With the anticipation of upcoming school year approaching the excitement of moving away to college, there is one minor detail that we cannot yet predict: the compatibility of your roommate.  Whether you are planning to live with your best friend from high school, or expand your horizons with a random match, you will have to learn to get along and live together for at least 9 months of the ensuing school year.

This could be an amazing experience ending in you standing up in each other’s wedding or, in all-out feuds possibly including items mysteriously breaking on their own or sprouting legs and tip-toeing away.  To avoid this problem I have one simple suggestion that may seem to be easy enough; however, it seems to be a hot topic even at the executive level of CEO meetings.

Your secret to success is: Open Communication.

If you are both 100% honest with each other, there will be no expectation let-downs, there will less fights about what you “thought” or “assumed” or “expected” from this roommate.

In the olden days, you know, before Facebook or texting, or really, Nokia phones; roommates possibly talked to each other once or twice on the home landline telephone.  Understanding your roommate was left up to interpreting the sound of their voice on the other end of the receiver.  “Do they sound nice?  Do you think they’ll be a total party animal?  Are they smart?”  It was up to you to make these assumptions prior to stepping foot on campus to meet the person you were slated to live with.

Now, you can avoid the awkward 15 seconds where you first introduce yourself to your roommate while secretly making more rash first impressions about this person.  You are attempting to look cool despite profusely sweating from hauling boxes in from the van outside containing your prized possessions, like your underwear.  Then, you start to think, “man, I am going to have to change in front of this person!; I wonder if they like the same TV shows as I do?, wait did they bring the TV?; do they like to go to bed at 7:30pm?; and finally the realization, I think we’re going to have a pretty good time at college.”

Thanks to technology we can Facebook Stalk our new roommate and try to get a image of what we’re up against (or with) the coming year.  Despite this, I recommend sitting down the first week of school and fill out a sheet of loves and hates, preferred study time, preferred time to go to bed, preferred time to get up in the morning on weekdays and weekends.  This may sound trivial, but it will help the two of you understand each other a little better and avoid the ranting to your friends about your crazy roommate and eventually having the overemotional talk or god forbid, a deathly screaming match.

Also, grab a few of our chalk and dry-erase sticky wall art.  There you can leave notes for each other that can help facilitate open communication.  In addition to awesome decorations for your room, you can erase and re-write anything you would like on a daily basis!  Tell your roommate you love them, ask them to clean the dishes, let them know you used the last of the coke in the mini-fridge and you are on it, play Pictionary while taking a study break, or put up your list of reminders for the day!

Check out our website for our circle dry erase and chalk stickers.  Also, click here for a sheet you can print out as a template for this discussion.  Regardless of your living situation, it is good to know what to expect so that it doesn’t surprise you later.  Have a blast at college and enjoy the new endeavor!

Summer is upon us people!  As the school year quickly comes to an end, it is totally time to get ready for the beautifully long sunny days sans those annoying teachers telling you what to do, monitoring your bathroom breaks, and continually harping on you to do homework.  I have one word for you: FREEDOM!

I have a list of Must-Haves to make your summer perfection:

Number one, for those of us who have been sequestered to the frigid Midwest and may not be ready to grace the public with our ghostly skin, I suggest sunless tanner!  No, I am not talking about the early 90s goop that leaves your skin looking like you colored yourself with a highlighter and your hands like you played around in some orange dirt.  Instead try spray leg makeup.  It will leave your legs smooth and tinted to your natural color and covers up imperfections you may have. Sally Hansen Leg Spray will give your legs a mild sheen and the color of health to attract the sexy guy you’re ogling at from afar.

Now that you don’t need to hand out sunglasses in order to show your legs at the start of the summer, you can confidently wear my next must have for the summer: shorts!  This may seem like a duh, but there are millions of designs on the market now from wispy 60s inspired shorts to sailor suit versions to tickle your fancy.  They are no longer the drab plaid found on the golf course.  Any design is a good design, get creative and have fun with your color selection!  Just one word of caution: regardless if you are 100lbs or 400lbs, no one wants to see your butt cheek popping out the bottom of your shorts.  It’s just not cute.  And, everyone around you will be leaning over to their friend, covering up their mouth, and darting their eyes over to your butt to show their friend how disgraceful it is that someone let you leave the house like that.  Before you purchase those shorts, do a test: bend over and touch your toes, if the breeze is hitting you were your old school granny panties would be, pick a different pair…Check out Billabong, Express, and Old Navy for great diverse options for shorts.  Some new great designers to check out are Tory Burch and Volcom for some adorable must haves.

Next on my list is color!  Use color wherever you can.  Imagine the world is your canvas and paint your color beautiful.  Florals are still totally in, as are stripes.  Don’t be afraid to ditch the slutty and boring little black skirt and replace it with a flowy summer dress with dripping with different bursts of color.  A great way to keep color in your life is to wear it on your head, around your neck, and on your fingers.  Go get a few different colors of the cheap nail polish at the grocery store to play around with.  They’ll begin to chip after a couple days, but by that time you should be ready to test out a new fun color to go with your mood for the day.  Funky, fun, and daring are what stands out in a crowd so let your colors shine.

Finally, my most important summer must do: update your room.  You are turning over a new leaf in your life, and your living space should mimic this transition.  Also, for those of you leaving the coop come this fall, remind that younger sibling that they don’t get to move into your room while you are gone.  And, parents, “No, my room is not becoming the pseudo workout space you’ll pretend to use”.  Rearrange your furniture and update the look of your space.  Flip over your comforter and try out the bottom side.  Hang up pictures from the past year, and use our easy and affordable stick on frames!  They are removable and you can re-stick them wherever you like.  They work like a miracle.  Or, check out our wall art that has the same stickiness factor.  You can restyle your room with ease with the different options provided at Dorm Digs.  Check out our wall art for more options.

Hope you enjoyed these simple tricks and must-haves for the start of the summer.  Study hard and make the work you put in during the year pay off.  You are going to have a great summer when it is all over!

As you are deciding on how to decorate your new dorm room don’t forget to bring some life to your new home by adding some color with wall art. Everyone wants to make a personal statement and outfit their room in a way that reflects their own personality. After you have selected your bedding you can add a splash of color to those bare white walls with peel and stick wall décor. Wall art in the form of peel and stick can go a long way in a short and simple way. It easily brings that wanted flair and unique touch to your new home. At the end of the year the peel and stick art is easy to remove leaving the walls undamaged walls. It’s that simple.

It may be on your thoughts right now – just how to make your tiny dorm room feel more homey and inviting? By adding a few unique dorm accessories to your dorm room you can easily transform your space into the place to hang with your friends.

Wall décor is sometimes overlooked in the dorm room. Why not use functional art work to add that homey touch – like some of this great wall art from Dorm Digs. Butch and Harold have also created unique peel and stick frames that are perfect for your dorm walls. These are just a few suggestions, but with a couple items from Dorm Digs it’s easy to bring the walls of your dorm room to life.

Closet accessories are made to solve storage problems. Dorm Digs has some storage and organization essentials that can go a long way in that tiny dorm room space of yours. After you evaluate your space, then choose over the door shoe racks, belt and scarf holders, under bed storage units and collapsible bins to help organize your space and accessories. After all, a girl can’t have too many accessories.

These are just a few suggestions to get you started in transforming your dorm room into a space you’ll love. For more dorm room accessories visit Dorm Digs.