Uni Room Essentials

I do love it when the universe conspires to give me the perfect opportunity to ramble on about pretty homey things. I was inspired by Parachute, a bedding brand who do the prettiest everyday bedding basics (alongside cute cashmere throws and candles), to write a post about my dorm room essentials, and seeing as I move into my new uni room very soon, I leaped at the opportunity!

I've been steadily packing for about a month now, and have split my 'essentials' into three categories: actual essentials, extra useful things, and pretty stuff I don't need but that is essential in my mind. Good categories, I feel. And so for today's post I am going to share a few bits from each category that are on my wishlist/I already own for 'The perfect, cosiest, prettiest dorm room'. Mmm, catchy!

Actual Essentials:

Obviously, tippity top of my list is bedding. My bed and I have a rather special relationship, and one that I plan on staying in for a very long time, even though life forces me to spend not as much time as I would like inside it. I love a good cosy bed complete with all the trimmings, and by this I mean a heavy cosy duvet, pretty covers, a throw or two, and so many cushions I can barely climb inside. Now that is my idea of heaven. Parachute have some really cute duvet covers on their website, and top of my wishlist is their 'Sateen duvet cover' in 'powder', which is the prettiest pale blue colour and makes me want to cry just a little with how gorgeous it is. The bedding I have bought is nearly just as cute, and from ye olde land of Primark (all hail the Primark gods!). I picked up a cute set in a graphic bear print, which is now forming the background for all these pictures, and a white set with some pretty embroidered flowers. Two different sets for two different moods.

Other actual essentials include storage solutions. Being a student, I have a room to myself and then share a communal living/kitchen area, which means that all my stuff (bar actual kitchen-y bits) are going to be crammed into one area. This means clever storage type things are come in useful. Ikea do some cracking storage solutions, but all I have plumped for so far is a cute tin I once got some cookies in to store essentials like makeup, and a set of little drawers my aunt bought me to store other essentials (like more makeup!). I am also taking along an old, slightly broken mug that will look adorable on my desk as a pen/makeup brush holder. Making the most of what I have already is helping a lot with keeping going to uni as cost effective as possible.

Useful bits and bobs (perhaps not as essential):

Lighting. Oh, lighting. How I hate harsh overhead lights and how I love warm candle light. Alas, candles are not allowed in a dorm room (it's a fire hazard, I know. But I do so love a good candle). And so fairy lights have become my new best friend. I've included them on this list because some may argue that bringing lighting isn't essential, there is already a lightbulb/lampshade combination going on, but I think soft fairy lighting automatically makes a room look cosier and more inviting, especially on cold wintery nights when all you want to do is snuggle with a duvet and a hot chocolate. I am taking with me two sets of lights, a cute fabric rose set, and a red plastic heart set. They weren't expensive, between £3 and £6 from Primark again, but go an awfully long way to making a barren student room look lovely and pretty. Cute lamps do the same trick, and I'm lucky enough that my aunt and uncle bought me a gorgeous heart shaped porcelain lamp which will look adorable on my new desk (and if you ask nicely, your family members may do the same for you!).

Stationary is another big love of mine, and by this I mean I would rather spend my money on a pretty notebook than food. I am a sucker for a pretty notebook (darn you Paperchase). And whilst for my actual useful stationary that I'll need for lectures and notes etc I went budget style and bought notepads and pens from Wilkinson's (total cost: about £6), I'm also bringing along some of my favourite pretty stationary, mainly because it makes me happy to look at it.

The notepad I was bought a few Christmas' ago, but have never used (and will probably never use, but I love it anyway), and I thought the notecards would come in useful for sending actual letters home. I know there's e-mail and skype and texting and calling, but nothing beats an actual letter that someone has written and sent. And these ones are particularly cute little notecards with butterflies on, and I just know my sister will love receiving one once in a while. Obviously, very essential! I'm also taking along a useful pad I found in paperchase, that looks like a normal notebook covered in unicorns, but inside has sticky notes for making to-do lists and jotting down notes and marking things. Handy mcdandy if you ask me. And of course, the usual suspects like a diary etc, for (hopefully) organising my life a little bit more than I do right now.

Not so useful trinkety bits

Love a good trinket me. And I've found one of the hardest things, whilst packing for uni, is deciding which bits to take, and which bobs I am leaving behind. I'm possibly overly sentimentally attached to a lot of my trinkets and pretty things, but I do think they make a room. Bedding and lighting and storage is all very well, but a room is not a room without it's little trinkets. And with going to uni, I'm going to be far away from where I've grown up and where my family is, and so having little bits scattered around that have memories attached not only makes for a pretty dorm room, but one that also helps with being away from home.

The above is just a selection of what I am taking, but a diverse selection to show the kind of thing I personally think is a good idea to take along. The bird cage and elephant were both presents (and technically meant for candles) but look so cute on a windowsill or bookshelf or desk, and make me happy when I look at them, which I feel is an important trait in a trinket. The milk bottle I found in a cute shop in town, and is my favourite flower holding vessel. I adore fresh flowers in a room, even if I've bought them myself, and so wanted to bring along something to hold said flowers.

The little hanging charm has a cute quote on it. Some people I know do not like these kind of quote-y things, but I absolutely love them, and thought this was particularly applicable for going to uni, as I am following my dreams! And finally, the tsum tsum eeyore and Cogsworth have sentimental value for me, because I was given them by friends who obviously put a lot of thought in, and I like having this kind of thing around when I'm away because it reminds me of the people I still have around who I love and who (hopefully) love me back.

And that concludes this snippity snapshot of the things I consider pretty essential for making a dorm room cosy and lovely for the year ahead! Feel free to share what you already have/are taking/would take to your dorm room.