rent with your parents while you are home for the summer, you may not be able to afford double the expenses for your storage space. If you don’t live far away from your current residence, you may not have enough moving expenses to be worth the extra money for storage. If you don’t live in an apartment complex that works with a lot of college students, you may not even have the option for summer storage in the first place. You just have to explore your options and see what happens. If summer storage happens to be a good solution for you, you need to start thinking about it as soon as you can. That way you can make an effective plan from the start.

Are you tired of seeing the same old decorations in your dorm that you’ve had for years now? It may be time for a change of pace. By now, you’ve probably racked up a decent amount of money from your Christmas presents, so you might want to use the new year as an excuse to buy some new decorations for your dorm. You don’t have to do a lot to make a big transformation in your design. You just have to make select changes to completely change the way the room looks. Here are some tips to help you change your dorm’s look for the new year.

Get a New Comforter

Seeing that your bed is probably the largest piece of furniture in your dorm room, that is the piece that could make the biggest transformation. I have always used my comforters to determine the overall themes of my rooms. Those are the pieces that tie everything together. If you have a reversible comforter, you may just be able to turn it inside out for a whole new look. If not, you should look for something new to buy. You can try to look for something that matches your existing dorm room decorations, or you could go for something totally new. Just take a look around and see what you could do.

Buy New Wall Art

Your wall art can also make a big statement in your room. If you like the comforter you have now, you could possibly put art on the wall to still change the way your dorm room looks. This is especially true for solid color comforters. As long as the pictures on the wall complement the bedding, you should be just fine. You can make your own wall art, or you can buy some from Walmart, Pier 1, Hobby Lobby, or even the internet. My husband and I once got a $250 painting for $75 by making the guy an offer online. If you get creative enough, you can buy or make great art for a low price.

Get a New Rug

Your rug will also have an impact on the look of your room. If you don’t have a rug yet, you could get one to warm things up a bit in the dorm. If you do have one, try selling it to get some money for a new rug. I wrote an entire post about picking the right rug for your dorm because I think this can make a big difference in the way your dorm looks. Try to get something that is soft, complementary, and relatively affordable. It could transform the look of your dorm for the better.

Paint the Furniture

If you have furniture in your dorm that you personally own, you may want to paint it to give it a new look. You could use plastic spray paint on the plastic drawers you have in the room, and you can use standard paint on any wood components you have. If you want to get a unique look, use crackle paint to create a cool texture on your furniture. You could also consider staining wood a different color or stapling some bead-board on the outside of it. With the right amount of creativity, you can make your furniture look brand new.

Conclusion

You don’t have to spend the equivalent of an accounting salary to redecorate your room for New Year’s Day. You just need to have a creative way to use your money and the stuff you already have. Take this time of the year to make a change in your personal space and you may be able to make a change in your life for the better.

A rug can add a touch of coziness to an otherwise stark dorm room. Most dorms don’t have carpet in them, and those that do have really low lying carpet that might as well be colored concrete. If you’re tired of dreading getting out of bed in the morning because you don’t want your feet to get cold, you need to invest in an area rug to soften the place up. Finding the perfect rug may seem challenging at first, but eventually you should be able to pick out something you love. Here are some tips to help you locate the perfect rug for your dorm room.

Design

The design of a rug is going to play a big role in determining its suitability for the space. If you already have everything decorated, you will need to find a rug that will tie into all of the décor you have in place. If you don’t have it decorated, then you can actually use your rug as a source of inspiration for the rest of the dorm. You can choose whatever kind of rug you want as long as it reflects your style. If you want something with different types of tattoo designs all over it, you can get that. If you want something with flowers or stripes, you can get that as well. Just think about what you like and start looking around.

Colors

The colors in your rug will most likely tie into the design you select. It is important to think about the décor you will have in the space and the colors that are already in place. I once lived in a dorm that had dark green carpet, so I had to plan my décor around that. I despised the carpet, but it was what I had to work with. You have to think about the paint on your walls and the visible flooring you will have in the space. Then and only then will you be able to figure out what will work best all around.

Texture

There are tons of textures to choose from in carpeting. You will probably be drawn to some of the plush rugs you come across, but you need to realize that those hold a lot of dirt in them. You will have to spend a lot of time vacuuming your rug just to get it clean, and that is an effort that a lot of people don’t want to put out. You don’t have to get a super thin rug, but you may want to avoid anything that looks like shag carpeting. It will not be fun to use in time.

Price

Area rugs can get very expensive very quickly. You need to know your budget before you even walk out the door because you may be in for a surprise. Even a basic area rug at Walmart or Big Lots is $60+, and that is nowhere near what you may pay at Pier One, Hobby Lobby, Ikea, or Bed Bath and Beyond. You may want to start looking at a local clearance store, like Walls or Goodwill. That may not sound like an ideal place to go for a rug, but it could give you some options to look into. I once found a great area rug that covered my entire dorm room, and it only cost $30 at a carpet clearance store. If you look around enough, you should be able to snag a good price on something.

Take the time to look for the perfect carpet, and you will have a warm looking dorm room in no time.

Your dorm room is your home for nine months of the year while you cover your software engineer education requirements. Thus it is important to make it feel as much like home as possible. You may not be a huge fan of the confined space, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live comfortably. A few appliances may be all you need to bring that feeling of home back to your dorm room. Here are a few ways you may be able to do that.

Refrigerators

A simple fridge can make a big difference in a dorm. You can find mini-fridges to fit in just about any space you have, so don’t worry about not being able to find something that will fit in your dorm. You may be able to find something that fits under your desk or in between the beds in the room. Just think about how much space you logically need, and then find an affordable fridge to use in your dorm. If you want to be smart about this, you should look for a fridge on Craigslist around the beginning of May. That’s when most people are trying to get rid of theirs, so you should be able to snag a good deal from there.

Microwaves

A microwave is a staple in dorm room appliances. There are all kinds of microwaves out there, so you could certainly get something you can use. Since you most likely won’t be able to use a toaster oven in your dorm, you may want to look for a microwave with a top browner built in. I had one of those once, and it was well worth the money. Those things aren’t cheap, but they can cook frozen fish sticks a lot better than a standard microwave can. If you want an appliance with a bit of an edge, that would be a great option to keep in mind.

Single Burners

This is something that you may or may not be allowed to use in your dorm. You can find single stove burners out there that can cook one pot of food. Some dorms will consider these safety hazards, so don’t get your hopes up that you can use this. If you can though, that would be a great way for you to make homemade meals that don’t come out of a frozen dinner box. A heating plate like this can be stored just about anywhere when you aren’t using it, so you should be able to keep your dorm clutter free even with an appliance like this. Then all you have to do is whip it out when you want to make a pot of something right then and there.

Alternatives to Dorm Room Appliances

In some cases, you just can’t get all the feelings of home in a dorm room. That’s what makes it a dorm room. If you still want to cook a homemade meal though, you may be able to use a kitchen somewhere in the building. My husband hand a student kitchen on the first floor of his dorm room, and all he had to do was get a key from reslife to use it. You may have access to something similar in your dorm, so take a look around. If you do, you know you will be able to cook a meal just like you would back home.

Do whatever it takes to make your dorm room into a personal oasis. If that means that you simply have to add a fridge and a Backstreet Boys poster, so be it.

Artwork is incredibly expensive no matter where you buy it from. Even if you go to a 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby, you could spend $30+ per piece after framing. The costs add up over time, and you may not have enough money from your ROTC scholarships to cover expensive art. The solution is to simply make the art yourself. You don’t have to be incredibly artistic to do this. You just need to take some time out of the day to make it work. Here are some fun art projects you could try to do.

Geometric Paintings

Some of the boldest statements you can make in your room com in the form of simple blocks of color. Buy some canvases, painter’s tape, and paint of your choice. Then put strips of painter’s tape on the canvases to create geometric shapes (squares, triangles, trapezoids, etc.). Paint one section of the canvas with one color, and then let the paint dry. Remove the tape and repeat. If you want white lies where the tape was, you can paint on both sides of it at the same time. Otherwise you will need to put the tape over the painted area enough to paint the other side.

You can even take this to the next level by pitting black electrical tape where the lines are on your art. That will make a bold statement without forcing you to paint a skinny line on the piece. Finish everything off with a frame, and you should be good to go. You can hang your masterpiece right on the wall.

Graffiti Art

All you need to make graffiti art is a set of spray paint and something to paint on. If you have permission from Res Life to paint your walls, you could put graffiti on them directly. Otherwise you can look for drop ceiling tiles, scrap sheet rock, canvas, cardboard, or other boards that you could hang on the walls. Take some spray paint, and just express yourself on the board of your choice. You could just put little swirls all over the board, or you could try to write something out in an interesting font. Check out some graffiti art on the web and see if you can get any inspiration from it.

Song Lyrics

When I was in high school, I had people coming to me all the time asking for my song lyric book covers. These things were the simplest book covers in the world to make, but they were so darn cool looking (if I do say so myself). All I did was deconstruct a paper sack enough to wrap it around a book, and then I wrote the lyrics to an entire song on the cover. The catch was that I didn’t write them out just like words on a page. I would put them in different fonts and split the lyrics up all over the place.

If the song was “The Star Spangled Banner,” I would probably put America in big letters on the front of the book cover and then sprinkle the other words in sets all over the place. By playing with sizes, colors, and font styles, I was able to create really cool looking art for almost no money at all.

You could do the same thing with your dorm art by getting some butcher paper from your school. A local art supply store should sell it as well. Grab a set of markers, and just start writing the lyrics to your favorite song all over the butcher paper. You can use pencils to draw out creative fonts, or you can keep everything freehand. I used to also add blocks of color in the blank spaces when the words were all on, just to make it more interesting graphically.

When you’re all done with the piece, find a way to hang it on the wall. It’s as simple as that.

Posters may be slightly juvenile, but only if they have pics of Justin Bieber and the Jo Bros on them. You can use decorative posters in your dorm room without coming across as a total teenager. If you can’t find a poster in the store that you like, you could always think about creating one all your own. You could turn whatever image you want into a poster for your wall if you know what to do. Here are some tips to help you do just that.

CafePress and Zazzle

CafePress and Zazzle are two great sites that allow you to create your own posters on the web. All you have to do is use their poster creators to turn any images you have into full posters to hang on the wall. You can order as many copies of the posters as you want, and then you can have them shipped right to your door. I’ve done this several times over, and I have never been disappointed with the results. This is by far the easiest and most affordable way to print your own posters.

Tips for Finding Poster Images

There are a few things you need to keep in mind about making your own posters. Some images work better for posters than others, and you need to do what you can to get the best results possible. A good image should be:

• Large: This prevents pixilation when you blow it up to poster size
• Clear: Printing may distort some of the clarity over time
• Rectangular: This just ensures that the image fits well on the poster
• Badass: Well, just because. (wink)

You can pick whatever image you want for your poster, but try to think about something that will logically look good in poster form. Otherwise, you’ll be throwing your medical assistant salary right down the drain.

Displaying the Posters

You can use simple thumbtacks or tape to put your posters on the wall, but that may look a little sloppy. The best option to go with is to get poster frames to display the posters in. These frames are pretty cheap, and they come in a variety of styles to choose from. Simply put the poster in the frame and hang it on the wall. You can get creative from there.

Checklist for Poster Frames

• Size (make sure it is big enough for the poster)
• Cover (should have glass or plastic to protect the poster)
• Price (if you pay more than $20-$40 for a frame, you need to look somewhere else)
• Style (pick something that matches your dorm, your poster, and your style)

Best Places to Find Poster Frames

• Wal-Mart: There’s a decent selection of poster frames here, at least when it comes to the basics. If you are looking for something cheap and easy, check Wal-Mart before anywhere else.
• Hobby Lobby: About every other week, Hobby Lobby will put their poster frames on sale – 50% off. That is a great time to shop for frames. Hobby Lobby will have a better selection than Wal-Mart, and they’ll have comparable sale prices. While you’re there, grab some personal frames for the room. They’re 50% off every single week. (That’s a little known fact)
• Big Lots: Big Lots definitely has cheap frames, but they’re selection is pretty minimal. Only go there if you haven’t found frames anywhere else.
• Target: Target offers comparable options and prices to Wal-Mart. You can always look at Target online if you can’t find something you like in stores.

Do a little snooping and see if you can find a frame that works for you. If so, you will have a one-of-a-kind poster on display in your dorm soon enough.