Uni room ideas: 10 ways to add some personality to your student digs

Looking for uni room ideas for your grim box of a space? You'll probably start by scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest, saving pictures of rooms filled with fairy lights, wall hangings, house plants, Good Vibes Only cushions, pallet furniture with huge windows and glorious white walls. Well kids, hate to break it to you, but the reality is you are going to get a box room with a tiny window that barely opens, built-in shiny, orange wood furniture and there is always always at least one wall painted some vile bright colour that whoever designed the halls thought might be 'fun'.  

But hey, you can work with orange furniture and a 'fun' wall, you just need some creativity and our top REALISTIC bedroom decorating tips...

1. Fairy lights really are invaluable

Okay first off, we are going to be slightly hypocritical here. We are fully aware your student halls or your room in a Victorian terrace is not going to look exactly like the one below. But obviously no one takes professional pictures of student bedrooms so you'll have to bear with us on that. 

So, fairy lights. They really are your saviour; the more you have the better. String them around the corners of your room to add cosiness to your space. They also work around window frames. We love Primark's £2.50 warm white battery lights but if you are after something longer, these fairy lights from Lights4fun (opens in new tab) are also a good option.

2. Take lots of side lights

Inevitably you are going to be stuck with one bare bulb burning as brightly as a very cool toned sun hanging from your ceiling, so along with fairy lights, take some side lights with you too. These will just give you a warmer lighting option, something to work or read or binge watch Gilmore Girls by. These bedroom lighting ideas will help you kill that OHL (overhead lighting for the uninitiated) and make your room feel more like home.

3. Get a noticeboard 

Of course, you can fill yours with more personal things than some generic sunset pics, a motivational quote and some sunglasses that look like they have been stolen from an Elvis impersonator. While you can always use a noticeboard to actually help remind you of important things like deadlines and reading lists, you can also use them to add colour and decoration to your uni room. More of the best noticeboards this way <<.

4. Pick out all the house plants 

While we can't promise those lovely white white walls, you can get some uni room ideas from this space. House plants are always going to, quite literally, bring life to even the most drab of rooms. Pick out some really gorgeous, quirky pots too and arrange them in clusters around your space.

Thinking you can barely look after yourself let alone houseplants? Well our guide to common house plants will be sure to make your fingers a bit greener. Or if in doubt just go for fakes. Find our best indoor plants (real and fake) in our buyer's guide.

5. Cover ugly walls with wallhangings 

Bright turquoise wall be gone. Make like all the posts you've inevitably saved on Instagram and get a wall hanging up in your uni room. We love Urban Outfitters (opens in new tab) for quirky, boho style wall hangings, but if you are on a budget, believe it or not, Amazon (opens in new tab) do some very similar ones. 

Top tip for you: to create a kind of canopy effect and just to soften the whole room, pin your wallhangings from the ceiling and then to the adjoining wall. Sounds weird, but we've seen it work. 

6. Stock up on command hooks 

Things might have changed since we were all at uni, but the number one rule apart from don't smoke in your room and don't burn candles, was don't hammer anything on to your walls. Back in the day, we had good old Blu-tack to stick up our embarrassing pictures from nights out back home and posters of films we'd never seen, but now, well now command hooks (opens in new tab) have opened a whole new world of possibilities. 

With command hooks, you could actually put up frames! Just check the weight is right for the hooks you choose. You could even hang a mirror, too! If you want any tips on how to create the best gallery wall, head over to our guide. 

7. Or create some wall decor with photographs 

If a gallery wall just sounds like way too much of a faff then check out this uni room idea. String up some fairy lights (again Command Hooks to the rescue) and use pegs to hang your photos, postcards, motivational quotes from. 

8. Get a nice rug 

Sure people might think you are tad high maintenance rocking up with a rug under your arm, but when they see its room changing abilities they'll be sorry that they didn't think of it too. In case you haven't guessed, when it comes to decorating your room at uni, you basically want to cover as much of it up as you can, and a nice trendy rug will do just that. Check out H&M Home (opens in new tab) for some gorgeous, affordable options. 

9. Get a pretty, but practical doormat too

Man we could have done with this at uni. Add hip flask to the list and there you go, all you need when you leave the door (obviously we are talking about when you are going on a night out, we in no way condone you taking a hip flask to lectures). This cute doormat is just £18 from Oliver Bonas (opens in new tab). 

10. Add some personality with your bedding set up

Bedding is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to give your room some personality. Pick out one with a pattern that suits your style and go to town on the cushions too. A throw wouldn't go amiss either. Look about for really good value ones in the home section of supermarkets or our trusty fave H&M Home (opens in new tab) have some lovely bedding too. 

Looking for more uni bedroom inspiration?

• Small bedroom decorating ideas
• Easy steps for refreshing a rented flat 
• Designing a stylish bedroom on a budget