Dorm room DIY

Laura Kirkendall & Molly Garcia, Staff Writers

Bedroom DIY: Do it yourself projects for your room at home or even a dorm.

Decorate your living space while having fun and creating something with your own style.

 

“For my dorm I really want my personal style to show through,” says Sarah Pegouske (12) who will be attending CentralMichiganUniversity in the fall. For seniors, dorm room plans are becoming more prevalent, especially as the school year comes to an end. Decorating and organizing a small room that you share with another individual, who may be a total stranger, can be difficult. However, having a distinct plan can help with the big transition. Try some of these fun DIY projects to spice up your room at home, or even your future dorm.

 

Clothes Pin Picture Line

Difficulty Level: Easy

Estimated Cost: $5-$8

Estimated Time: 30 minutes

Materials:

-Clothes pins

-Paint or nail polish

-Markers or glitter

-Mod Podge

-Twine or thick yarn

-Pictures

The clothes pin picture line is an easy project to decorate your bedroom or dorm with pictures of friends and family. As simple as this craft is, it livens up a room by adding style to a plain wall.

1. Paint your clothes pins; either all the same or a rainbow of colors, the choice is yours.

2. After they dry, decorate them with either a cool marker design or a coat of glitter.

3. Then paint a coat of Mod Podge on top to seal the design.

4. Finally, hang the twine or string on your wall and clip your pictures to it with the clothes pins.

 

Magnet Board

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Estimated Cost: $16

Estimated Time: 30 minutes (without paint drying time)

Materials:

-Picture frame (11×14 is a good size)

-Spray Paint

-Sheet of tin

-Thin fabric

-Adhesive spray or duct tape

-Magnets

Numerous blogs and Pinterest boards have cute picture frame makeup boards that look more complicated than they actually are. You can use this board for more than just makeup, but also as a place for pictures, reminders, or anything you might hang with magnets.

1. Paint a wood picture frame, which you can buy at local stores or garage sales for much cheaper. The frame will need to dry for a few hours until you can continue the project.

2. Next you will need a sheet of tin cut to the size of your picture frame. If you do not own the correct tools for cutting tin, ask the hardware store you buy the tin from to trim it for you.

3. Then cut a piece of fabric to the size of your tin, leaving a quarter to a half inch of extra fabric on each side.

4. Once the tin and fabric are cut, either use adhesive spray to attach the fabric to the tin or some duct tape on the back side of the tin where the extra fabric lies.

5. After the fabric is in place, lay the tin inside the picture frame, in place of the glass, and put the back of the frame on.

6. Now you can either use refrigerator magnets as they are for a magnet board, or you can hot glue magnets to the back of your makeup for placement on the board.

 

Dry erase weekly calendar

Difficulty level: Intermediate

Estimated cost: $10-$20

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Materials:

Collage picture frame You can purchase this from Target, Walmart, or just about any craft store.

Personal photos or scrapbook paper

Sharpie or paint markers You can purchase sharpies from any superstore (Walmart, Meijer Target), office supply stores, the dollar store, etc. Paint markers are sold at any craft store, and can sometimes be found in superstores.

Scissors

-Pencil or pen for outlining.

Dry erase marker Can be purchased from any superstore (Walmart, Meijer Target), office supply stores, the dollar store, etc.

1. Use the backside of the frame and trace it onto your paper or photo.

2. Cut it out.

3. Write a day of the week into each frame or write it directly onto the piece of paper or photo. If you are a perfectionist, you may want to measure the letters so they are centered.

4. Place each piece of paper or photo in the frame and recover the back of the frame.

5. Enjoy your masterpiece while staying on top of due dates and deadlines.

 

Alternative Coverage:

Tips and Tricks:

-Wear gloves when handling the tin, edges are extremely sharp.

-Go to a garage sale or Goodwill for as many supplies as you can, this will save you some money.

-Use coupons for craft stores. These usually come out in the weekly paper or can be found online.

-Look around your house for supplies. You would be surprised how many items are just sitting around waiting to be used.

-Have fun and add your own style to each craft!

Household items for quick DIYs:

-Black binder clips can be used for cord holders. Clip them to a nightstand or the side of your bed for easy organization of all your chargers.

-Pop can tabs can be used to hang pictures on the wall or use them to double stack hanging clothes.

-Bread clips can be used to label cords and keep them organized.