Heading off to college and looking to make the most out of your dorm room space? These space saving dorm room ideas will not only maximize your dorm room space, but will make it feel like a true home away from home!
College dorm rooms are like an empty box just waiting to be transformed! You may not have a ton of space in your dorm room, but with the right products and a little imagination you can create a great space that is conducive for studying and will show off your personality and style!
I am very proud and excited to partner with Ikea and serve as one of their Brand Ambassadors! Be sure to read all of the way to the bottom to hear about our exciting giveaway!
I am the parent of an incoming college freshman. Sending your child off to school is a dream of almost every parent. A great education is a gift that we all want for our children, but at the same time, it is so hard to let go and watch them leave.
As a parent, I want to set my son up to be successful in this new life away from home, but honestly, I didn’t know where to start in helping him prepare for packing up and moving up to school. I was so excited when IKEA asked me to partner with them to develop a guide that shares some Space Saving Dorm Room Ideas using some of their great products.
What I love about IKEA is not only is everything so affordable, but I love their style and innovation. They show you great ways to use their products that you would never think of!
BUT, here was my challenge. My son, who is going to school this fall, is a counselor at summer camp all summer and has a week and a half after he returns and before he leaves again for school. So shopping for his room fell on to me! (Bonus when one of your best friends daughters is in the same exact position – so what do we do – FIELD TRIP for the moms to IKEA!!)
Now, if you have kids of any age, you know generally whenever you go shopping for them, you always pick out the wrong thing. So I saw that IKEA had a “Determine Your Dorm Room Style” quiz to take to determine what your college dorm room style is! Hallelujah!!
So, my friend, Julie, and I had our kids take the quiz. My son, Jake, got Rustic and Adventurous and my friend’s daughter got Playful Pastel. This made it so easy to help get an idea of what type of bedding and accessories Jake would want for his room! Would you believe that when I showed him the bedding I picked out, when he came home for his day off, I got an “Awesome. That is perfect!” I just about fell over! SCORE for the IKEA Find your Sytle Quiz!!
One of my favorite things to do is walk around IKEA and see how they layout rooms. They are so creative and innovative. I would never, ever think of any of these great uses for products that they do. I love how they SHOW you different ways to use their products! I swear I want one of their designers to come over to my house and help me decorate!
They are particularly good at maximizing small spaces, and they don’t get much smaller than a dorm room! So Julie and I spent a few hours walking through IKEA looking at the way they used some of their products (not to mention they have an awesome area dedicated specifically to dorm rooms and a college checklist which is great for apartment living too!)
Here are a few of the items we found (and purchased) for our kids rooms! I cannot wait to get them up there and try these products out!
I love these KNAGGLIG boxes! They are so versatile. You can paint them any color to match your decor and you can stack them so they take up very little space!
Floor space is so limited, these carts go vertical so that your space is tripled! These RASKOG carts come in different colors and are on wheels too, so you can easily move them wherever you have space.
I love finding new uses for things! This is such a great way to repurpose a magnetic knife rack! Perfect for next to a desk – use the magnetic rack for other magnetic items like scissors, paper clips and more!
A futon is perfect for a dorm room or any small space. You get the best of both worlds! Extra seating and space should you have an unexpected guest spending the night! IKEA has a ton of options in all price ranges (see here).
I particularly love this one, the EKEBOL It has some great extra storage space underneath and even a shelf around the back. However, we are going for the BALKARP version, which is both economical and efficient, given our budget and my sons tendency to eat pizza and soda on the couch.
A busy college lifestyle requires furniture that’s just as flexible. Check out all of these great ideas for small spaces like a dorm room!
The KALLAX shelf unit can be used as a bookcase, a bedside table or a storage unit. Add the KALLAX hanging organizer to hold small accessories and easily-lost items like keys and ID cards.
Nesting tables are great for small spaces. Just unstack them when you have friends over and stack them back up when they leave!
Now, of course, after a successful IKEA shopping trip, you must reward yourself with none other than their famous $1 ice cream! No better way to celebrate!
I want to share in this special time with my readers! Sending a child off to school is one of the most special moments in my life. No matter what age your kids may be, there are so many special and important milestones and moments. Tell me about one of YOUR special moments (in the comments below) either with your child or in your life and what it meant to you for the chance to win one of THREE $100 IKEA gift cards.
Just leave me a comment below and I will be choosing 3 winners, each for a $100 gift card to IKEA. Winners will be chosen on August 15, 2017 and will be notified by email. They will have 24 hours to reply or an alternate will be chosen.
Disclosure – I am a Brand Ambassador for IKEA U.S. This is a sponsored post. IKEA is a registered trademark of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. and is used with permission. The views, ideas and opinions expressed here are my own.
Thanks so much for all of your suggesrions they are so valuable. We are looking forward to hitting up IKEA before school starts for my college freshman.
Such fun ideas. I have one kid moving into his first apartment and one into a dorm so we are about to make lots and lots of IKEA purchases in two states! Super helpful and cool tools!
I don’t have college students anymore, but I love all these ideas for my house. Especially the 3-tier cart for my essential oil collection!!!
My sewing room needs to be more organized and made useful. An IKEA gift card would certainly help with that!
My daughter will be a sophomore at the University of Texas and will be living in an apartment. It’s always so fun to help decorate their space, especially with multi-functional pieces!
My oldest daughter will be starting college in August, from the day she started her senior year, if not before, we had discussed on many occasions her going away to college. When she graduated the thought of her being 3 or more hours away from me had me in tears everyone that thought crossed my mind.I want her to spread her wings and experience life but not so far away lol. She finally decided, with a little help from me, to go to college where we live, yay!!! What I didn’t know is she was looking for an apartment, and here I go again, lol. Just the thought of not knowing if she is safe every night caused me to cry everytime I thought about it. I also did not want her to move out before she was financially ready and have to swallow her pride and move back home, which I don’t think she would have been willing to do, or have to work so much she would be unable to focus on school and not finish college for the crazy thought high school graduates have, I’m 18, I graduated high school and I have to be on my own so I don’t have to put up with my parents anymore, I understand this thought very well, of course I thought the same thing at her age, I did move out and I had to move back home :/. So after one final plea from me to truly think about the decision she was making and trying to get her to understand my need, as her mother to know that she is safe, the apartment she was looking at was not in the safest area of town, and she has the thought of “it won’t happen to me”, I helped her to rethink moving into an apartment and acquiring all the bills that go along with living on your own, I have the opinion if you want to do it on your own I will let you, I will give you my thoughts, opinions and experiences and if you still choose you want to be on your own I will not get in the way(maybe a little)but I will not help with the bills. I have a house you can live in that have the bills paid so I will not pay for you to live somewhere else just because you are not listening and want to be stubborn. We agreed that I will fix up a camper for her 🙂 So long story short, she will have her own space but I can still know she is safe and she doesn’t have to worry about bills so she is now able to pay for her own car, that she got to pick out, which is way nicer than anything I have ever driven :). I would love a gift card for her to choose something or a few things to fix up the camper she will be living in, hopefully until she graduates college 🙂
What an awesome mom you are! Your daughter will do just fine. I’m a single parent and the only reason my daughter stayed home for her first year of college is because she wasn’t quite financially mature. We were both ready for the big move to the big school with 30,000 plus students. I moved her into a secure gated community for students with a pool, fitness center, business center, and other amenities. She didn’t call or text for two weeks. I’d call and get a quick “Hi,ma. Can I call you back?” Now she calls everyday and texts if she comes in late. I explained to her that I just need to know you’re safe. This first year away has been interesting as well as expensive for me and my uber social daughter. I’ve gotten the late night calls which fill you with dread until you know it’s something that can be worked out. My daughter is not perfect but she’s the perfect child for me and I’m her biggest fan unconditionally.
PS. I’m obsessed with IKEA. I live in SC where there is none. My first visit was over 15 years ago when my sister and I drove to a wedding in DC and happened to stop at the one at Potomac Mills in Maryland. Then Atlanta got one. Every Disney trip includes an IKEA run. Oh happy day when Charlotte NC got one. That’s a day trip from my house. My sister is visiting Houston TX and she called to say “There’s an IKEA here!” IKEA is all though my home and my daughter’s room at school.
I love IKEA, we are going to be doing some changing around in my kitchen cupboards to make more space and find things better. IKEA will be what is used to do that on my kitchen and I am so in love with the store 2.5 hours away. I went two weeks ago on a mission to buy a 5×5 kallax and came home with more items because of the savings I had on my kallax.
Love IKEA, my son is going off to college. Many great ideas!
One of my special moments is about my daughter. She’s 11 and hardly has any friends. Except she has the biggest heart I know. She loves playing with kids with special needs because she says everyone else is “afraid” of them and she doesn’t understand why.
She is starting Middle school and is growing out of her “child” room decor so I would love to be able to update her room to fit this new change in her life. Thank you for this opportunity!
Your comment really touched my heart. I also have a 11 year old daughter who doesn’t have many friends and we are currently coming up with ideas on how to redo her room.
I love that your daughter has a heart for special needs children. She sounds like an amazing little soul.
Love all of your suggestions! I am in the midst of updating my basement for kids and over-night guests. The simple storage solutions will help keep things tidy! I’m making a wishlist for my upcoming voyage to IKEA.