Stay Organized at School: Dorm Shelving Ideas

Staying organized in your dorm room is all about combining efficiency and personalization! Shelving in your dorm helps you keep your life together while also showcasing your individual style. Use these dorm shelving ideas from PBteen to effortlessly add both decoration and organization to your dorm space.

Use Open Space

Many dorms have some built-in shelving, but it’s easy to find a use for more. You can use just about any open space in your room for shelving – there might be some wall space above your bed, on the wall next to your door, above your desk or even next to your closet. Feel free to leave some room for posters or tapestries while you make use of unused vertical space on the walls to add more storage.

Decorate Your Shelves

Even if you use your shelves mainly for storage purposes, you can still add some pizazz with simple touches. One idea is to put framed pictures and fun decorative objects in some of the open spaces on the shelves. If you don’t have any open space on your shelves, hang some garland off the undersides or decorate the shelves themselves. If your shelves have open backs, you can put some decorative paper or photos up on the wall behind them. For closed shelving units, try painting the backs of each shelf an eye-catching color, or use fabric to cover them with texture and patterns. Washi tape and stickers are another great way to add a little bit of decor to your shelves.

Create Storage Zones

Once you have your dorm shelving set up, you can make the most of it by keeping your things organized and accessible. If you have multiple shelves or a couple areas around your room with shelves, you can split the shelves up into zones where you keep specific things. Put all your school supplies in one place and all your shower stuff in another. Use baskets and bins to help keep everything separate and organized so you don’t reach for your bio textbook when you mean to snag your shampoo. You can even use labels if you want to make sure everything stays in its spot.

Multitasking Shelves

Some wall shelves have additional features like hooks, dry erase boards or mirrors. Even if you already have built-in dorm room shelving, these added shelves inject extra style, functionality and comfort into your room. Choose a shelf with hooks to create a little entryway area by the door. You can use the shelf to hold your keys and other necessities, and the hooks are great for storing bags, hats, scarves and other accessories you can grab on your way out.

Entertain Yourself

Your shelving is important for storage space, but it’s also a great place to put Bluetooth speakers and other entertainment tech accessories. You can even use a shelf to prop up a computer monitor or TV screen. Try keeping all of your tech accessories in one place on a shelf so you never misplace your charging cable and headphones. Run a power strip or extension cord from a nearby outlet to your entertainment shelf area so you can keep your portable electronics charged and ready to go when you need them.

Color Gradient Organization

Have you ever seen one of those awesome pictures of a bookshelf organized by the colors on the books’ spines? They provide great inspiration for how to organize your shelves and make them look fantastic. If you want to try this look, get organizer bins in different hues – go for an ombre effect with different shades of the same color, or make a kaleidoscopic array of your favorite colors. Using different hues for different items keeps your shelves in order. This is a little twist on the “zone” idea for keeping your stuff straight. For example, you can put all your around-the-house dorm stuff in light blue boxes, put your personal care supplies in royal blue boxes and keep your school-related items in navy blue boxes.