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By: Chase Davis
Decorating dorm spaces can prove to be a challenge for students on tight budgets, but some Georgia Southern freshmen are coming up with some cost-effective ways to display their memories from their small hometown of Griffin, Georgia.
Previously friends from back home, these girls decided they were able to re-purpose old room decorations to liven up their drab dorm. “Some stuff we planned out, we’d be like ‘Hey, I’ve got a frame for our living room’ or ‘hey, I’ve got this’” Caroline English, a freshman at Georgia Southern said.
English and her roommates, Anna Jones, Sarah Pierce and Matison McDaniel all have made the most of their space in Georgia Southern’s Eagle Village.
Immediately upon arriving at the door, you’re greeted by a hand painted welcome sign hanging by a hook. After going inside, you’ll notice an iron coat rack off to the right that holds all of their rain coats.
“That rack is my grandma’s, and it was a big fight to get that into Statesboro. She is so crazy about her stuff” English said. “It was in a storage shed when I asked her to use it… it wasn’t going anywhere” English says that the coat rack has been in storage for about five years and it wasn’t in use.
The roommates agree that displaying their photos throughout the apartment adds warmth and a sense of personality to their room. Every room had photos pinned up on strings and clips. The girls also set up a rack on the hallway wall to display pictures of friends and fun times they’ve had.
“That was just something that I brought I was just gonna put it in my room” Jones said. “But then I realized it wasn’t gonna fit. It was supposed to be a curtain hanger, but then I was like, ‘we could just hang pictures from it’.”
All the bedrooms had heavy curtains in the window to set the mood and block out the brutal Statesboro sun. “It feels like 2 a.m. in here all the time,” said Jones.
One of the feature pieces is a wall-to-floor tapestry in Jones’ room. “I got this from Amazon for like $13.” Jones said she got the idea from hobby site Pinterest.
Another focal piece is Pierce’s string lights. “I got this string from Big Lots and since it was so long, I could put lights on it along with these photos.” Pierce did this to display her keepsakes and memories from her time as a camp counselor.
Another re-purposed decoration is the flower vases in McDaniel’s room. The vases themselves were originally wine bottles painted for her mom’s wedding in 2014.
These four friends have definitely mastered decorating their dorm in a cohesive and resourceful way, and plan to continue being roommates for the foreseeable future.
Decorating your Dorm on a College Budget
For more on room decorations, here's a video on do's and don'ts of wall decorations.