You're off to college with all your stuff! Now where are you going to put it? That is perhaps the most important question you will answer during the first week and it may define how well you coexist with the stranger with whom you will share a room for the next 9 months. Here's a compilation of some of the best ones I have found. Some even have a tutorial to show you how to make/do what you see in the picture.
1. The key to dorm room (or small apartment bedroom) organization is maximizing space - storing as many things as possible in the smallest amount of space. In a room with limited square footage, the key is using the vertical space. Here is a great article from BuzzFeed that has some great ideas:
2. Bedside Solutions - Keep your reading materials, phone, remote and other things close without a bedside table. The second caddy hangs between the mattress and base of bed. You can make lots of those caddies to go around the bed for odd storage.
3. Keep your electronics charged without losing cords or small items.
4. Keep your desk space clear. Here's a clever way to move your desk supplies up on the wall by attaching small magnets to your desk items and putting them on a metal board.
5. Over the door storage - the back of the closet door is prime real estate. You can use the clear plastic bags or baskets that hang behind the door. If you keep the storage high enough you will still have room for some hooks toward the bottom of the door for wet towels, etc. Click on the first picture for more over the door storage ideas.
6. Maximize the space under the bed. The higher up the bed, the more space you will have under it for storage (or living). Warning - be careful not to prop up a bed in an unsafe way! Depending on how much space you can get under the bed, you can put things as big as your desk or as small as under the bed plastic storage bins. Use a flat sheet to create a decorative "curtain" to hide stuff under a raised bed.
7. Closet organization. In addition to the over the door storage I already mentioned, you need to use hangers that maximize the vertical space. Try a skirt hanger that can handle six items at once, or soda can tabs or chains to stagger multiple hangers. Use a tie rack for camisoles or tension rods on the sides of the closet for shoes.
Strategic planning is best for the dorm room, but don't forget to involve your room mate in the process! Good luck at school.
cindy
