This UVM Freshman’s Cozy-Maximalist Dorm Follows the Smartest Decor Rule (Saves So Much Space!)

One of the most impactful decisions University of Vermont freshman Sofia Hoenle (@s0fisticated222 on TikTok and @sofiahoenle on Instagram) made when packing for college was to focus on decorating the walls in her dorm room, only bringing with her decor she could hang up. She luckily was assigned one of the last doubles left in the building she and her roommate wanted and built her room design from there, with intention, flexibility, and zero extra furniture she’d need to drag home in May.

Sofia’s side of her 186-square-foot shared dorm feels warm, calm, and completely hers. She calls it her “sanctuary,” a space that works with her college life and routine instead of impeding it, proving that a clear decor vision (even if just on the walls!) can make a small room feel magical.

How’d you end up in this space? I found this space through the housing assignment process. Freshmen had a certain time slot to pick an available room, and this one happened to be one of the few left in the location that me and my roommate wanted to live in.

Now that you’ve made the space your own, what specifically do you love about it? I love that my space is somewhere that I know I can relax and is an extension of what my room looked like at home, just bite-sized. I like to use my space to relax at the end of the night or spend long mornings. I like to separate home from all other aspects of my life. I try to leave all schoolwork, time with friends, and other things outside of my room so that when I go back to it at the end of a long day, I know that is the one space that is truly just mine.

What is your space best known for?​​ My space is best known for being a sanctuary for myself. I don’t normally have many people in my room, as I like to spend most of my time with friends in our common room, but my friends always tell me how cozy everything is when they visit.  

Define your personal home style: I think my personal home style is maximalist and cozy. I want the vibe to be warm every time I step into a space. 

What’s your favorite element of your space? My favorite element of the space is the warm lighting once it gets dark outside. I like to turn on my sunset lamp, salt lamp, and pink lamp to create cozy jazz bar-esque lighting that makes me feel calm and happy. 

What’s your proudest DIY or product hack? My proudest DIY is my memory board to the left of my bed. I thrifted a bulletin board for $4 and compiled photos, memories, and postcards to make the board a cohesive clutter of all of the things I love. I think it really adds to the space by filling up a large chunk of the blank space I was given. I’m really big on junk journaling so that hobby inspired this huge project for my space. 

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? $4,893.

Do you pay for your living expenses? Yes.

How do you earn your income? Part-time job and a side hustle. 

How much did it cost to decorate your space? $180

Do you have anyone helping to fund your decor? No. 

What was your biggest splurge for this space? My MISMATCH sheets, which were about $50. 

What was your best budget find for this space and how much did it cost? My posters, which were about $2-$3 each. 

What was your biggest challenge in decorating your space? My biggest challenge was working with the size and the lighting of the place. I made sure I was getting enough warm secondary sources of light so I wouldn’t have to rely on the one in the room. It was relatively harsh lighting, and it was through a “spotlight” light so you could move the light to concentrate it in one area but it would never fill the entire room completely. 

Another thing that I found difficult was how cramped everything was. Although I’ve been able to see the positive in it since it has helped me stay more organized and clean more often since there is so little room to move around in, I do wish there was a bigger space just so I could feel less constricted if I am in there for too long. 

How did you decide on what you need to bring? One of the things that I am so happy I did was not bring decor I couldn’t hang to college. I left the trinkets, books, little plushies, plants, and other things behind and put most of my focus on posters or small photos I could hang. In doing that, not only did I save a lot of space when packing up the car, but I minimize clutter in my day-to-day life at college. 

Also, be on the lookout for sales throughout the years. I got a lot of things for really cheap prices by signing up for emails, buying things off-season, and thrifting!

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

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