Typically, dorm rooms are very small box-shaped rooms with white walls. Most people do not want to live in that type of room for eight months. Although most colleges have policies that prevent any major redecorating, there are still plenty of unique ways to create a more stylish dorm room and make it your own.

Personalize the Dorm Room
In most college dorm rooms, you are not allowed to use nails in the walls. But this doesn’t have to prevent you from hanging photographs and such. Use sticky adhesive to hang your wall decorations. Just be sure to find the variety that’s meant to hold heavier objects, such as framed photos and pieces of art. You can also create an entire collage of photographs pasted on to a piece of cardboard or poster board that can be hung on the wall as well.

Another great option to further personalize the room is to add picture frames to your wood desk and other shelving areas. Displaying pictures of your own in your dorm room will not only lend some style to the room, but it can also help you get through those times when you are homesick and need reminders of home.

Add Color and Style with the Bedding
You bedding is one of the best ways to add some color and style to your dorm room. If you are sharing the room, you and your roommate can even try to coordinate the bedding so that it the two sets complement each other.

Often in a dorm room you can afford to go with a louder and more vibrant bedding set, since the walls will always be the normal white or cream. This is a great chance for you to express your style and favorite colors via your bedding. Just be sure that the bedding you get is the correct size for the dorm room, as some colleges only offer extra-long twin oak beds that will need extra-long sheets.

Organize with Style
Your dorm room is probably going to be a tight living space. Thus, you need to make sure that you are organized and that everything has the proper place. However, you can certainly make your organization stylish. You should be able to find baskets and bins that reflect your style and what you like in décor. Not only do baskets and bins add some personality and color to a dull room, but they are a great way to keep things organized. When shopping for baskets and bins, look for all different shapes and sizes, as you may want some to go on your desk, in your closet, on the floor, and under your bed.

Keep the Décor as Simple as Possible
It’s important to keep in mind that your dorm room isn’t going to be that big. If you end up sharing the room, you’re going to have even less space. So every inch of the walls doesn’t need to be covered, and you shouldn’t feel like you have to bring everything from home. If you don’t want your dorm room to get overcluttered—which will cause it to appear even smaller than it already is—then you need to try to keep things as simple as possible.

Your dorm room is probably the first living space you’ve had of your own outside of your parents’ house. Thus, decorating it should be a fun and rewarding process. Just be sure to add some of your personality to the room. You want to enjoy the area you’re living in, as you are going to be spending quite a lot of time there.

Typically, the kitchen is where families spend most of their time, more than any other room in the house. Thus, it makes sense to create a kitchen that’s stylish and different from anything else you’ve seen before. You will be giving your family a place where they can eat, talk, and spend time together, as well as enjoy a unique setting that has both character and charm.

Display Your Cookbooks
Do you keep your cookbooks hidden away in a drawer somewhere or on a bookshelf in the living room? Rather, put them out for people to see when they walk into the kitchen. Place them on a shelf on one of the walls, or use them to create a decoration on top of your refrigerator. Add in a couple of cute bookends to hold everything in place and you will have created an instant décor items that’s also functional and practical.

Hang Some Kitchen Signs
If you want to hang a sign in your kitchen, you can choose from literally hundreds of designs. What you choose will depend on the theme and style you are going for.

• If you’re trying to create an old retro kitchen, you might choose to hang a neon sign that says something like “Kitchen Open” or “Open 24 Hours.”
• If you’re trying to create a country kitchen, you can choose signs with roosters or country sayings to give the décor that country charm you are looking for.
• If you are creative, you might try to come up with your own sign with only a piece of wood and some paint. By creating a sign of your own, you can help ensure that your kitchen will be uniquely yours.

Use Recipes to Add Décor
Surprisingly, recipes actually make a pretty good wallpaper border. You can choose to either handwrite some of your favorite recipes or find pages in a cookbook or magazine. The pages will need to be sealed with a clear poly-acrylic in order to protect them. Then all you need to do is to paste them to the wall.

If you don’t like the wallpaper border idea, then make a wall of recipes near your cooking area. Depending on whether you want them to be legible or not, you can choose to create more of a collage effect with the recipes. By taking this a step further, you can create a collage by interspersing the recipes with different pictures of food to create a one-of-a-kind wallpaper.

Create a Backsplash with Some Hand-Painted Tiles
A great unique way to decorate your kitchen is by using your very own hand-painted tiles to create a backsplash. Ceramic tiles can easily be painted, and then you can use a sealer to preserve your handiwork. You might decide on themed pictures painted on random tiles, or perhaps you can have your kids get creative and paint some pictures for you. This way you’ll end up with a totally unique kitchen backsplash and you’ll also have added a family touch to the room as well.

Your kitchen should neither be boring, nor look the same as everyone else’s. There are plenty of items probably sitting in your kitchen right now that can be used to add personality to your kitchen. So get creative, and be sure to involve the whole family. Together you should all be able to come up with some more neat ideas for creating a unique décor in your kitchen.

If you are a sports fan or are living with one, a sports-themed game room can be the perfect addition to your home. Depending on what style you want, there’s a wide variety of sports themes you might implement. You might create a décor around a specific sport, a professional sports team, a college or university athletics program, or just about any and all sports you love. Consider the following tips when you go to decorate your sports-themed game room.

Decorating the Walls in a Sports Theme
If you’re decorating the walls of your game room with a sports theme, it doesn’t have to be expensive at all. In fact, many of the decorate items you might need may already be lying around the house.

• You might tack some jerseys up on the wall with nails or long push pins. Depending on your theme, you might hang professional or college jerseys, or even some of you old ones.
• You might also hang inexpensive sports posters on the walls, which can be bought at most stores that sell sports memorabilia or even movie posters.
• Other sports décor items, such as a team or school blanket or a huge wall clock, can also be used to decorate the walls.

Shelving units or shelves hung on the walls in order to display your sports items make another great decorative addition. You might choose to display items such as trophies, balls, other sports equipment, and autographed memorabilia. Whatever items you decide to display, just make sure they’re stable so they don’t come crashing down on someone.

Necessary Furniture for a Sports-Themed Game Room
One essential component of any game room is the television. You’ll also most likely want some sort of gaming system to play games and watch movies on. It’s not necessary to go out and purchase the biggest television out there, but for proper gaming you will need at least a medium-sized one. An entertainment center or an oak tv stand for the gaming room is another wise investment, as it will give you a place to house the television, gaming system, CDs, DVDs, and any other gadgets you may keep in the room. With an entertainment center, everything will have a place, which will help to keep the room organized and clean. For some extra character, use the top of the center to display some sports-themed items.

Another essential component of a game room is comfortable seating. In terms of color, you might chose to buy seating in the color of the team or school you are featuring, or you can go with a more neutral color such as tan or cream. Then you can add some decorative pillows to the chairs or couches to create more of a sports feeling in the room. You’ll find that most professional and collegiate teams have decorative pillows available. Another option is to simply throw a sports-themed blanket on the back of the couch or the chair.

With so many different sports décor items you can use, creating your sports-themed game room should be an easy process. You don’t need to have a large budget. All you need to do is pull out all those sports items you already have, such as your old baseball cards, sports equipment, and any other sport memorabilia you may have accumulated.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an extra room in your home, turning it into a guest bedroom is a great way to help your house guests feel right at home. Guest bedrooms are usually kept simple, but you can still choose to add some of your personal style to the room. By balancing simplicity with style, you’ll be able to make the room appealing to any guest who may stay in your home. If you are unsure on how to go about decorating your guest bedroom, then here are some simple tips you can follow.

Keep the Colors Neutral
In a guest bedroom, you should mostly stick to neutral colors, although it’s okay to add a pop of color here and there. By sticking to neutral colors, you can make the room more appealing to guests and also more comfortable for them. With a neutral base, then you can add style and a little bit of color with different décor items such as paintings, flowers, and pillows. You can have a stylish guest bedroom, but keep it on the neutral side so that your guests aren’t waking in the middle of the night frightened and stimulated by the bright red walls.

Provide a Comfortable Sleeping Area
Some people choose to furnish the guest bedroom with their old furniture and an oak bed. Do be sure that the bed is still safe and stable, though. However, you might want to buy a new mattress. It is courteous to provide a comfortable sleeping area instead of your 20-year-old mattress. You can also easily stain or paint your old bed another color to match the décor of the room. Another option is to find an inexpensive and simple bed that will not break your budget.

When you look for bedding for the guest bedroom, you don’t want to buy the cheapest sheets you can find. Rather, try to find something in the middle, so that it will be comfortable but will still fit into your budget. You should be fine going with a basic cotton sheet set, along with a comforter or blanket. You might even inject some style and color into the room through the sheet set, although you want to be sure that it’s not too obnoxious.

Provide Storage Space
You want to provide any guests who stay in your guest bedroom with some storage and closet space. If you use that closet space to store your own items, you might want to think about moving them elsewhere for the time being in order to give your guests that space. Of course, this all depends on who the guest is and how long he or she might be staying. For example, if you’re hosting a family member for a day or two, then storage space may not matter. On the other hand, if you have an out-of-town guest who’s staying for a week or longer, you’ll want to provide them with ample storage space.

Decorating a guest bedroom can be fun. But when planning your décor, you need to keep in mind that even though the room is in your home, it’s other people who will be using it. Thus, it’s always best to keep it on the simple side, adding your stylish touches here and there.