Amazon Must Haves: College Edition

 Abby Knowles 

As a college student, decorating your college dorm room is truly one of the most mirthful moments. Creating a space for yourself apart from your room at home, that has probably been decorated since you were a child, is a very cathartic process. I remember when I first moved into my freshman dorm, I was so excited to find a color pallet I wanted to use as a base for decorating. This meant finding a comforter, pillows that paired well with it, a throw blanket, and pictures to hang up. That isn’t the only thing—aside from decorating your bed, you have to find ways to decorate and place things accordingly in the limited space you have.

♡ Decor 

First, let’s talk about decor! It can be really overwhelming when thinking of what you decorate your room with, or what theme to go with. When I was looking for decor, I wanted to be really simple and stick to certain colors. Freshman year, I went with gray and yellow. My sophomore year, I went with a brighter palette: light pink, blue, and yellow. Starting with bedding will help lead you into choosing decor. I created an amazon list of some of my favorite decor pieces, and also ones that are simple and affordable, for you to take inspo from! Some of my favorites in the list include a heated blanket, laptop desk (you will use it way more than you think), a dry erase wall sticky, fake ivy leaves (they smell bad when they come, but just wash them in the shower and boom—perfection).

♡ Storage

Next let’s talk about storage! Storage is extremely important in a dorm room, because you have such a small space that you want to make it cozy and not overwhelming. I really tried to make the best of my underbed in the dorms, because you hide some much under there. Here are some of my favorites for storage that I have used in my dorm! I love the shower caddy (it makes it so much easier when you have a hall bathroom), bed risers, 3-tier cart (this is a MUST HAVE for storage!!!), shoe rack for under your bed, bedside caddy, and more!

♡ Supplies

Lastly—supplies! College is such a fun place to grow your creativity, so supplies are essential! I used a lot of my supplies to match my color pallet: cups and bowls, markers and pens, as well as my notebooks and folders! I’ve curated another list with some of my favorite must haves that include jewelry storage for on your desk, a heating pad (cure those cramps! I seriously use mine everyday even just to have something warm and cozy), a laptop stand (this helps so much with my posture), and more.

There are so many things I use now that I wish I had my freshman year, and so I hope this helped you all get inspired for your own room. Now of course, these are not MUST haves, but they certainly are things that will make your life easier in college.