6 Ways To Spice Up Your Off-Campus Study Space

By Francine Fluetsch on September 10, 2015

This article is brought to you by CORT, a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway and the world’s largest furniture rental and relocation services company. To learn more about how we can help college students like you, click here.

Having a place to study at home is one thing, but now it’s time to make it personal. Decorating your study space is essential, because the more you love it, the more you won’t mind spending hours on end sitting there grinding out your essays and whatnot.

Here are some ideas to help you spice up your current apartment study space to make it feel more “you!”

1) Pinterest projects

Photo hanger I made for my study space.

Décor is a must in your study space (you need things you can stare at when your homework is getting boring), but why settle for some expensive decoration when you could make it yourself? Making it yourself takes a bit more time than going to the store and picking something up, but getting artsy is good for the soul and will make your space feel more personal to you once your homemade art is up on the wall.

Pinterest has tons of great ideas for both the crazy crafter as well as the not so artsy person, so you’ll be able to find something you are comfortable doing. To make it more fun, get a group of friends together and all make your own wall art. Then when you look at it, you’ll have a great memory to go along with it.

I recently made a picture holder based off an idea I saw at Bed Bath& Beyond, so you can literally get inspiration from anywhere. You can go with cool, calming colors to help you feel more at ease in your space, or you can go with vibrant colors that will liven the place up.

The choices are endless and deciding what to do is half the fun.

2) Pictures galore

My study space getting set up in Santa Cruz.

Once you have some wall art pieces that you want to hang up, you can contrast them with pictures of your family and friends. Surrounding yourself with pictures is a wonderful way to make the study space yours and can really help you combat homesickness.

You can play around with different sized frames and also the colors of the photos to give your study space a dynamic look. Don’t forget to put pictures of your furry babies up there as well!

3) Study wall art

image via www.diviwhiteboard.com

As fellow National Team writer, Julia Dunn, mentions in her off-campus study space article, hanging up white boards and cork boards in your study space are a must for great study habits.

You can line the corkboard with colorful paper that will match your Pinterest wall art, and you can get fun marker colors for the white board(s) to keep the color scheme going. Target even has some whiteboards that come in cool patterns and that actually look like wall art so you can be studious and cute at the same time.

Balancing your pictures and your homemade art with study tools will add more depth to your wall and you won’t feel like it is all work and no play. This wall is really starting to look personal, right?

4) Shelves galore

image via www.cnbhomes.com

Well, I think we need some more things up on that wall. You don’t want it to look messy, so space things out and make sure the flow is still there. For another level of diversity, you can purchase small shelves (I’d go with the ones that look like they are just floating on the wall) and add a small vase with fake flowers or a really awesome smelling candle to live among your other wall décor.

Pinterest can offer some help with how to collage things like this together on your wall, so I’d really recommend browsing on there to figure out how you want everything to look before you go at it with the hammer.

5) Stay organized

image via organizedimpressions.com

The key to loving your space is to not let it get cluttered, so you can always have space to do your work and feel less stressed. Invest in some filing cabinets or boxes for under your desk to keep important documents and schoolwork in.

Have a space on your desk or around it for your textbooks and notebooks, and have something for your pens and pencils as well as other essential office supplies to go into. Having a designated space for everything means you won’t have to spend 20 minutes looking for the scissors, and will help you actually want to be in your space.

6) Spice up the ceiling

image via www.wfdenny.co.uk

Who says you have to stop at the walls when decorating? Adding things to the ceiling can be your finishing touches. You could have an awesome tapestry up there that slightly drapes down, cute little tea lights to make it look like there are stars above your head, pictures of nature that you can stare at when your homework is not appealing anymore, or you could even get those puffy decorations that you always see on Urban Outfitters.

Whatever you end up choosing, make sure you make it personal to you and don’t be afraid to add to your décor or change things up! Keep it fun, keep it interesting, and make it a place that you want to be in. Have fun!

Looking for a more convenient way to furnish your off-campus apartment? Rent stylish furniture from CORT and save time and money. For more information on furniture rental packages, click here.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format