From Blank Space to Personal Place

String lights and LED name signs glow softly against the walls while pictures of family and friends hang beside them, turning a once bare and boring dorm room into something personal. For some students at the University of Northern Colorado, these small touches transform the limited campus living spaces into a place that feels like a home away from home.

As students adjust to living away from home, dorm rooms become more than just a place to sleep and study, they become a personalized reflection of identity. Through decorations, meaningful items brought from home and intentional design, students create environments that reflect who they are, reduce stress and provide comfort during the transition to college life.

When Mckenzie Millet, a freshman majoring in human resource management, first moved into her dorm room in South Hall, the space felt bare, dirty and impersonal with cracks in the walls and spots in the drywall missing. Despite having a blank canvas, Millet quickly transformed the space into something that felt more like her own filled with pink items and meaningful belongings. She added decorations to make it feel like home with a handmade bulletin board containing Polaroids, notes from old teachers, movie tickets and pictures that remind her of home. Millet says she looks at the board every day, often using it as a connection and reminder to the people back home and moments that shaped her before college started.

“It means the most to me and I like looking at it every day because it reminds me of home,” Millet said.

From a messy blank canvas to a perfectly pink one, Millet’s dorm has become a visual representation of her identity, where looking around the room offers a glimpse into her personality, habits and values. Her space reflects how she values relationships and personal connections from home, displaying pictures of friends and family along the beige-colored walls. Millet said that once you step into her dorm, you are seeing her as a person.

“I feel like by looking at my space you can tell that I care about the people in my life,” Millet said.

For Millet, those small details throughout her room do more than decorate the bare space, they create a sense of comfort and familiarity during her transition away from home. Not only did she transform her dorm room into a personalized space, but also a stress-free space for her mind. Millet said that a clean, personalized space improves her mood while a messy one increases stress.

“If I haven’t been cleaning up my stuff, then it doesn’t help my stress because my environment is stressful,” Millet said. “But mostly it improves my mood because it’s cute and has my own stuff in it.”

However, not all students decorate their dorm rooms the same. Some students choose to fully decorate their space with bold colors and detailed displays while others prefer a more simple and minimal environment. Regardless of style, dorm rooms serve the same purpose for every student, a place curated by them to create a sense of comfort, familiarity and identity in an unfamiliar environment.

Kyra Cooper, a freshman majoring in psychology also living in South Hall, is one of these students who kept her dorm room simple while still making it feel like her own. When she first moved into the blank space, Cooper said it immediately felt cramped and hot, leading her to buy a fan before gradually personalizing the space with decorations, LED lights and posters to make it feel more homey. Her room includes meaningful items like blankets from family and friends, photos of loved ones and matching LED name signs with her roommate.

“I have a poster that my mom made for my graduation party with pictures of me and my sister Lindsay from when we were younger that I have hung up on my closet door,” Cooper said.

For Cooper, these personal items help maintain a connection to home while adjusting to a new environment. She said that her design choices reflect her personality, with a mix of pinks and greens, and personal items like dog photos and family gifts displayed on her desk. Having a decorated dorm room can help students feel more comfortable. Cooper said having a clean room is important to her daily routine. Having an organized space helps her to manage stress but also allows her to stay more productive.

“I like doing homework on my bed, so I really like to keep my side of the room clean,” Cooper said.

Despite efforts to make the dorm feel welcoming, Cooper doesn’t consider it a true home away from home. She says she misses having her own space and bathroom, and still feels distant from her family despite UNC being somewhat close to home.

While the space itself may be small, the impact it has on a student's college experience can be significant – these spaces become more than a temporary home, they turn into a place where students grow, adapt and create life-long memories. Even though dorm rooms may never fully replace the feeling of being home, the small details that students bring with them – from photos of family and friends to personal decorations – help create a feeling of comfort and familiarity as they adjust to college life.