8 Smart Tips from College Students to Make Your Dorm Bathroom Cute *and* Functional
In the excitement of settling into and decorating a new dorm room, you might not put a lot of thought into your dorm bathroom. If you’re lucky enough to have a suite-style or individual bathroom, it’s an extra space you can call your own. That means you need to give your dorm bathroom as much consideration as your dorm room.
Making sure that your bathroom is functional, organized, and aesthetically pleasing at the same time can be a challenge, but we’re here to help. Plenty of college students before you also had to make their dorm bathrooms work for them, and we’re sharing design and organization tips and hacks pulled straight from Dorm Therapy’s own archive of Dorm Tours. These tips are mostly applicable to suite-style or individual bathrooms, as you can’t keep much (if anything) in a shared-floor communal bathroom.
1. Hang shelves to add storage.
If you need a little extra storage space like Angie Arias, consider keeping some of your skincare or makeup in acrylic hanging shelves on the wall. Angie used these acrylic cloud shelves to keep some of her favorite products on display. This tip is a great solution for anyone who doesn’t have enough space in their bathroom, or shares a communal floor bathroom.
2. Use art to make a cohesive design.
Hanging up art or decorations in your bathroom is a great way to carry over the aesthetic of your room. Sydney Hargrove added a poster from Chelsea Market to her NYC studio apartment to bring the bright colors from her space into the bathroom.
3. Add a fun shower curtain for visual interest.
Another way to incorporate your room’s style into the bathroom is to install your own shower curtain that matches your theme. Most single dorm bathrooms won’t come with a shower curtain, but it’s easy to hang one up yourself using shower curtain rings. Medical student Su Tashan had a single dorm room with a bathroom in Munich, and hung up this patterned shower curtain. They described the bathroom as “an explosion of color.”
4. Create instant organization with a tiered cart.
A major challenge of sharing a bathroom with people is making sure the storage space is divided equally. That is, if you’re lucky enough to have storage space. Nyjah Harris shared her suite bathroom with two roommates, and recommends adding a tiered cart to your bathroom. “This provided more space underneath the sink, and ultimately made our bathroom look more put-together,” she said in her Dorm Tour.
If your bathroom is communal, consider keeping a storage cart in your room instead. This can be a designated place to store your bathroom essentials, as you likely won’t have any shelving or storage space in the bathroom. Isabel Petrou’s suite had two bathrooms, and she had the following advice: “The most important thing you can do when planning what you’re bringing for your college dorm is think about organization and maximization.”
5. Keep your laundry hamper in the bathroom.
Jayla Jackson said having a private bathroom was a must for her when choosing a space to live on campus. In her bathroom, she was able to keep a full-size laundry hamper next to her shower. This was a perfect place for her hamper, as she had limited closet space.
6. Think vertically for storage.
A recurring message from college students is that you can never have enough storage. Some of the most valuable space in your bathroom is in a very unlikely place: above the toilet. In Shelby Garner’s shared bathroom, she and her two roommates added this cabinet over the toilet for additional storage.
7. Elevate your countertop.
A DIY that elevated Nyjah Harris’s dorm bathroom is covering her countertops. She used this waterproof wallpaper to transform the counter in her bathroom to look more elevated. She said it also made the space feel cozier. Doesn’t it look like a hotel?
8. Go bold with your decor.
Decorating a bathroom is such a fun opportunity to get creative and colorful. Su Tashan embraced all the colors and patterns in their Munich dorm room — especially in the bathroom. “It’s not just a bathroom; it’s a daily dose of joy that perfectly encapsulates the dopamine-decor spirit I’ve infused into my entire living space,” they said. Adding a neon or colorful sign is a great way to brighten up the space — literally!
