1. Start with the bed
Whether you’re in a studio, a house, or a shared room, one thing is for certain: you’ll want to be sleeping on a nice, comfortable bed. Your bed is usually the main focus of your room, so you want to make it look appealing – your bed can make or break your room. Cosying up your bed can be as simple as buying coloured sheets and getting an extra pillow, but of course, there’s ample room for more.
I found that getting extra blankets, throws, and an extra, super-big pillow (if you manage to find one) can really up the look of your bed. I’m generally a fan of ‘full’ beds, where you sleep surrounded by pillows no matter where you sleep. If your bed is in the corner of your room, you can line your bed with pillows against the wall, adding extra comfort. Instead of a plain-coloured duvet and pillow sheets, you can buy patterned sheets and make your bed look less plain. If you really want to go all out, you can change your bedding and decorations to fit with the time of year, such as having an orange and black theme for your bed during Halloween month.
2. Plaster your walls
The cosiest rooms I’ve been in have always had one thing in common: covered walls. It doesn’t matter what they’re covered with, as long as they make you feel cosy. A friend of mine had a dedicated spot on their wall for polaroids they’d taken over the years, and I felt that being around these pictures (I was in some of them), even if it wasn’t my room, provided a great sense of comfort and homey-ness.
Aside from photos (which are great), you can buy or print posters and hang them around. Band posters always look cool – who doesn’t love a vintage Led Zeppelin album cover or a Beatles band photo? One room I saw, which had a slanted wall over the bed, had this wall covered in small prints of albums they had listened to, and it gave the room a huge amount of personality.
If you want your room to look more Pinterest-worthy, you can buy those plants/vines and line your walls with them. Fairy lights are also a great addition to any room, as well as providing a nice, low light for you. Regardless, your walls are where your personality shows, so make good use of them!
3. Cover your floors and add accessories
The floor is another place full of opportunity. You can get rugs or carpets that fit the general theme of your room, and if you have ugly floor tiles like me, having a rug is a blessing. If you have a shelf, you can fill it with your books and artworks if you have any, because a nice bookshelf is the key to any cosy room (just something about those old tomes, you know?).
Plants are another good addition to any room, although they are big investments. I recommend getting low-maintenance plants like the ZZ plant, which still give the room a ton of personality while being… well, low maintenance. Every top-tier room I’ve seen has at least some greenery in it, so they’re probably a good idea in general.
4. Organise your workspace
The most important thing for any cosy room is to keep it clean. Having a designated place to study and relax is extremely important, as you’ll start associating your room with these activities. In addition, keep everything tidy: containers for stationary, a dedicated spot for your laptop/iPad, and drawers for your papers and sheets. If you have a kitchenette, then make sure you’re cleaning up after every meal, even if those meals are usually cheese sandwiches. If you have the means and space to get an L-desk setup, then you have a dedicated space to do two separate activities.
5. Use your hobbies to your advantage
The easiest way to make your room an extension of yourself is to give a little bit of yourself to the room. If you play a musical instrument, then having a dedicated spot for your instrument brings a huge amount of personality – try putting your guitar and amps somewhere, and you’ll find that you’ll be yearning to play all the time. If you’re into painting, then having a dedicated corner for your easel and paint is a great idea. My point is that a lot of hobbies have physical, materialistic objects, so use these objects to decorate your room to your advantage.
All of this does cost some money and time. However, you don’t need to make your room Pinterest-worthy, if you’re not feeling like it. Most of the time, your room really just needs to serve its purpose, which is to shelter and contain you. However, your room doesn’t have to look like the bare minimum – giving it personality can be a great way to keep your mental health in check and make you look forward to the end of the day. Just don’t go too overboard on the Ikea furniture, and you’ll be decorating like a pro in no time.
