Dorm room decorating takes some of the stress out of college. Decorating turns a cold small box of a room into a comfortable place where you and your friends will want to spend time. Dorm room decorating can also be as practical as it is beautiful. For example, a small antique cedar chest provides moth free sweater storage as well as an extra seat and table whenever it is needed. Moreover, when you purchase nice things for a dorm room you can keep them for years after leaving college and they will aways remind you of fun times.

One of the best ways to decorate these days is to use a combination of virtual pin boards like Pinterest combined with an online color picker tool like Sherwin-Williams visualizer and a viral room tool. With this combination of virtual tools at your side it’s easy to start the fun part- looking for dorm essentials that are classy and that reflect your sense of style. The amazing thing about virtual shopping is that you can shop, collect and change your decorating scheme many times before ever spending a dime. The Pinboard makes it possible to stop and start the decorating at will and it also will give you time to review what you have and reflect on how it makes you feel. We have all bought a pair of pants on a whim only to discover later that they make us feel fat. One pair of pants is no big deal- decorating a room is a lot of lugging and time so spend some thought putting together a decorated design that really feels right. Here are 8 classy online resources that are fabulous for decorating a dorm room.

Our Campus Market

Our Campus Market Merchandise

Our Campus Market (OCM) is one of the largest college bedding supply companies in the country. In business since 1978, OCM has affiliate relationships with some 900 schools throughout the United States. OCM is a great place to find a college bedding  set (TwinXL sheets) and other dorm essentials like bathroom supplies. Their products are known for durability and they are easy to clean. Getting to the dry cleaners isn’t always the easiest thing from campus. The price points at OCM are also very good. Getting the basic items here will free up funds for more luxurious items like designer pillows and throws.

Neiman Marcus Home Online

While pricey, the Neiman Marcus home store is one of the best places online to buy amazing home products. The website is easy to use and filled with pictures and examples of bedrooms that you may want to emulate.  Buying an entire bedding set, matching curtains, pillows and rugs from Neiman’s is very expensive and many of the bigger items are not very practical for dorm room living. While you may be refined and classy, your roommate and her friends may not be. The last thing you want are dirty snow boots flung down on a Turkish Kilim or grape soda spilled all over a silk duvet. Neiman’s is a sweet spot for extra little luxury items that will really make your dorm room decorating pop. The quality will also make you feel wonderful every time you use these things. Neiman’s is excellent for throw pillows, towels, small bath rugs, mirrors, hooks, curtains, fun window dressings and unusual small furniture pieces.

Anthropology

Like Nieman’s, the bedding here just won’t stand up to the wear and tear of dorm room living. However, this store has an amazing collection of unique smaller decorative items. Part of putting together a classy comfortable dorm room is keeping the design light and young. A few anthropology mugs and a creative little lamp can add serious personality to a dorm room space.

The Container Store 

The container store online runs promotional specials all the time. This is one of the best places to find innovative storage products. Dorm room storage is essential for staying sane. In addition, in their expert tips and videos section there is a special sub-section related to college storage and organization. The prices here are a bit more than on other sites but the quality is excellent and the range of ideas is very helpful for decorating away the clutter.

PBteen

Pottery Barn Teen has creative accessories that make this site worth a look. Pottery Barn also has good quality products, great color combinations and a wide variety of fun decorating products for any dorm room. Try not to decorate your entire room from PBteen because very likely you will see you room again in someone else’s room.

Apartment Therapy

Apartment Therapy is a site dedicated to small space living and new hot decorating trends. One of the things that makes this website really special is that designers provide real life details from spaces that they have worked on. Everything is small scale and chic. This a great place to go for inspiration and/or to figure out how to make your room decorating cool and elegant. In addition, they always have a large section dedicated to new space saving tech gadgets. Best of all, when you leave the dorm, the things that you buy from apartment therapy will easily move into an adult sophisticated space.

Cococozy

Cococozy.com is the website of Coco, a designer in LA. Most of the things that she includes on her blog are photos taken from homes of showrooms either in New York or LA. There are plenty of designs and inspirations here. A shopping section and resource list round out the site to make it a great place to buy that one really special piece that you will keep for years.

Dormify

Dormify has a youthful fun tone to their site. A little Greek obsessed, Dormify is a perfect place to see what other sorority sisters are up to in another state. With a great blog and lots of pictures, Dormify is a social place as well as a site to collect decorating tips, ideas and shopping advice.

Take the group of pins chosen from the sites above and rearrange them on Pinterest into separate theme boards. Remove the items that don’t fit perfectly with what you have in your head. Then sit down with the color selection tool and a virtual design tool (one of the best is the free tool from Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) and play until you have what you like. Then order away and be prepared to love your new dorm room decor!

Disclaimer:  Information/Article provided by our friends at Our Campus Market