Tips on how to furnish your hostel bedroom

Pimp up your room: Unlike in high school where students are limited on what to carry, University students are at liberty of carrying whatever they can to a hostel. But as you know, dimes control our interests and besides the credit crunch hitting student pockets, you still afford to pimp up your hostel room. Here is how you can make it cheep;

Brighten up your bed: Your bed is essentially going to be your sofa, so do invest in cheerful, colourful bedding and a few cushions and throws to brighten it up. You don’t need to break the bank to do this: I owno market you can get yourself a set a relatively low price. A cushion cover for around 45K can work, though I’ve seen them for as little as 25k.

If you can’t afford cushion covers, you can easily sew them, using any cheap material that takes your fancy from fabric stores. You might be able keep it clean, but someone else is definitely going to spill wine on it

Bring a teapot: Early days at university are all about making friends, and nothing entices visitors like a cup of tea , apart from alcohol, of course for some. The sight of a bright teapot on a shelf or desk is also a welcome pop of colour and homeliness in those often dungeon-like student rooms. Don’t bother with providing lots of mugs – everyone will have their own chipped number to bring along.

Decorate your walls: Posters and framed pictures are the obvious bet, but hanging things on the walls is often outlawed. If you can get away with it, use white tack or invest in no-hole picture hanging strips for minimum damage. Sales at the Student Union are a good source for posters, as is the All Posters website. Many students decorate their walls with a collage of photographs, postcards and pictures torn from magazines, which can instantly personalise a bland space and covers up nasty marks on walls. If allowed, you can also use temporary wall decals or stickers.

Remember a doorstop: Much like the teapot, this is a sure-fire way to get people to pop their heads through your door in those important early days – but it’ll be equally useful in your third year for tempting people in for revision breaks. You can buy a conventional wooden one for a pound, though The Works does a terrific paper-airplane shaped one for £1.99.

Make features of your possessions: You’re not going to be able to afford antique clocks or leather armchairs unless you are a son of a minister, so try to make your ordinary possessions focal points. Pretty scarves and wraps draped across the back of chairs, over your desk or tied around bedposts will also make your room look more attractive – plus, they won’t be all over the floor.

Snap up some speakers: These are ideal for parties, portable speakers don’t need to cost the earth. Many shops in town sell IPod speaker dock for less than 150,000, or you can buy a nifty cardboard radio and speaker set that plugs into your smartphone from online retailers. But above all, a hoofer can as well work for you.

Get a notice board: Nothing is more useful than a notice board. You can use it to pin your timetable for the lectures, your weekend appointments, your friends’ contacts and any other important information. The notice boards can cost you about 15k. Just lean the board against the wall your desk faces if you’re not allowed to hang it up. Whiteboards can also be handy – use them for everything from brainstorming essays to games of hangman.  Get one at 20k

Seek out a screen: Students spend so much time in their university bedrooms, they can quickly feel claustrophobic – a screen separates your working area from your sleeping area and can make the room feel more spacious.They’re also excellent for throwing clothes over. Keep an eye out on eBay, recycling websites such as Freecycle and in charity shops. You can easily decorate it yourself with wallpaper and fabrics, or use it as a display board for photographs and posters.

Bring stackable, foldable boxes: Though they might seem boring, these boxes are ideal for bringing your possessions to university and packing everything up at the end of term. In the mean-time, you can keep them folded under your bed. You can also use them for storage – fill them with overdue library books or, if you don’t have enough wardrobe space, clean bedding or clothes that you don’t wear too frequently.