Well fellow Badgers, we’ve done it. About a month has passed and we still live to work, study and design another day.
For me, I’m just thrilled that I haven’t lost my mind between time consuming art and design projects (never did I ever think I would be spending five to eight hours drawing the lobby of Nancy Nicholas hall), student orgs, mingling and finding time to sleep.
Despite my lack of catnaps, it’s refreshing to learn at a school where everyone is proud to be a student. It makes me want to push myself to succeed and seize every opportunity that comes my way.
Even our campus never fails to inspire, with beautiful architecture and landscaping at every turn, bustling with young, creative and intelligent students.
I’m a firm believer that making a space your own and, in general, aesthetically pleasing can have a huge impact on your life and overall outlook, which is especially important during the school year.
Naturally, I spent a little more time and effort than the average student rearranging and decorating to make my living space a home away from home and a place that I can live and work happily.
Whether you are in a dorm, apartment or house, working with small spaces can be difficult; there never seems to be enough storage, it can look unorganized and messy quickly, and there just isn’t much room for extras.
If you continue to struggle with these issues, my humble, amateur advice to you would be to mainly focus on 1) storage and 2) the little details that make a room unique.
To address the problem of storage, a good rule of thumb is that each piece should include at least one storage element. If it includes more, then all the better.
A common example would be a storage ottoman, which has seating and storing all in one—what could be better? My favorite and most useful piece of furniture I have is my spinning mirror/bookshelf. It reminds me that I’m looking good and to grab a granola bar before class all within a 180° spin!
If you’re not looking to break the bank, under-bed storage bins will save your life. Stuff your seasonal clothes, extra sheets and towels, or even use them for laundry.
Once you have somewhere to put all your belongings, you can finally get into personalizing your space. Things like posters and knickknacks are small, but make all the difference (you can find super cute treasures at Earthbound Trading Company on State Street or any small vendor online).
And don’t forget about pictures of your beloved friends and family. Whether you want to splurge on some decorative frames or tape them to your walls in the pattern of your choice, those reminders will be the perfect distraction during midterms.
Another wall décor idea could be to try your hand at origami and stick those figures on the walls.
Whatever it is you choose to do with your space, make it beautiful, make it efficient, make your own.
