Living in a dorm during college can be one of the most exciting times of life. Surrounded by your friends and academic peers, working, and studying as hard as you ever have, and navigating new freedom and choices is oftentimes exhilarating. Less exhilarating, perhaps, is that you have to do a lot of it from the limits of a teeny tiny dorm room. With another person in there with you. Or two. Or three.
Dorm rooms may vary slightly in size or shape depending on the location or seniority level of the occupant, but one thing is always consistent: they are never spacious. You are always going to have to be on top of your organizational game in a dorm. And while you may look to safe, secure self-storage options if you’re out of town for an extended time period, you probably won’t have enough items at this stage in the game to need one during the academic year.
At CubeSmart, we’re all about hacking small space living to make the most out of what you’ve got. Below are the best dorm room storage ideas we’ve come across, heard about from our customers and used ourselves!
If you’re a long way from college, or never set foot in a dorm and have no plans to, keep scrolling anyway because these hacks are truly universal for anyone with too much stuff – and not enough places to put it. In other words: every single one of us.
Plan, Organize, Execute
As soon as you know your dorm room assignment, find out as much information as you can about the room and what comes with it. This critical research step is to help you plan out where you’ll store your different items. You need to know basic room measurements, as well as the shapes, sizes and placement of furniture, windows, closets, etc.
Google far and wide. There might even be dorm-specific chat rooms or message boards with information about the rooms and possible furniture set-ups or hacks that students before you have discovered.
Next, make a checklist of key items you’re bringing that need dedicated storage spaces: books, charging cords, shoes, wet towels, shower items and toiletries, computer, mirror, winter coat and boots, etc. That way you can easily group together and sketch out where different large, medium, and small items will live – and what organizational items they might live in.
Also, talk with any roommates you’re going to be sharing the space with before becoming too set on any one design vision. For instance, if it comes with two beds that can be bunked, but neither of you are willing to take the top bunk, well – there goes that idea.
Once you have a good idea of what and who you’re working with, you can start organizing what you want to purchase and executing your purchasing plan. That’s right, we said purchasing plan. Set up low-price alerts on Amazon and other competing retailers, check eBay and Facebook Marketplace, and keep your eyes open for any back-to-school bargains. You don’t have to buy everything at once, and you don’t have to buy the high-end, expensive version of everything. The Dollar Store has a lot of great storage options, as does Home Depot, Wal-Mart and your local thrift store.
Use the Space . . . All the Space
One of the surprising commonalities between dorm rooms is the high height of the ceilings. Given how cramped everything else is, the ceiling height seems to be one area dormitory architects seemed to get together and agree to give a little on. And lucky for you, it’s not just dead air.
There are several ways to hack those extra feet for your organizational and storage needs, so be sure to get the floor-to-ceiling measurements in step one so you can be aware of your options. Some of our favorites include:
- Lofting your bed and putting your desk or dresser beneath it
- Lifting your bed with risers a foot or more to fit extra-deep bins underneath
- Adding a desk hutch for books, makeup, supplies, etc.
- Stacking storage cubes for snacks, shoes, toiletries, etc. going as far up the wall as you can reasonably access
- Popping a second bar into the closet to double your vertical hanging space
- Sticking removable hooks on the inside of doors to hang hair dryers, wet towels, winter coats, etc.
We also love to hack horizontal space in the closet with “magic hangers” – those slim, velvet numbers that minimize bulk and prevent your clothes from slipping off into a bundle on the floor. Use all that freed up space to organize earrings, make-up, toiletries and other small items in a hanging soft plastic storage container, or the more traditional hanging storage cubes for underwear, socks, shoes, and the like.
If you find yourself with unused space in one area of your dorm room, it’s more than all right to take advantage of it to store whatever you need.
What do we mean? Simple: books stacked in the closet. Make-up in a cute container at your desk. Over-the-door shoe organizer filled with snacks. We won’t judge – and neither will anyone else. It’s up to you to make your stuff fit with the space you’ve got.
Get Creative
Another one of our favorite dorm room storage hacks is to get creative not just with the space you’ve got – but with the stuff you’ve got. College is a great time of experimentation; why should your living space be any different?
We love all the variety of style, organization and “home edit” influencers and social media stars, and the variety of expertise and advice they bring to the table. Start keeping an eye on that kind of content, as well as Pinterest (of course), and ask your friends and dorm-mates for recommendations, and you’ll soon have creative dorm design ideas aplenty. Check out a few we’ve collected below:
- Look beyond the original usages. Since when is a flowerpot just a flowerpot, and not a pen or makeup brush holder? Since when is a lucite shoe box not the perfect size for a sweatshirt? Look beyond your assumptions about what something was originally created for and you might be surprised at how well it can be repurposed.
- Let go of the idea of “matchy matchy.” Some of the more, shall we say “bougie” of the large organizational or home goods stores have really gotten people thinking that in order to look good, everything has to be on theme and on color. When it comes to college dorm rooms, nothing could be further from the truth. Embrace eclecticism! Forget perfectionism. This is your time to try out different styles and looks and figure out what you like – not what you’ve been told to like.
- Search everywhere for inspo. In the past few years especially, people have adopted van living, digital nomadism and other streamlined ways of life. Don’t limit your inspiration to just what students have done in dorm rooms! Look farther afield at what people all around the world are doing to maximize space and create the best possible living environments for themselves.
- Upcycle, Recycle, Freecycle. College campuses and the surrounding neighborhoods are full of cast-offs, especially when students move in and out at semester’s end. Keep your eyes peeled for items on curbs or in trash rooms and dumpsters, and also scour local thrift stores for items you can reuse. It’s better for the earth and, of course, much friendlier on the old wallet.
Hopefully these dorm room storage hacks will help you – or the college student / tiny space dweller in your life – gain some inspiration and new perspectives on how to make the best use of the little spot you’ve got. Remember that life probably won’t always be this cramped – and if it is, CubeSmart will be right here waiting to help.
