Home sweet home: how to make your room at Cuth’s your own

By Emily Stoddart

28th September 2024… I moved into Refounders house, Parsons Field and saw my room for the next nine months for the first time. It was (at first) a typical student room: plain and painfully generic.

28th June 2025… Exactly nine months later (almost to the hour), I left my room, knowing I would likely never see it again. The feeling of lying in my bed, looking out the window and leaving my flat for the last time was completely surreal and made me reflect on my first year at Cuth’s.

Making my room a pleasant space was truly a godsend throughout the year, in particular during the (overwhelming) first few weeks of university. From being a nice place to hang out with friends (many a 3am debrief took place in my room), to being a space where I relaxed after classes (and binged Modern Family) to where I worked on my (overdue) Russian translations, my room became a home away from home. Amidst all the mess and memories, my room became my second home — cluttered, comforting, and completely mine.

So, how do you turn a Cuth’s room into a home sweet home and not just a glorified storage unit with a bed and Wi-Fi? Here are my top tips…

Tip #1: Fairy lights

When I moved into my room and started unpacking, one of the first things I put up were my fairy lights. I had packed no fewer than 4 sets and set them up over my room. Immediately, it began to feel like my own space, and created a warm and relaxing ambience. I loved turning my main light off, and having my (many) fairy lights on- it truly transformed the room from basic student accommodation into a cozy little sanctuary. There was nothing more comforting than lying in bed, reading or watching TV, with my fairy lights glowing around me. They didn’t just light up the room — they made it feel entirely mine.

Later on in the year, I discovered bottle fairy lights on Amazon (where you put fairy lights in old- usually alcohol- bottles). I bought a few sets and put them in my old vodka/wine bottles. They made a very cool (albeit very very student-y) decoration.

Photos – my bottle lights, fairy lights

Note: college does not allow fairy lights that plug into the wall, so make sure you get battery powered ones. The batteries in mine lasted well, and I had a battery recharger for when they got low.

Tip #2: Free Prints/photos

I put a lot of photos up on my wall. And I mean a lot. When I moved in, I put a collection of ‘stuff’ on my pinboard (supplied by college) and continued adding things during the year- including my freshers wristband, ball tickets, album posters, polaroids, drawings… you name it!

Throughout the year, I also printed off photos from uni to add to my walls and ended up with quite an impressive photo wall by the end of the year! I used FreePrints to print off my photos. It’s an app/website that gives you 45 free prints a month, meaning you can print out up to 45 photos FOR FREE and only pay shipping, which itself is usually between £1.50 and £3.50. Every month, I went through my photos and printed off my favourites to add to my collection. By the end of the year, I had a plethora of photos in my room- both from home and uni, and it helped my space feel like my own.

Free Prints also allow you to print off one poster for free (apart from the £5.99 shipping fee) each month. By the end of the year, I had accumulated three: an album cover of the song was named after; a Klute poster (I had unfortunately missed out on one of the actual ones from John Klute…) and a House MD poster (my favourite TV series- Hugh Laurie is an icon). The posters are a great cheap and easy way to personalise your room.

Photos- my posters, my pin board

Tip #3: rugs/beanbags etc

My final tip is to add a rug/beanbag to your room. I bought a rug up to Durham after the Christmas holidays and it completed my room. My multicoloured, mismatched rug added a pop of colour to my floor and helped to make the room seem more organised, which it was often not! Urban outfitters does some really lovely, colourful rugs, but if that isn’t your vibe, then you may be able to find something on eBay, Vinted or IKEA!

I would also really recommend a beanbag, although I didn’t have one in my first year. One of my best friends had one in her room, and it made her room such a lovely hang out spot as no one would have to sit on the floor (we could sit on her bed, desk chair or beanbag). She also used to take it to the kitchen during pres and afters and use it as an extra chair, making it a very versatile piece of furniture. I will definitely be buying one for my second-year room!

Photos- my beloved rug (I wish I could remember where I bought it from, but it’s at least a decade old), my friend’s beanbag

Final thoughts!

At the end of the day, how you choose to decorate your room is up to you! I always found it quite interesting to see how other people decorated their rooms, especially given that all the rooms have a very similar layout (in Parsons, that is- on the Bailey, no two rooms are the same!).

I hope that these tips will help you create your room and Cuth’s a home away from home.