College dorm room checklist – everything you need to make a home away from home
From chic storage and timeless decor to sheets, shams, quilts, and comforters, here's everything you need to make your dorm feel like home
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I wish I'd followed a college dorm room checklist when I first moved in freshman year. In my infinite wisdom, I brought an ironing board, a toaster oven, and no fewer than 50 photos from home, but only one set of sheets. It took a lot of trial and error to work out what to bring to college to make my dorm feel like home. To save you the trouble, I've made the ultimate college dorm room checklist.
I just graduated this May. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to my friends, my professors, and especially my dorm room. I'd spent so much time and effort to make it my own, accenting the essentials with distinctive pieces to reflect my personality. Since back-to-school shopping is still fresh in my mind, I thought I'd share my ultimate college dorm room checklist for all those new students in need of inspiration.
For the sake of easy reading, I've categorized each item on the list: we'll move from bedding and bath linen to storage and decor before rounding things off with small appliances. I still remember what it was like to shop on a student budget, so I've selected the products that best balance quality and cost. Here's the best news: you can get everything you need for less when you shop the bedding sales.
College dorm room checklist – written by a recent grad
Many of these products, from the mattress toppers to the coffee makers, are tried and tested by H&G experts. I've combed through our back catalog of reviews to find the most affordable items to fit into the tight corners and narrow nooks of a dorm room. Where I haven't been able to get my hands on a product, I've scoured the specifications and read countless customer reviews to make sure I'm bringing you the best.
High-tech toppers
My number-one piece of advice for incoming students: get a mattress topper. Your average college mattress is an old-fashioned innerspring. If it's new, it might feel firm and inflexible, lined with stiff steel coils that squeak in the night and dig into your sides. If it's old, it might be soft and sagging in the center, with insufficient support to keep your spine aligned. Since most universities won't let you bring your own bed, you need the best mattress topper for dorm beds to get good sleep on campus.
This memory foam mattress topper is just the thing to soften up a firm, inflexible bed. Plush to cushion your joints yet supportive to align your spine, the ViscoSoft Select High Density Mattress Topper is suitable for every sleep position. If you know you'll be living in an older building with poor insulation, don't fret: this topper is infused with thermoregulating gel to keep you cool and comfortable.
You shouldn't have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a good night's sleep. With the SameBed Mattress Topper, you don't have to. This plush pillow-top gets rave reviews online, with thousands of five-star customer ratings on Amazon. The SameBed Mattress Topper is machine-washable and dryer-safe for quick and convenient cleaning on campus, though you'll only need to clean it once a semester.
According to months of rigorous testing, this is the best mattress topper on the market. It's made to relieve pressure and minimize motion transfer for the feeling of weightless, dreamless sleep. It's secured with no-slip corner straps and covered by a 10-year warranty. I think the Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-Adapt Mattress Topper is fairly priced, but it's a lot less affordable than some of the other options on this list: you might want to ask your parents to go halves.
Timeless bedding
Dorm bedding needs to be practical, as well as pretty. You want stuff that can keep you warm in the winter and cool for the summer, that's strong enough to withstand the wear and tear of nightly use and frequent washing. In terms of materials, cotton is a classic for a reason, but linen might be a better bet for hot sleepers studying in warmer climates.
You'll want two sets of sheets (so you've always got a spare); a comforter; and a blanket. Your average dorm bed is a Twin XL, but it's worth checking in advance with your RA so that you buy the right size. If your college is anything like mine, they'll provide a pillow, but it will feel so thin and flat that you might as well sleep without it. I suggest you bring your own pillow to get the support you need.
This is the best-selling sheet set on Amazon right now, with more than 240,000 five-star reviews. Happy customers praise the comfort and quality of the sheets, as well as their value for money. For me, their biggest selling point is the color range. You could buy a sheet set to complement any color palette and match any dorm aesthetic.
Inside this bed-in-a-bag, you'll find a cozy comforter, a flat sheet, a fitted sheet, a pillow case, and a pillow sham. Each piece is made from double-brushed microfiber, which feels exceptionally soft, but tends to retain heat, though that might be good news for cold sleepers studying in cooler climates. At the end of each semester, you can pack each piece away inside the bag for convenient carrying.
For my money, this is the best pillow to bring to college. It's filled with down alternative, so it's suitable for vegan shoppers and sleepers with sensitive skin. It's wrapped in a cooling cotton percale cover, which is good news for hot sleepers, and it's totally machine-washable to ameliorate the effect of spills and stains.
Shower stuff
Now, every college does things differently, but most state schools have shared bathrooms. There's normally one bathroom per floor of your halls of residence. Before I left for college, I felt a little icky about sharing a bathroom: I'm pretty particular about my stuff and I can't relax if I'm not a clean space. I found that a pair of shower shoes really set my mind at ease and helped to keep my feet clean and healthy. You'll also want a shower caddy to carry your toiletries to and from the bathroom. Obviously, you'll need a set of towels, too. I think that Turkish towels offer the best balance of softness and strength, and they're super absorbent.
When I first started college, I used a pair of flip-flops as my shower shoes. They worked okay, but water used to get trapped beneath my feet, and I always felt like I was squelching when I walked back to my dorm. I soon switched them out for a set of shower shoes that looked a lot like these ones. The holes help to accelerate the draining and drying process.
This shower caddy comes with eight outer compartments and a larger storage space in the center. There's plenty of space for your skincare and haircare products, as well as flannels, combs, and body wash. Make use of each compartment when you're having an 'everything shower' or just keep it stocked with the essentials.
These towels are made from super-soft Turkish cotton, specially dyed in a range of cute shades to prevent the colors from fading. I've gone for the six-piece towel set, which includes two bath towels, two hand towels, and two washcloths. If you like the look and feel of these towels, you could always shop the matching bath mat and bath sheets, as well.
Clever storage
When you first move into your dorm, you'll only see the essential furniture: the bed frame, the desk, and the chair. It looks like there will be a load of space to store all your stuff, but that space fills up quickly. The key to making the most of your square footage is to invest in clever dorm storage.
Different styles of organizers serve different needs. Small storage containers will do for spare clothes, but you might prefer to store your shoes on a rack right by the door. If you're bringing any valuables to college, then I recommend you bring a trunk or a lock box to store beneath your bed.
Make the most of dead space with an over-the-door organizer. I used mine to store my keys, my wallet, my umbrella and my shades − everything I needed to head out the door. This organizer comes with sturdy steel hooks to bear large weights and fix tight over your door.
I used these sorts of soft fabric bags to store my spare bed and bath linen beneath my bed. One of these boxes could fit one quilt, a couple of towels or blankets, and plenty of shirts or sweaters. Each box features clear windows, so that you can see what's inside without needing to unzip every bag to remember.
If you're lucky, your dorm will come with plenty of shelving space to store your books and folders. If it doesn't, you could use these stackable storage bins to create bookshelves of your own. Each bin breaks down into a flat-pack box to save space in your car at the start and end of each semester.
Small appliances
Again, every college has its own rules, but you should be able to bring a few home comforts into your dorm. I couldn't have survived my first year of college without my microwave – I couldn't afford to eat in hall all the time, so this was my only way to have a hot meal. For snacks and drinks, I shared a mini-fridge with my roommate, and that was totally kosher as far as my college was concerned. If you need your caffeine fix in the morning, and you don't want to trek down to the shared kitchen, you could always bring a coffee maker with you.
Our appliances editor, Laura, is all over the AeroPress. She trained as a barista, so she's familiar with the brewing technique, but it's easy enough to learn as you go. This coffee maker is quick to brew, with fine filtration for smooth-sipping drinks. Plus, it's portable and easy to store in small spaces.
This microwave comes with pre-programmed settings for popcorn and pizza − just what you need for a movie night with your new roommate. For a dorm, I'd select the smallest model (0.7 cu.ft.), which should fit easily on your desk and still have plenty of space inside to warm a plate.
Inside this mini-fridge, you'll find a chiller box for beverages, a double rack bottle frame for spreads and sauces, and a refrigerator compartment for everything else. The door is reversible and the legs are adjustable, so you can make this mini-fridge fit into any nook or cranny. Our appliances editor, Laura, says it's the best mini fridge for small spaces.
Dorm decor
This is your chance to really show your sense of style and make your dorm feel more like home. Dorm decor is very personal, so I'm less inclined to show you specific products – I'll just give you some broad ideas to get you started. I brought some film and theater posters to my dorm in freshman year, which made great conversation starters with my new roommate.
I printed out a bunch of photos of family and friends back home and strung them up on my LED lights. Later on that semester, when I'd made some memories at college, I printed more pictures with my new friends. This meant that, throughout my time at college, I had this ever-evolving photo wall, accented with ticket stubs, postcards, scraps of fabric and wallpaper. That wall was my favorite part of my college dorm, and it's super easy to recreate.
You get 50 LED string lights, interspersed with 50 clear clips, threaded onto 17 feet of thin acrylic wire. That's plenty of space to pin up memories of family and friends back home, with room to spare for new memories you make in college.
Over the course of my time at college, I built up a collection or prints, paintings, and postcards, swatches of fabric and scraps of wallpaper, and arranged it all in a mood board on my wall. If you're looking to fast-track your collection, you could always buy some wall prints in advance. I like the eclecticism of this sage green set − the moods and colors complement each other, but they don't match perfectly.
As I've curated my personal collection, I've learned that the best jewelry boxes are actually jewelry organizers, with shelves, hooks, and stands to display jewelry of different lengths and sizes. When you have somewhere practical and pretty to store your jewelry, you're so much less likely to lose it.
Those are all the Amazon essentials on my college dorm room checklist. Now, it's time to turn to specialist stores to grab your other bits and pieces. Head to the drugstore to pick up toiletries, medicines, and cleaning supplies. For school supplies and electronics, you'd be better off shopping somewhere like Target.
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Emilia is our resident sleep writer. She spends her days tracking down the lowest prices on the best bedding and spends her nights testing it out from the comfort of her own home – it's a dream job. Her quest to learn how to sleep better has taken her all around the world, from mattress factories in Arizona to sleep retreats in Scandinavia. Before she joined Homes & Gardens, Emilia studied English at the University of Oxford. She also worked on the other side of the aisle, writing press releases for regional newspapers and crafting copy for Sky.
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