When I was a freshman in college, my dorm hall was accented with a beautiful teal all around and inside the building. It really brought the place to life. During my sophomore year, however, they repainted it gray and everyone on campus complained about how depressing it looked. Color has a huge impact on how a space feels. Thatâs why the very first thing youâll need to do before you even consider decorating your dorm is choosing a color scheme. If you donât know which colors go with which, then stick with me and Iâll show you.
The colors that you choose for your dorm room can be monochromatic, complementary, split-complementary, triadic, tetradic, analogous or a combo of the current trending colors!
The colors that you choose to decorate your dorm with will determine what vibes you feel as soon as you walk into the room.
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Think About The Vibe You Want
Before you think about what colors you want to fill your dorm room with, youâre going to have to think about how you want it to feel. When you open the door to your room after a tiring day of classes, where do you want to be? On the beach? In a garden? In the galaxy? When you wake up in the morning, what aesthetic do you want to greet you? Boho? Cottagecore? Fairycore?
The colors that you choose will make all the difference in how you will feel when you see your room, so control their effect by picking ones that communicate the tone youâre going for.
Crash Course on Color Theory
Now that you know how you want your dorm room to feel, itâs time to choose colors that will get that feeling across. Like I said in the intro, the hues you choose are important. Thatâs because, according to a 2018 study done by Marco Costa, Sergio Frumento, Mattia Nese and Iacopo Predieri, âInterior colorâŠhas a significant impact on psychological functioning and satisfaction…â. While itâs true that your favorite colors are different from someone elseâs, there are two universal rules about color that tend to stay the same:
Rule #1: red, orange, pink and yellow are associated with warmth, energy, anger and stuff like that.
Rule #2: blue, green and purple have more of a calm, sad, or indifferent vibe to them.
Keep those rules in mind when you decide on an aesthetic to pursue when decorating. A preppy room could use a warm, energetic color palette while a coastal room needs a more cool, calming one. âBut wait, how do we know which specific colors complement each other?â I hear you asking. Well thatâs where this handy dandy wheel comes in:
This cheat sheet can help us understand which colors go together and which ones contrast one another.
Monochromatic Shades
Letâs say you wanted your dorm to have green in it. Different shades of that color, ranging from light to dark, will always complement it. See?
The same rule would apply to blue, pink, purple, etc.
Complementary Colors
However, most of you want your dorm room to be more than just green or yellow. Understandable. Greedy, but understandable. When choosing more than one color though, always remember to add in a neutral to create breathing room between them. It can come off too loud and suffocating otherwise. Additionally, use the 60-30-10 rule: Use 60% of one color, 30% of another and 10% of all remaining colors. This is how you keep the room looking balanced and harmonized.
So what do I mean by âcomplementaryâ? These are two colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel. For example, red and green go together:
Purple and yellow:
And blue and orange:
Split-Complementary Colors
If you want to incorporate more than just two colors into your palette, then you can upgrade to a split-complementary grouping. This is when you choose one color on the wheel:
Take note of the color thatâs on the opposite side of it:
Pick the ones to the left and the right of that color:
Finally, combine all three of them (purple, green and orange) to form your palette:
Triadic Colors
A different way to pair three different colors together is by going with a triadic palette. This is when you pick three different colors that are evenly spaced from each other on the wheel. For example, yellow, blue and red all have three different colors in between them:
Tetradic Colors
When youâre ready to upgrade to four colors, then itâs time to use a tetradic palette. This is when you take two sets of complementary colors that form a rectangle on the color wheel:
…and use all four of them to decorate your room.
When doing this, youâre better off choosing one main color and using the rest as accents. So instead of the 60-30-10 rule, go with 70-10-10-10 or something along those lines instead.
Analogous Colors
This is the easiest way to pair different colors and make sure they go together. All you have to do is pick 2-4 colors that are next to each other and boom! You have your color palette! If you use three colors, use the 60-30-10 rule. If you pick 4, use the 70-10-10-10 rule.
Hereâs an example of a blue, purple and pink room:
Yellow, orange and red:
And blue and green:
Finally, donât be afraid to try out different tints, shades and tones of these colors when decorating your room. Thereâs a crazy amount of options out there to choose from, so having this blueprint will help you along the way. Below are 14 different examples of color combinations that you could use in your dorm, so scroll down to get some inspiration!
1. Brown, Orange And White For A Cozy Feel
If youâre looking to have a warm, comfortable looking space that reminds you of hiding away during the colder months, then youâll want to pick furniture and decor that are mainly brown, orange and white. The orange reminds us of a warm fire that we snuggle up by and roast marshmallows on in October. Of course, we canât have a fire without any wood, so we need to add our browns in there.
Bonus points if you use actual wood as decoration to further drive home the cozy feel. Lastly, white is a very open color, which gives us breathing room next to bold dark colors such as burnt orange and brown. The more closed in you want the space to feel, the less white youâll want to include. Not to mention white goes with everything, so when in doubt, use white in your color scheme.
2. Tan, Brown, White And Green For A Boho Vibe
The bohemian aesthetic has been popular among interior decorators for years now. If youâre also a fan, then your best friends will be tan, brown, white and green. When side by side, tan brown and white give off this sand feel that reminds us of the beach. Weâre not in the water yet, but weâre definitely building sand castles with this color combination.
Adding a touch of green also adds life to this otherwise extremely neutral palette, which pushes the vibe towards boho. To really drive home the aesthetic, donât forget to add that macrame decor.
3. Green, Wooden Tan, White And Muted Blue For A Mature, Nature Loving Look
Decorating your dorm room with nature is a good idea, but sometimes, too much green can make it look like a jungle. If that’s the vibe youâre going for, then by all means, but if you want something a little less on-the-nose, then use green, wooden tan, white and muted blue to get that nature effect, but in a calm and mature way. Blue makes us think of water, which is a huge part of nature.
Going for a muted blue rather than any other shade will keep it from overpowering the rest of the decor; instead, it will contribute to the vibe. Leaves and trees make up the majority of forests and jungles, which is why wooden tan and green compliment each other perfectly in this decor style. Just like with the previous look, the white works as breathing room for the rest of the colors.
4. Muted Orange, White, Green And Tan For A Mature Beach House Feel
When youâre trying to recreate naturescapes, like a beach, then itâs easy to go overboard and make it look tacky. One way that you can avoid being so literal is by exchanging vibrant colors for muted tones. The use of muted orange also brings a less loud and more mature feel to the room. To avoid a literal interpretation of the beach, you can also think of this space as more of a beach house rather than the beach itself.
This means you donât have to include blue to represent water; you can stick to the tan sand and green trees to bring home the vibe. Speaking of the sand and trees, where you place your colors also contribute to how the room feels. Using a tan rug on the floor while placing the green plants above your head makes the place feel like a beach with palm trees. Not to mention the fairy lights could represent the sun. This room is really well thought out!
5. Light Brown, White, Black And Gray For A Simple, High-End Atmosphere
One way to easily make your dorm room look less like a dorm and more like an expensive bedroom is to stick to neutrals and avoid any vibrant or loud colors. light brown, white, black and gray donât stray too far from each other on the color wheel, so it also brings a more simplistic feel to the space. Take note that if you want to match the simplicity of the colors, simplistic decor will compliment it.
Less is more is your best friend when going for this look. One thing I would change about this room, however, is replacing the three small posters with one large piece of wall art. This will keep the âless is moreâ vibe going as well as make the space look bigger.
6. Pastel Pink, White, And Tan For A Neutral, Yet, Feminine Feel
I will admit that, when you go for a neutral room, itâs easy to give up character and personality in the pursuit of that mature and high-end look. However, you donât have to give up your favorite colors in order to achieve this aesthetic. This room right here proves it:
By using a pastel pink, this person was able to maintain a simplistic feel while still putting her femininity on display. If you want to do the same, then this color combo is for you. However, maybe you have a different kind of personality you want to put on display. Thatâs possible! Just take the color you have in mind and find the pastel or muted version of it to use instead.
7. Mustard Yellow, Bright Green, Pink And White For An Energized, Fun Mood
Maybe youâre not a fan of the mature, high-end, expensive vibe. Maybe you lean towards the fresh, fun and energetic look when it comes to decor. Well lucky for you, itâs pretty easy to achieve that style! Hereâs an example of how to give your dorm an energy boost:
By going for a pronounced yellow, like mustard, youâre saying you have nothing to hide. In fact, you want everyone to notice you! Bright green gives off a similar effect, but itâs more socially accepted and, therefore, plays a nice supportive role to the loud and proud yellow.
Pink easily stands out in a room as well, plus it has a childlike quality to it, making it more fun! Initially, you probably wouldnât even think to put these colors in the same room, but thatâs a big reason as to why it looks so playful and fresh!
8. Bright Green, Muted Sage Green, Tan And White For Full On Nature Ambience
If you saw the previous nature loving look, but youâre looking to make a bigger commitment to the forest feel, consider colors like these:
Are you truly one with nature and interested in having your dorm room reflect that? Then youâre going to need a lot of green. To keep the space from looking one-note, youâre going to need different shades and different tones of green. A good color combination that wonât overwhelm the room and, instead, will make it look balanced and cohesive are bright green, muted sage green, tan and white.
You can also throw in a muted olive green through different pieces of decor. Offsetting the greens with tan and white will prevent a claustrophobic feel and keep the space looking tasteful. Not to mention tan is an earth tone, which adds to the nature look.
9. Bright Yellow, Bright Green, Brown And White For A Sunflower Feel
The cool thing about decorating a room is that you can make it feel like so many different places, even a sunflower filled meadow! The power to bring this landscape to your very dorm room lies in the hands of bright yellow, bright green, brown and white.
Bright yellow represents both a sunflower and the sun shining down on the meadow. Bright green reminds us of the grass that the sunflowers pop out of. Brown represents the seeds in the middle of the plant, so a dark brown is what youâll want to go for. White provides breathing room between the colors, but it could also represent lilies, daisies, jasmine or any other kind of white and yellow flower!
10. Peach, Tan, Brown And White For A Sandy, Neutral And Feminine Boho Appearance
Are you a fan of both the boho and the feminine vibe? The right color scheme can tie both of those vibes together effortlessly. Adding a peach color into the mix of tan, brown and white will bring femininity to the table, but it still has brown undertones that help it fit in with the bohemian atmosphere.
Since peach is the only non-neutral color being used in this color scheme, it still has an overall neutral feel. You could also consider peach to be a muted version of pink, which still aligns with the neutral look. Of course, you can use any shade of pink youâd like if you want to make a louder statement.
11. Orange, White, Green, Pink And Yellow For A Floral Vibe
Even though I mentioned the color scheme that you turn our dorm into a meadow, maybe a meadow isnât your scene. Maybe youâd rather live in a garden full of all types of flowers. This gives you an excuse to use a lot more colors than any other aesthetic. Some good ones to start out with are orange, white, green, pink and yellow:
These colors add a whole lot of vibrance to your space, which is why youâre going to need white to offset them all. Without it, the room could get overwhelming and claustrophobic fast. However, if you think you can handle all that visual noise at once, feel free to skip the white.
12. Pastel Yellow, White And Tan For A Soft Summer Feel
Do you love summer as a decor style, but you donât want it to overwhelm your dorm. A good solution is to opt for a pastel yellow rather than a saturated one. To compliment that color, youâll want a white and a tan by its side. This will give you a relaxing, soft, summer vibe thatâs easy on the eyes but gets the point across.
Trending Color Combos In 2024
To give you some extra inspiration, here are a few colors that are super popular this year, according to Sherwin Williams, as well as their best pairings!