The COVID-19 pandemic has forced most people, including college students, to quarantine indoors. Whether you’re stuck with your family or self-isolated alone in an apartment, staring at the same four walls every day can get boring. Millennials and members of Generation Z are turning to TikTok to find inspiration for redecorating their rooms. The various trends on the social media app have students painting their walls, adding new furniture and creating DIY decorations. In a time of change and uncertainty, upgrading the space around you can be a source of happiness and comfort. Here are five ways TikTok is inspiring students to revamp their rooms.
1. Patterned walls are an easy at-home project that looks amazing
If your apartment complex (or parents) allows walls to be painted, TikTok users have an arsenal of creative ways to decorate them. A trend that went viral on TikTok earlier in quarantine is one in which the user showcases a variety of appealing patterns on vertical sections of a wall. Trending patterns include clouds, diamonds, checkered print and Louis Vuitton symbols, but can be virtually any design the artist desires.
Another trendy way to paint the walls of a room include putting tape in various patterns across the surface and painting each section a different color. The style gives the wall or door a geometric look.
@emmarose.mu tik tok made me do it 🤪 #roommakeover #fyp #foryou #foryoupage
If artistically painting a wall seems impossible, creating collages with different images can be a fun alternative. One user created a cool pixelated effect using paint swatches from a local hardware store.
No matter what trend is chosen, giving walls a new design is a sure way to revamp a room.
2. Highlighting a famous album or artist is another form of decorating.
Whether you’re a fan of Lil Uzi Vert or Taylor Swift, displaying favorite songs and albums can be daily reminders of the tunes that make you happy. The latest trend on TikTok features a new way to present songs or album covers as artwork. In the tutorial, a user prints out a screenshot of a song from Apple Music, pastes the album photo onto glass from a picture frame and then carefully traces the other details of the image with a sharpie. The recent trend creates a unique display for cool album art and showcases the music that an individual enjoys listening to.
3. Achieving a new room on a budget is possible with Dollar Tree items.
College students frequently look for ways to cut corners and spend as little money as possible, and redecorating is no exception. Thanks to the hashtags #DollarTreeDIY or #DollarTreeHacks on TikTok, users can find thousands of tutorials dedicated to helping others creatively upgrade their rooms.
Those looking for a new way to display their sunglasses can create an easy setup using wooden trays and a set of rulers from a local dollar store. Another TikTok user created a video showing how a set of hooks and bins from Dollar Tree can be used for simple hanging storage. Another trending video shows how someone was able to create hall-of-fame mood lighting for their bedroom with only four self-adhesive battery-operated lights.
https://www.tiktok.com/@sintiabernabe/video/6832066251049815301
While these suggestions are only a handful of the DIY trends, the hashtags provide endless ways individuals can elevate their space without breaking the bank. College students on a budget can rest assured that redecorating their rooms can be accomplished with the last $20 in their bank accounts.
4. Students can save up for pricier items on Amazon.
If you’re lucky enough to have a big budget or just want to save for more durable decorations, a wave of TikTok users happily share the great items they have purchased from Amazon. Users sometime preface videos with “Amazon items you didn’t know you needed” or “Things in my one-bedroom apartment that just make sense.” The videos exhibit a variety of items, from kitchen gadgets to lighting fixtures to sleek-looking hangers. The amazing inventions mentioned in the TikTok videos will surely inspire viewers to visit Amazon. College kids can also save money and get next-day shipping by signing up for a discounted Amazon Prime account with their university emails.
5. Adding mirrors, lights and plants will ensure that your room is up to par with the current TikTok aesthetic.
While users on TikTok each have an individualized flare when decorating their rooms, trending items are unmistakably present in every room deemed to be “bedroom goals.” These items include hexagonal mirrors, LED lights and tons of greenery. While geometric mirrors might not be for everyone, lights are a must for any space. Many LED light strips and floor lamps feature an assortment of color settings and can be conveniently switched on or off with a remote. Plants are also a nice way to spruce up a room and can be real or fake. Including plants in the décor of a room also gives individuals an option for the style and design of the planter that they put them in. Even if these three items don’t match a desired look, they are cool features to consider when redesigning a room in the future.
Whether you choose to repaint your walls, add stars to the ceiling, buy a new alarm clock or refurbish old items with supplies from the dollar store, there are endless possibilities for college kids to update the spaces with which they’ve become so familiar. Being stuck in quarantine shouldn’t mean feeling trapped in a prison of old posters and floral comforters. TikTok has inspired me and others to redesign an old space with items that make it a comfortable place to relax. With a little ingenuity and help from TikTok, college students can achieve the bedrooms of their dreams.
