College Style

I mentioned a while ago in this post that my little sister graduated from high school this year. That means that I am officially old. It also means that she is going to need an awesome apartment room when she heads off to school in January. The school she is going to, which is the same one I went to, doesn't have many dorms, so students normally bypass the whole tiny dorm experience and head straight to apartment life. Luckily, all the apartments are furnished. Unluckily, they are furnished in run of the mill boring furniture with stark white walls, so it's important to bring in color through accessories and bedding. Even though she is a big bad college woman now, she's still a teenager, and my little sister, so she doesn't need anything too grown up looking. Here is the colorful college mood board I did for her.

1 and 2. One way to add character and personality to a boring dorm room is to bring in artwork that means   something to you. I found these from this and this Etsy shop. She just needs to get a few white frames and fill them with art or pictures and hang them on the wall.

3. I sort of based the whole design around this pillow. The birds have a young feel without being childish. It also has so many great colors that I can pull from to add some more interest to the room.

4. This pillow is found from this Etsy shop

5. I normally like white bedding with lots of pillows. However, since the walls are already going to be white and all the furniture will be pretty neutral I thought it was important to add some more color. I love this gray bedding from West Elm.

6. Honestly, she probably wont be forking out the money for a rug, but if she did, this one would be perfect! It adds a great pop of color and anchors the room nicely.

7.  I have never been in a dorm or apartment with good lighting. Since lighting is one of the most important elements of design, I think it is super important to add lamps. This lamp shade goes great with the rug by bringing the green up.

8. The book ends from Pottery Barn Teen are functional while adding some spunk and a little more color.

9. Most apartments frown upon putting too many holes in the walls, but most college girls need a full length mirror. So. I decided on this free standing full length mirror from Pottery Barn Teen.  It gets the job done without adding extra holes in the walls that you later have to fill with toothpaste... not that I ever did that or anything.

10. I love these shelves from Ikea. They are perfect for books, odd and ends, and extra accessories.  And paired with these baskets (11) it's easy to hurry and hide your messes when you have clean checks!

Along with a nicely styled, homey bedroom, she will be needing lots of desk organization and school supplies. Here a few items I found that would work perfectly!

Task Lamp via 

Magnetic Strip Bulletin Board via 

Letter Storage via

Storage Basket via

Pencil holder via

Waste Basket via