It’s a common scenario – you walk into your new student accommodation in Camberwell, which in every respect is almost perfect apart from one thing…you really don’t like the décor. It may come across as being picky, but given the fact that this is the place you will be living, working and socialising throughout one of the most important periods of your life, being picky isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And while it may be temporary, you want your student accommodation to be something of a reflection of your personality and style.
The only problem being that if you were to reach for a tin of paint or a hammer drill, you could most likely kiss your deposit goodbye in an instant.
Which begs the obvious question – how can you inject a little bit of ‘you’ into your student accommodation, without having to forgo the deposit you handed over? Well, the simple answer is that while you may be limited in some respects, there are still thousands of things you can do to make the place as homely as possible.
So if you’d prefer to keep your deposit safe and still make your digs the kind of place you genuinely love spending time in, here’s a quick look at a few tips for making it happen:
Lighten Up
First of all, the standard generic lighting provided in most examples of student accommodation isn’t there to look good or to produce a particularly pleasant ambience. It’s really just there to get the job done, which is why the first thing you should perhaps consider is enhancing the overall lighting of the room. These days, you can pick up everything from floor lamps to fairy lights for next to nothing at an endless string of stores. Even with no additional changes made to the room, it’s remarkable just how big of a difference can be made simply by altering and enhancing the room’s lighting.
Print and Stick
There are two very good reasons not to take those original framed photos off to university with you. First there’s the fact that they may get damaged or destroyed, and then of course there’s the slight problem of hanging them without destroying the walls. As such, it’s a much better idea to print off as many photos as you could ever possibly want to gaze upon and to simply stick them to the walls using some kind of non-marking adhesive. Not only does this produce a gorgeous collage effect in its own right, but it will also show any lucky visitors to your room just how incredibly popular you really are.
Get a Rug
Another easy way of immediately overhauling the look and feel of any student room is to simply throw down a colourful rug. Once again, you can pick up rugs of all imaginable shapes and sizes these days for absolutely nothing and by covering the generic flooring provided in the first place, you will inject a delightfully personal dynamic into the place in an instant.
Too Many Cushions?
Something else to bear in mind is that when it comes to making student accommodation homely, there really is no such thing as having too many cushions and pillows about the place. Of course you might want to avoid bringing any cushions or pillows that are particularly valuable or precious to you as these are exactly the kinds of things that tend to soak up stains like sponges…quite literally. Nevertheless, to invest in a whole bunch of cheap cushions and pillows to be tossed liberally around the place is to make a quite enormous difference.
Sticker Blackboards
These days, you can also pick up brilliant sticker blackboards that will give you all the fun and usefulness of a blackboard of any size without the worry of having to hammer huge holes in the wall. The fact that you can play around with what the blackboard displays means limitless versatility with making the place look and feel 100% yours.
Don’t Fear Mess
Last but not least, don’t fall into the trap of assuming that just because this is your first time living alone and technically living in somebody else’s property that you’re in any way obliged to keep your room as tidy and sterile as a hospital ward. If you’re the kind of person who simply revels in a good bit of mess and works best when surrounded by clutter and chaos, feel free to embrace messiness and live how you like. After all, it’s one of the few opportunities you’ll ever have to do so!