Finally have a little bit more time to start thinking about your room, or more precisely how sadly decorated your room is now that exams are (almost) over? Have no fear, this blog is here with a number of pro-tips on how to decorate your student room. Since we don’t all share the same sense of style, I’ll give a number of different suggestions based on different types of possible preferences.

Decorate Your Walls

• Paint a wall or part of a wall

You might want to consider turning one of your walls (or part of it) into a chalkboard wall. Chalk paint is available in different colours (hot pink, lime green, bright blue), so it doesn’t necessarily have to be black if that’s been stopping you from doing this! You can find ‘krijtverf’ (as it's called in Dutch) at Praxis, Karwei and Verfspeciaalzaak Bossina (all in different parts of the city, so you can choose whichever is most convenient for you).

Pros: It adds colour to your room and gives you a brainstorming area

Cons: chalk falls on the floor and could make your room messy, friends ruin your brainstorm area with “funny” comments and drawings - I HATE YOU JOEYYY

• Add Posters, lots of Posters

If you’re worried about the paint being too permanent, you can decorate the walls in your room with other things, like posters. You can find interesting posters at VERA, and Mindwise produces artsy posters each year, or even go to Xenos. You can find a variety of different decorations in Xenos other than posters as well. Alternatively, instead of posters, you can hang up a printed tapestry: this gives a pretty printed variety to your room.

Pros: you can change up your wall decorations easily

Cons: you might start procrastinating by changing your wall decorations on a monthly basis

• Fairy Lights and Pictures

You can also be like me and go to Ikea to study, but instead buy 10 metres worth of fairy lights. The plan is to hang it along one wall with pictures. Yes, I aim to have that stereotypical Pinterest room. You can even go that step further and invest in a Polaroid printer (now you’ll never need a polaroid camera, choose your favourite photos on your phone and print).

Pros: your room is lit

Cons: your friends will make fun of you for being a basic teenage girl

Plants and Greenery

Plants are arguably one of the most important aspects of making a room look lived in and a person's entire life wholesome. It makes it seem as if you have your life together enough to take care of not just yourself, but a plant as well! Plus, it adds to the entire room’s aesthetic. Are you interested in getting a plant for yourself? If you want to grow the plants yourself: you can get a cutting through the hashtekje project (and share yours on Instagram at @hashtekje), or alternatively, you can buy fresh mint at the supermarket and attempt to grow that. In both these cases, place the cutting in water until roots appear. Now you can place it in fresh soil. And voila. You have a plant.

Pros: your life seems to be put together and you have extra colour in your room

Cons: you have an entire plant relying on you for its existence

Furniture

If you can’t take the pressure of caring for a plant or choosing the right decorations to hang on your wall because you’re scared it’ll mess up your colour scheme: you can use your furniture to decorate your room. What type of furniture you choose can create a strong sense of style within your room: what type of bed and what colour bedding is arguably the starting point of how you decorate your space. You don’t want to add decorations in a colour that clash completely with that of your duvet cover. Where you store your clothes, shoes and books is also really important. Do you want to be more hipster and have a clothing hanger that you strategically place in your room? Or do you want to hide away your clothes behind closet doors? You can create a distinct sense of style in your room with specific crucial furniture you need to buy anyway.

In addition to the furniture you need, a mirror is a great practical piece of furniture that functions as decoration. Plus now you know exactly how you look before it’s messed up on the bike ride home.

Pros: the outcome is a simplistic and calm style that's also cost-effective 

Cons: might take a lot more effort to create a sense of style you’re happy with (time-consuming)

These are my basic tips on how to decorate your room. I will still give washi tape a special mention though. It comes in a lot of different colours and can easily be used to draw fun patterns on your wall! Although I have no idea how easily it comes off (cons), it is an easy way to add some personalised creative style to your room. Do you have any additional basic tips? I would definitely like to hear them since I’m in the middle of redecorating my room and figuring out where my 10 metres worth of fairy lights should hang!