DESIGNER DORM.

After all those years of back to school shopping and packing lunches with little notes in them this year, back to school involves more than putting your little one on a bus - they’re not little anymore, and college is here! On top of saying goodbye to your baby who isn’t a baby anymore, you have the pressure of all those price tags that come with college: tuition, books and needing to outfit a TINY room for your kid to now live on their own. Well, we can’t help you with your separation anxiety, or foot the tuition bill, but we CAN make outfitting the dorm room a little cheaper, cuter and a little more like home away from home….

First off, pick what colors and look you’re going for overall. Theme all the DIY ideas around those colors.

To keep things fun while being organized, pick up a cork board in our home goods section and tape off a pattern with masking tape. Paint over it, let it dry and remove the tape. Cute board for under $5!

To expand that idea and keep things really organized:

Get a piece of plywood, and do the same as above with the paint. THEN, grab a bunch of frames at Thrift Town, paint all the frames the same (or coordinating) colors, and attach to the board. Then print up checklists, blank to-do templates, blank homework lists etc and create your own custom center of dorm operations. Add a plastic cup and little clips for putting the whiteboard pens and hanging receipts etc.

To amp up the less than cute lighting in the dorms, head to our sports section and grab a hula hoop — attach hanging christmas lights to it, and hang from the ceiling!

With your dorm colors in mind, pick up a bunch of glassware from our home goods section, tall short, open, with lids : paint the outsides in your colors and use for all sorts of things!

This is one of my favorite ideas for dorm life: dorm silverware gets lost & left places. So you don’t want to spend a bunch on a fancy matching set. Go to Thrift Town, grab a bunch of knives, forks & spoons (not matching) and dip the handles in paint that matches your dorm colors. Not only will it not be a big deal if you lose a few, but you’ll probably lose less when you know yours all have red & white handles.

This is a cute idea for almost any dishes: dip the bottom of cups or bowls as well for “matching” thrifted sets!

Guess what: you can get the material for this SUPER cheap at Thrift Town: large patterned sheets. DONE.

Not having a bathroom in your room, and having to get ready in a small space means you don’t want your makeup ALL OVER the place. Go to Thrift Town, grab a flat cookie sheet, and walk to the frames to find one the same size as your cookie sheet. Then go to the linens and get a pillow case with a cute pattern, and a couple plastic cups from the kitchen supplies.

1. use decopage to cover the cookie sheet with the fabric & let dry.

2. paint the frame & let dry

3. hot glue the sheet to the frame

4. get a bunch of magnets from the hardware store & hotglue to the back of all your makeup, and the plastic cups.

5. ENJOY!!

With the hope that your child will leave the dorm in something more presentable than sweatpants at some point in their college career, an iron is key, but ironing boards take up a lot of room. Convert a thrifted wooden tv tray into a dorm-sized ironing board! Just fabric, batting and a staple gun. And it can fold up and go under the bed, against a wall or in the closet. Where they hopefully will remember to pull it out and actually iron their clothes. PLEASE.

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