Moving away from home comes with feelings of both excitement and apprehension. Eager for the new independence, university students often can’t wait to get into their flats and start decorating. Although student accommodation is fun, different and most importantly a place of your own, arriving in the small, basic room that you are assigned to can be slightly deflating. It’s not quite the Instagram- able, stylish space most envision for their future homes. It often smells sterile, unfamiliar and most rooms boast pretty funky curtains. But don’t worry, it’s your first ever place away from home and it’s not hard or costly to transform it into a small patch of comfort.
Firstly, let’s talk about good places to find bargains. The most obvious being IKEA, which must be given its due. For students it’s great, with budget bedding, fairy lights, artificial plants, rugs and much more it’s definitely a place to visit if you’re moving out. Most things needed to kit out a new uni room can be found in IKEA but in terms of other places eBay is great for specifics like coloured folders for your work, curtains and desk organisers. B & M sell very affordable cushions, lamps and soft furnishings.
One of the main things to focus on is not having too many crazy colours and patterns going on. As I mentioned before most rooms in halls have pattern curtains, (unless you plan on bringing your own) so opting for around two well matched colours will help keep things looking cohesive and calm. For bedding, I am a great believer in quality. You don’t have to spend a fortune, but considering we spend a lot of time in bed (students especially), I would recommend in investing in a better duvet from somewhere like John Lewis.
Lighting is also important to help make your room feel cosy, so the obvious way to achieve this is fairy lights. You can get plug in LED ones pretty cheap from loads of homeware shops and they’re an easy way of making the space feel homelier and look super cute too. Plants are also an ideal helper in making a room look more alive and brighter. If you’re all about the low maintenance, go for fake plants, IKEA have ones perfect for shelves and windowsills. However, if you think you could look after real ones, there are often house plant sales put on in Glasgow. Just search them on Facebook and there will usually be one coming up, Real plants are great for injecting an element authenticity in your room and are really cheap too.
Lastly, this isn’t so much of an aesthetic thing but as I said earlier, halls can often smell unfamiliar which can make feeling settled a bit harder. Student accommodation is often strict on not having candles, so fragrance sticks are a good alternative. They’re really affordable and will help make you feel more at home in your new room.
The whole experience of moving into your own space is really fun so enjoy, and happy decorating!
