How Students Decorate Their Dorms

Sydney Berggren ® Staff Writer |

When it comes to decorating a dorm room, students at Minnesota State University, Mankato used a variety of methods and ideas to bring some feeling of home into a smaller space while also making sure it fit their personal preference. 

“I basically placed everything around my plants and the fact that I wanted my desk to be by the window,” says freshman Tava Wrage. 

Other people, such as freshman Rachel Wall, approached the situation differently. 

“When I first moved in, the room had to be rearranged to fit the things my roommate and I brought. We kind of came up with a layout to fit the bulky stuff like the fridge, microwave, Keurig, TV, and futon.” 

Some students simply said they left all the furniture the way it was when they first arrived. 

“I moved my loft over so I could plug my phone in easier, but I left everything else here the same,” freshman Mariah Frank said. 

For many students, their favorite decorations are their photos of friends and family, which they placed or hung up around their room. For Wrage, her favorite decorations are her plants and Columbian flag. 

Sophomore Sophia Lee also gave a different response stating her favorite decoration was her setup for where she does Zoom classes. 

“I put little Christmas lights, the white ones, around my desk area so it’s a little bit easier to see my face when I’m in Zoom calls,” Lee said. 

To bring more light into the room, Lee also mentioned how she placed another set of lights in a zigzag pattern on her wall to fill up more space. 

“I had a lot of wall space and I didn’t know how to use it exactly,” Lee said, “and I wanted to make my room feel a bit more comfy.” 

Thankfully, the way people decorated their dorms was one thing that was not altered for students because of COVID. Every student interviewed stated they were still able to organize and decorate their room how they originally planned. 

Many students have also decorated the outside of their dorms as well. Students have already started spreading Halloween vibes across campus by hanging various spooky decorations on their doors. Other decorations found outside students’ dorms include “Where am I?” signs, dry erase boards, personal artwork, and bags full of little gifts such as candy for people passing by to take.  

Students have been very creative with their windows as well. Many of them are either also decorated for Halloween or filled with sticky notes arranged in words to communicate with one another.