How to Make Your Style Stand Out in a Shared Bedroom

When you share a bedroom with a sibling, relative or dorm roommate, it can feel like you don’t have the space or freedom to express your personal sense of style. From the lack of storage, to feeling like everything you own should match your roommate’s taste, it may even feel like it’s not your own space. Fortunately, PBteen has plenty of easy solutions for expressing your style in even the smallest of spaces.

Storage Space

Before you think about decorating, it’s time to declutter. This can be difficult if you have to split the closet and dresser drawers, but there are some creative ways to keep your things tidy. Storage beds are just like any other bed, but they have drawers and cubbies underneath the frame where you can store everything from socks to books. Many styles also have drawers and cubbies hidden in the headboards or in a hutch or tower that runs below the bed. Items such as bed skirts, pillows, comforters and baskets that fit into the cubbies can hide some of the storage spaces, while the others have drawers and doors to keep your items out of sight. Storage beds with towers and hutches usually have space where you can add some of your favorite decor items, as well.

Choosing Colors

A great color scheme can really bring the look of a room together, however, this is definitely something that you need to discuss with your roommate. You may find that you agree or that a color you love works well with one she loves, such as turquoise and red, black and white, navy and lime green or yellow and gray. You can agree to stick to those colors, which leaves unlimited options when it comes to choosing prints. Alternatively, you can buy basic shared items such as rugs and curtains in neutral colors and use your own color scheme when choosing your bedding and decor.

Create a Barrier

If your bedroom is large enough, you can make it feel like two separate spaces with a larger piece of furniture such as a desk or bookcase. A backless bookcase turned vertically, instead of horizontally against the wall, can create a little corner on each side of the room, giving you each a wall to decorate. You can even hang a curtain in the middle of the room and slide it back and forth as necessary. Whatever you choose, the barrier will make it easier on the eye if the sides of your room don’t necessarily match or complement each other. 

Hang Non-Permanent Decor

While your bedding, curtains and other decor may match your roommate’s, your other decor can reflect your unique personality. Hang a pinboard on your side so that you have some space for self-expression. From your favorite posters to photos of you and your friends, you can let your imagination run wild by hanging items and switching them out as the mood strikes. Another similar option is to hang a couple of shelves on your side of the room and decorate them however you see fit. If your roommate has the same shelves – decorated in their own style – the actual shelves will add some balance and uniformity to the room, no matter what’s on them.

Use Your Favorite Accents

If both sides of the room must match, consider going neutral when it comes to your bedding, furniture and paint colors. The matching neutrals bring the room together, but you can add some small accents to your side to make your style pop. Add a few decorative pillows, a funky lamp, a picture frame on your nightstand and awesome wall art to express your personality.

Get Crafty

If you or your parents purchased most of your room decor, there’s no reason why you can’t add your own touch by creating your own arts and crafts. Paint your favorite inspirational quote onto a large blank canvas, knit a throw for your bed or put together a collage of your favorite things and hang it in a frame or shadow box.