Congratulations! You're getting your first apartment ready, either because you're starting college or because you finally have enough money to move out of your dorm or your family home. Either way, you've finally got your own space, and you want to customize the bedroom in particular, but you're not sure how. Check out some of these College Apartment Bedroom Ideas to see if they'll work.

1) Storage Cube Shelves

Some of your bedroom furniture will be customized for you, but if you're only going to stay in this apartment until you finish college, then you'll have to leave some of your furniture behind eventually. Try getting some easy to assemble pieces like this cube storage organizer since it's easy to put together and take apart, and it doesn't cost much. That way, you can use it during college and decide whether or not to take it with you later.

2) DIY Cheap Room Divider

If you have roommates, you're probably looking for some privacy. After all, that's one of the privileges of being able to afford your own apartment, so if you're sharing a bedroom, try creating room dividers to give yourself a spot that's isolated a bit from your roommate. This way, you can study peacefully. If you don't want to buy an expensive one, you can use these directions from Organizing Moms to build a customized room divider.

3) DIY Mega Dartboard

If you have your own space, you should take advantage of it. One thing that could help you out when you're studying in your room is to have a simple and mindless distraction so that you can take a break from studying and relax for a bit to clear your mind. We found this video tutorial for a mega dartboard that you can build and hang in your room. It's a cool thing to play with, and it could be an excellent study aid.

4) Small Desktop Mirror

Since this is your college apartment, there's a good chance that you'll have to move away after college for a job or that you'll want to move closer to home once you're done with school. That means you need stuff that's either cheap or easy to move, but that's comfortable enough to use for four years. This small mirror should be comfortable for putting on makeup, shaving, or brushing hair, and it won't be as expensive or hard to move as a big vanity mirror.

5) Computer Desk With Shelves

A computer desk is obviously going to be important since you'll need to do a lot of work on your computer for your classes. Unless you have a big apartment, you're probably going to have to set up your computer desk in your bedroom, and we suggest getting a desk that includes shelves so that you can store all your work there in an organized way that doesn't take up all your bedroom space. This desk from Amazon has built-in shelves for staying organized, and you can put a desktop computer on it if you need to.

6) Paint It

You've probably lived in your family home or in dorms before, so you probably haven't had a lot of choices when it comes to serious customization like painting, but now that you have your own apartment, you should be able to do things like repaint your bedroom. You can make your room feel more like home by painting it in your favorite color, and if you don't have a lot of painting experience, you can use these directions from Architectural Digest to paint your room.

7) Lap Desk

If you like to work from your bed, you're going to need something to work on. Leaving a laptop on your lap on soft blankets or clothes for a long tie can cause it to overheat since they're designed to sit on flat, hard surfaces, so if you're using it in bed a lot, you can get a lap desk like this one from Amazon to work from. It'll give you plenty of space, and you can still put your paperwork on the bed around you if you like to spread out.

8) Adulting, Please Wait...

Congratulations, you're adulting now! You might not feel like a full-grown adult if you've just moved out, but you've got your own apartment, and you're working hard every day as you get started with or continue your studies. If you're feeling like your adult status is dubious or just very new, this pillow might fit your mood perfectly. It says "Adulting, please wait…" with a loading symbol on it. You can use this to prop yourself up in bed when you're watching TV or using your laptop.

9) DIY Plywood Bed Frame

When it comes to a college apartment, low cost is often one of the biggest factors in stocking it. You probably don't have a lot of spare money while paying for college, and setting up a new apartment is expensive. If you have a little bit of time before the semester starts, we suggest using the directions in this video by HomeMadeModern to make a plywood bed frame. Plywood is cheaper than a lot of materials, making it a less expensive choice.

10) Bring Your Culture With You

Your culture is a vital part of who you are, and while it can take a lot more time and money than you'd like to furnish an apartment, it's important to include your culture in the new decorating scheme. If you're African American, something like this tapestry might speak to you, or you can get dreamcatchers if you're Native or french artwork if you're French. Art may seem like an unnecessary cost, but it'll help you feel at home and stay grounded while you study.

11) Refresh in Small Ways

You might not have time or energy for major changes once the semester has started, but there are still things you can do to keep your bedroom feeling fresh and comfortable. To keep the room from feeling stale, you can do small things to refresh it, like tucking things in differently on your bed or making minor changes like the ones Adrienne Breaux suggests in this Apartment Therapy article. These take little effort and no tools but can make a surprisingly significant difference.

12) Loft Bed Above Desk Station

If you have a small apartment, you might not have an extra room for an office, so you'll probably have to do a lot of your work from your bedroom. If you don't have a ton of room in your bedroom, you can optimize the space by getting a loft bed and office combination like this from Amazon. This has a loft bed with a desk and shelves underneath that you can use as an office for doing schoolwork comfortably.

13) Motivation

What motivates you? Are you in it for the love of your subject, to please your parents, or maybe because you want a high-paying job after college? Either way, you'll want a reminder of why you're going to college, and the bedroom is the best place for that because sometimes you'll need that reminder to convince you to get out of bed for those 8am classes. Try getting a tapestry like this, or one that fits your subject, to remind you of what all your work is for.

14) Brick Bookends

If you're just starting out, you probably don't have a lot of tools to use for setting up your furniture, but you'll need things like a bed, desk, and shelving for your bedroom, particularly if it has to double as an office. You can check out this list for things you can make with no tools, but the thing that really caught our eye was these brick bookends. All you need are a couple of bricks and some pain to make your own with any design you like.

15) Bedside Tray

If you like to work from your bed, you've probably found a couple of times that you needed a harder surface to set down a drink, plate of food, or a particular piece of paper or book. While you might be content to lay most of your things in your lap while working, a bedside tray like this one from Amazon will give you a place to set things down when you're feeling too lazy to go to a table or desk and want to stay in bed.

16) Drink or Study?

Drinking versus studying might be the hardest question a college student ever had to ask. If you struggle to choose between partying, drinking, or having fun and studying, or even just if you like to take a break to party, this bedroom poster might amuse you. It can be an excellent motivational poster since it'll remind you how important studying is and that you need to fight the urge to goof off or party sometimes so that you can pass your classes.

17) DIY Absorb Sound

If you like to listen to music, but you have roommates, or the apartment complex has a noise policy, it might be worth soundproofing just your bedroom so that you can play music without disturbing roommates or neighbors. You can use this video to make cheap sound-absorbing panels. This is great for anybody who listens to music to help them focus, and even if there's not a policy against music, they'll still help you keep out any noise from annoying roommates.

18) Portable Closet

You'll have to make some decisions when you set up your bedroom as to which pieces of furniture and decorations are important and which you're okay with getting rid of when you move out of your apartment after college. Your closet probably won't be sentimental, so you can get a cheap portable one like this. This one, in particular, is excellent because each cubby has doors that make it more comfortable to use for a long time.

19) Memory Foam

You're going to need a mattress, but the mattress could be the most expensive piece of furniture in your whole apartment. You might not feel comfortable using a mattress that's provided with the apartment, either, since they can have bed bugs. If you need to get a mattress but have a lot of moving expenses or just very little money, we recommend memory foam. You can get an eight-inch memory foam mattress like this one from Amazon for just over a hundred dollars.

20) Add Style

This apartment is temporary, so you don't want to put a ton of money, time, and effort into decorating, but you don't want to live somewhere bland and tasteless for up to four years, either. You can make your apartment look stylish by taking tips like the ones in this HGTV article to make a space like your nightstand look just a bit nicer and add style to your bedroom without spending a lot or doing a major renovation.

21) Drink Fridge

If you have roommates, you probably all have different things you like to drink, and you each need room for your favorite soda in the fridge. It gets crowded, and if you have a favorite drink in common with a roommate, you've probably noticed that yours disappears sometimes. To make sure that you always have the drinks you want, think about getting a drink fridge like this for your room. It also saves you the trouble of walking to the kitchen when you're binge-watching Netflix or writing a paper at 2am.

22) Curtain or Canopy Partition

If you have a roommate sharing a room with you, you've probably got more privacy than you would in a dorm, but not by much. Since you've got the luxury of an apartment, it'd be nice to have some privacy, and we'd suggest you make a canopy or curtain partition using the directions in this article so that you can separate your sections of the room from your roommate's space. This way, you can have some privacy to sleep or study.

23) Cheap Nightstand with Cloth Drawers

You'll need to get a lot of your furniture for cheap if you don't have a sizable savings account since you're already paying for college and probably furnishing an entire apartment. A cheap nightstand with a lot of storage like this one from Amazon can be a good place to start because it'll be easy to move when you move out if you want, it's inexpensive, and it helps you optimize your space if you have roommates and therefore limited room.

24) Deluxe Laundry Service

If you're moving into a new apartment from home, you might have had a laundry service. In other words, your parents might've done your laundry for you, but they won't now. In honor of this, we suggest getting a funny hamper like this that says "Deluxe Laundry Service." You're finally adulting, and you're your own laundry service now! This is also a good reminder that you have to actually do your laundry occasionally, no matter how busy and tired you are from studying. Try using it as a study break.

25) DIY Hidden Wireless Charging Desk

You're going to need a desk to work at, and if you're going to spend a lot of time and money on any part of the apartment, the desk might be the best place. After all, you're going to have a lot of work to do there over the next few years. If you've decided that it's worth having a high-quality desk, we'd suggest making one with hidden wireless charging using the instructions in this video. That way, you can charge your phone while you work.

26) Hamper with Handles

If you have roommates, you probably don't want to leave your hamper in a shared space since you'll each have to do separate laundry, so you'll want to get something that you can carry easily to the laundry room. If your laundry room is in your apartment, you have a luxury you probably didn't enjoy in dorms; you don't have to carry it up and down stairs or elevators, or even out of your apartment. This means you can get an easy-to-use handled hamper like this one instead of a laundry bag.

27) Go Somewhere

Where do you want to go more than anywhere in the world? Where are you going after college, either to work or because you're going to earn enough money to go on vacations? Wherever that place is, it'll be a great motivator for you during college, and sometimes that motivation is just what gets you out of bed in the morning. Since you're not sharing a tiny dorm, you can get a big tapestry like this with the place you aspire to be on it.

28) DIY Twin Murphy Bed

Murphy furniture is ideal for small spaces since you can use the furniture for a while and then fold it up into the wall when you don't need it. If you're sharing your apartment, or even if you just don't have enough room for a separate office, you can make a Murphy bed using these instructions or ask a family member or friend to make you one. Then, you can get a fold-down desk so that you can switch between using a room as a bedroom and office.

29) Welcome to the Shitshow

Welcome to the Shitshow. You're in college now, and if it's not your first year, you know it can be rough. You might also have wild or comically inept roommates, and either way, this tapestry applies. Since you've got your own space, you have the option of expressing yourself in your bedroom, even if you have apartment-mates, and a tapestry like this might be just what you need. It even has stars and a picture of beer to make the invitation seem grand and show that...well, there's a lot of drinking in college sometimes, particularly in off-campus apartments.

30) DIY Add Missing Doors

If you have roommates, you'll want to create as much privacy as possible since you're probably all happy to finally have your own place instead of an even more crowded dorm or your family home. This means that an open concept apartment probably isn't what you want, so if there are open closets and things like that with no doors, you can cover them quickly by using these directions to make a barn door. It doesn't take a lot of tools, and it makes a cool sliding door.

31) Keep Grinding

College is a grind, and you're probably going to feel disheartened sometimes, maybe before finals if your grades aren't as high as you'd like. You'll need some motivation, and the bedroom is the best place for it since it's personal and since that's when you'll need the motivation to get up and out of bed. Your bedroom is also the first place you see when you wake up. College is a long grind, so you could get a poster set like this from Amazon that accurately reflects the motivation college students need.

What're you thinking about doing in your bedroom? Did we come up with anything that helped you rethink your plans or figure out what to put in your bedroom? We'd love to hear about it in the comments below.