Going away to college is exciting. New college students are often experiencing their first moments of living away from home. Dorm room decorations can serve as both a reminder of home and a unique display of style and decorating sensibilities.

Benefits of Dorm Room Dividers

One thing many college students are worried about is privacy. Dorm life provides a great sense of community but everyone needs some space and time alone. One of the best ways to achieve this is by using room dividers in your dorm. They are cheap, portable, and don’t leave a mark so you’ll be sure to get your deposit back. Tall ones provide extra privacy whereas sound-absorbing ones provide a quiet study environment even when your roommate talks on the phone at all hours.

The good thing about room dividers is that there are enough of them out there that you can find one to reflect your personality. Whether you prefer décor that is classic, modern, eclectic, or anywhere in between, you should be able to find something that works. Elaborate designs can cost hundreds of dollars but you can also find plenty of attractive and sturdy options well under $50, which is more suited to most college students’ budgets.

Here are some fun dorm room dividers you can order from amazon.com.

Unique Décor Shabby Chic Jungle Room Divider – 6ft. Faux Zebra Skin Folding Privacy Floor Screen Partition – 3 Panel	Unique 4 Panel Room Divider – 6ft Tall Japanese Poem Folding Floor Screen w/ Hand Painted Calligraphy	Ore International 4-Panel Shoji Screen Room Divider, Black
Coaster 4-Panel Elegant Room Divider Screen, Ivory Fabric, Metal Frame	ORE International Black 4-Panel Bamboo Floral Room Divider Screen	1960s Style Floor Screen – 6 ft. Tall Peace Sign Pattern Room Divider

Other Dorm Room Decorating Advice

The first key to remember when decorating a dorm room is to remember not to make any permanent markings or holes. The room will be used for only a short time and it can be very expensive to pay for repairs once you have moved out. To avoid damage, avoid placing nails into walls and avoid using tape on painted surfaces. It is surprising how effective tape can be at removing paint.

Many companies make products specifically for decorating without permanent marks. For example, 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips let you hang up photos, paintings, and posters without making holes or marking the walls at all. Consider investing in some of these products. Many are very effective at hanging items and easily removing later. When using these products, read the directions carefully. It would be a shame to cause damage by incorrectly removing or applying a product intended to prevent damage.

Dorm rooms are generally decorated with comfort and budget in mind. Keep in mind that many people may come in and out of your dorm room. Never purchase expensive furniture as it will most likely become damaged. Affordable furniture will allow you to keep your sanity when your roommate spills her punch all over the sofa.

Comfort is also key. Select furniture that will be comfortable to sit and read on. College involves many hours of studying and reading. Having a comfortable location to complete this task may make all the difference. Be sure to remember seating for guests and visitors as well.

Use elements that remind you of home. A family picture or a favorite poster will help this new setting feel more familiar. Design should always reflect the designer.

Compromise is another key in dorm room decoration. Remember that your roommate may not have the same tastes as you. It doesn’t matter. A home, even if home is only a dorm room, should reflect everyone that lives there.

Decorating a dorm room will be a fun experience that can provide excellent practice for a first time decorator. Put up your room divider, make your own space, and make your mark!

These brilliant dividers really help you customize your room. A picture collage room divider in a family room might feature family photos whereas a divider in a bedroom shared by sisters could display each girl’s friends on the side facing their half of the room. It is also a much more elegant way to display a picture collage than the usual bulletin board. And if you are dealing with a small room, a photo room divider is a great way to show off your photos without having a bunch of picture frames on every shelf and table.

Another bonus with these picture frame dividers is that you can change the pictures any time you want. If you buy a new sofa or paint your walls, you can put in photos that match the new colors. During the holiday season, put up Christmas photos and in the summer, photos of your favorite vacations. Alternatively, you can put other items in the picture slots such as greeting cards, fancy paper, or your children’s artwork. This keeps the room interesting and constantly changing and makes a great conversation piece.

You can also make your own photo frame room divider if you can’t find one that suits your tastes or don’t want to be locked in to using photos of one particular size. A homemade picture collage divider is easier to make than you think if you start out with a pre-made screen and add your own pictures. You can buy a wooden room divider and then hang your photos from it, or use one with fabric or cloth panels and affix the photos in a collage pattern using decorative pins or even glue for more permanent collages. If you make your own, you get to control the size of the pictures and the exact layout as well or you can use a pre-made room divider picture frame pattern. You can also save a lot of money by starting out with cheap room dividers and adding your own unique twist. This is a really creative way to add a personal touch to your room and is simple enough that even people who are not artistic can have something unique and homemade in their house.

A picture frame room divider is also a great way to display photos at a party. It’s ideal for a birthday party to show pictures of the birthday boy or girl throughout the years and equally suited to a silver anniversary. After the party, it makes a great personalized gift for the guest of honor.

Top Deals on Photo Room Dividers: (Click on an image to read reviews, see the best prices, or to buy)

There are many instances where using office partitions is a good choice for the home. They are not very beautiful and won’t make a lovely living room focal point, but they do have their place. The most popular use for office dividers is in the basement. Basement remodeling can be very expensive, but if you put a few used office partitions down there, you can create some smaller rooms without going to the expense and effort of insulating, sealing, putting up drywall, and so on. Basement remodeling is also very time consuming, but you can purchase and set up office dividers all in the same day and use them as basement room dividers. They are a great way to quickly make your basement or attic into a usable space.

Similarly, office partitions work well in a home office. They are particularly useful in shared home offices or home offices where clients may come to visit. They give the area a more professional feel and in the case of clients, they can help obscure the less attractive areas of the room as well.

If you are using them more as a room divider and don’t want the office cubicle look, there are several ways you can give the room a warmer feel. You can cover them with curtains or drape large pieces of beautiful fabric over them to make the space feel more like a home. You could also decorate them with stencils or several framed photos to make it look more like a photo room divider and less like an office partition. This is also a great way to work in the colors that you are using to decorate the room. Blinds, especially wooden ones, would also work well for this purpose.

Most commercial districts have a used office furniture store and this is a great place to find used office partitions and cubicle walls for an excellent price. When compared with the cost of installing drywall, it really is a no-brainer. Dividers are a clever way to divide the space in your home, and used office partitions can really help you to save a lot of time and money.

A folding screen is perfect for obscuring something that you need to have in a room but perhaps is not something you’d like displayed. For example, you could use it to hide video equipment with lots of cords or an old ugly furnace. You can also use it as a makeshift storage space by simply placing the screen against a wall in front of those boxes of holiday decorations or dusty old family photos. They are particularly useful as basement room dividers to help hide boxes from view of a recreation area. Did you accidentally make a dent in your drywall moving furniture? No need to bother getting out the plaster- just throw a folding screen there and make it look like an intentional design element!

Another great use of a folding screen is for privacy. These are especially great in shared rooms so that one person can dress in private. You could also use it as a privacy screen in a bedroom or bathroom where you don’t want to use curtains, perhaps because there is a panoramic window with a lovely view. Those who work from home may want to create their own little private work space by placing one of these screens around their computer desk. Like portable room dividers, you can always move the folding screen from one room to another as your needs change.

You can also use a folding screen for no reason at all as a purely decorative element. They are beautiful pieces that are cheaper than most furniture. In Asian-themed rooms they are a must-have. They are also great to stick in a corner to add some excitement since corners are notoriously tricky areas to decorate. If you have a modern sectional sofa, you can easily change the placement of your folding room screen at the same time you rearrange the sofa sections. They can even be used as outdoor privacy screens.

If you are the crafty type, you could even make your own folding screen room divider. Find some old closet doors or shutters that you like and glue or nail some hinges on them. You could choose doors that you like or just use plain ones and then paint them as you wish. It doesn’t get any easier than that. This is a really cheap way to get the look of an expensive room divider without spending a lot of money.