Marina | January 30, 2014 | DIY |

If there’s one thing that’s so great about college dorm rooms, it’s that they let you do almost anything you want to make the room feel more like home. You’re free to plaster posters on to the wall, hang up as many picture frames that you like, bring in any furniture from home that you really are comfortable with and whatever else it takes for you to make it as homey as possible. The thing that sucks about dorm rooms, though, is that there’s really never enough space for you to do all these things without cramping up the room until there’s no more space for you to move in. Storage is one of the major problems students face when they live in dorm rooms. If you’re looking for storage solutions for dorm rooms, check out some of the neat tips down below.

• Chair pockets – if you’re even lucky to have a desk in your dorm room, chances are that it’s too small to accommodate all your folders, file and notebooks while still leaving you with enough room to write on. Clear your college room dorm desk and store your folders and files in a chair pocket instead. You can make your own chair pocket using only a small piece of fabric or you can also buy them if you aren’t the crafty type.

• All purpose hangers – almost everything in dorm rooms are small, including closet space. Make the most out of that tiny space you have by using a few all purpose hangers. These hangers can store belts, scarves, hats, and accessories all at once, taking only a single spot in your closet. All purpose hangers can be bought from stores but you can also make one on your own and personalize them, depending on what you intend to use them for.

• Hanging closet shelves – no drawers in your closet where you can store your folded clothes in? That’s easy. Run to the nearest supermarket, get hamper baskets and mount them on to your closet door or walls and they make an instant hanging closet shelf. This is inspired by those hanging shelf organizers you see from the Home Shopping Network. You can also use this idea as a hamper for your dirty clothes.

• Stackable bins – for all your other things that don’t have a home, the solution to prevent them from just hanging around all over your dorm room is to place them in stackable bins. I would suggest you get clear of see through bins for this so that you can easily see which bin contains what items in case you need to pull something out. Large bins can be used for shoes, purses, clothes and linen while small stackable bins can sit on your desk for the little things you need to organize like pens, clips, and even makeup. You can also get ones that aren’t too tall so you can use them for under the bed storage space.

They key to maximizing the space in your dorm room is to invest in furniture that’s both aesthetically pleasing and functional, too.