DIY Headboards, Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper, and Wall Sconces Make This Student-Athlete’s Dorm Unrecognizable

How did you find this space? We have several dorms to choose from, and since I’m a college athlete, I am required to live on campus each year. My freshman year, I was assigned a dorm, but going into my sophomore year, I was able to choose my dorm, roommate, and suitemates, which made it so much more fun!

At the end of last year, my now-roommate and I actually walked through several different dorm rooms trying to find the one that would work best for the layout we had in mind. One thing I learned freshman year was how much the layout matters in a dorm. This year, we knew we wanted our desks along the back wall so we could use our desk hutches almost like end tables and have lamps beside our beds. It also gave us so much more open floor space between our beds, which I didn’t have last year. We raised our beds enough to use the space underneath for our small chests of drawers and extra storage, so basically every inch of the room has a purpose.

Now that you’ve made it your own, what specifically do you love about your space? Once we found the right room, I already knew exactly what I wanted it to feel like. Dorm rooms can be pretty dull, and ours had a lot of brown tones, so we wanted to completely brighten it up with color and make it feel light, airy, and happy. We are both naturally pretty bright and happy people, so we wanted our room to match that energy.

A little peel-and-stick wallpaper, lots of rearranging, and a few dozen Amazon orders later, it turned into exactly what we pictured. I think my favorite thing about our space is that it doesn’t really feel like a typical dorm room anymore. It feels cozy, colorful, and personal, but we also made sure everything was functional because we’re working with such a small space. After long days of classes, practices, workouts, and games, I love having a room that actually feels like home and is somewhere we’re excited to come back to.

What is your space best known for? Our room has definitely become one of the regular hangout spots for our friend group. This year, we were able to push our closets together, which opened up enough space to add a TV, so I have a feeling our room will officially become one of the go-to movie night spots, too!

What was the biggest challenge in decorating your space? We definitely worked with a reasonable college dorm budget and tried to be smart about where we spent money. My mom is a single mom, so this was definitely not an unlimited-budget dorm makeover! We reused several things from my freshman dorm that still worked with our new room, and anything I knew I wasn’t going to use again, we sold on Facebook Marketplace. That gave us some extra money to put toward new pieces without everything being an additional expense. 

We also had to work around the existing dark brown wall colors, which is one reason we wanted everything we added to feel so bright and airy. Putting peel-and-stick wallpaper on a textured dorm wall was definitely an adventure, but with a little patience (and maybe a few redos), we made it work.

And the dorm lighting is awful! We added LED bulbs to our lamps, wall sconces above our beds, and other lighting throughout the room so we almost never have to rely on the harsh overhead light. We also use as much natural light as possible. We added pull-down Roman shades that are easy to raise during the day to let all that natural light in and then pull back down when we need privacy.

How would you define your personal home style? Honestly, it’s mainly just vibes! I would describe our style as fun, feminine, colorful, trendy, and a little preppy. We both love making fun TikTok videos, so we also wanted the room to be aesthetically pleasing and have cute backgrounds no matter where we’re filming. I definitely think the colors and patterns we chose are really on trend right now, and we pulled inspiration from things we’ve seen on TikTok, Pinterest, and social media, but more than anything, the room is based on our personalities. We’re both naturally fun, happy, energetic people, and I feel like you can see that as soon as you walk into our room. It’s bright, cheerful, and just feels like a happy place!

What is your favorite element of your space? Our absolute favorite design element is the striped peel-and-stick wallpaper we used for our accent wall. It gives the room a little coastal feel, adds so much personality, and instantly made the whole space feel brighter and more put-together. 

Our other favorite is definitely our watercolor print of our dogs. We are both huge dog people and obviously couldn’t bring our pups to college with us, so we had a watercolor print made of them together that sits on our desk hutch. It’s such a small detail compared to the rest of the room, but it’s probably the most personal thing in it. It makes us smile and gives us a little piece of home while we’re away at school.

And one of the best decisions we made was adding the Roman shade blackout blinds. We can pull those down in the middle of the day, make the room completely cozy and dark, and take a really good nap, which, as college students and athletes, is sometimes very necessary! I think that’s what we love most about the room. It’s cute and fun when everyone is hanging out, but it can also be our little escape from how busy college life can be. It really does a little bit of everything for us!

In an effort to remove the stigma associated with talking about money in college, we’re asking students to share how they plan and budget for their space.

How much does your housing cost per semester? $2,400.

Do you have anyone helping to fund your housing? My mom funds my housing. My volleyball scholarship covers everything but housing and my meal plan.

How much did it cost to decorate your space? We kept it under $1,000 to decorate both sides.

Do you have anyone helping to fund your decor? We reuse as much as we can from year to year, then we sell anything we are not using on Facebook Marketplace or locally.

Do you pay for your living expenses? Yes.

How do you earn your income? I work as National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) staff in the summer, and in the volleyball off-season I do small side hustles where I can, such as dog and house sitting in the summer to save up.

What was your biggest splurge for this space? The TV was our biggest splurge this year, as we bought a new 43-inch TV. Prior to this year, my freshman year biggest splurge was the no-nails headboard with outlets from Pottery Barn Teen.

What was your best budget find for this space and how much did it cost? One of our biggest money-savers was our desk hutches. My grandpa built them for us, and I actually got to help design and build them with him. Not only did that save us a ton of money, but now they’re one of the most functional and special parts of our room.

What small space tips do you have? My biggest tip is to use every inch of the space under your bed! In a dorm, that space is way too valuable to waste. We use rolling carts with multiple shelves for snacks and other things we want to be able to easily pull in and out. We also use plastic drawer units under the beds for extra clothing and storage. Going vertical, using the space under your bed and choosing storage that can easily slide or roll out makes a huge difference.

Also, cute storage is still storage! If something has to be out where everyone can see it, we try to make it match the room so it feels like part of the decor instead of clutter. 

What is your proudest DIY or product hack? The DIY project we’re probably most proud of is our headboards and the space above our window. We wanted the look of custom upholstered pieces without the custom price or weight of anything super heavy that we couldn’t attach to dorm walls.

We started with large Styrofoam insulation boards from Lowe’s, which were under $20 each. We drew out the shapes and cut the boards to the size and style we wanted for both the headboards and the window valance. From there, we used quilt batting to give them some padding and attached it with spray adhesive. Then we wrapped each piece in fabric and stapled the fabric securely to the back. I used a duvet cover from Amazon as the material for the headboards to cut fabric costs. We made both headboards for under $100 and the window valance for under $40. 

The best part is that they look like actual upholstered pieces, but they weigh almost nothing! Because they’re so lightweight, we were able to hang them using Command strips and strong double-sided tape without putting holes in the dorm walls. For a little extra security under the headboards, we also used small peel-and-stick picture-hanging pieces from TikTok Shop to help support them.

We were able to complete the project in a weekend, and it was SO much less expensive than purchasing two upholstered headboards and a custom window treatment. Plus, we got to choose the exact shapes, fabrics, and sizes we wanted. It was one of those projects where a little creativity made a huge difference in the room, and everything is completely removable when it’s time to move out!

This submission’s responses were edited for length and clarity.

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