As you may have noticed recently I have been MIA both on the blog and social media, the reason being is that I have been a little distracted preparing myself for university. If you didn’t know the 17th August was A Level results day in the UK, the day on which university places are decided! I was lucky enough to achieve the grades for my first choice university so therefore I will be moving out of home with my parents and into Uni halls which for me is both extremely exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. So the main reason why I haven’t been posting is because I have been getting myself prepared and packed and moving into uni. This means there should be some university based content on the way!
This is my first university post and its going to be a haul based in the items I bought for my bedroom. I hope this post is helpful for people who are unsure what they will need to take to university (if you’re not there already) and where to buy it from.
To give you a bit of background, Im going to be living in self-catered halls with an en suite bathroom.
The first things I bought were a duvet, 2 pillows and a mattress protector. Some universities provide mattress protectors and others don’t so I advise checking whether one will be provided for you or not. Duvets and pillows are also quite a personal thing and everyones preference is different so just buy what will make yourself feel most comfortable and allow you to get the best nights sleep possible.
My room has a single bed however I wanted to get a double duvet so I can be extra snuggly this year and it also means I won’t have to buy a new one next year if I end up with a double bed, I got my duvet from IKEA for £20 which I think for a double, feather duvet is a very good price. My pillows are from Waitrose and cost £17 each, I have now realised that buying them in Waitrose was probably not the most budget friendly thing to do however at the time I hadn’t come across anywhere selling feather pillows. On the other hand the mattress protector I bought was from Dunelm and only cost £8!
Sticking to the bed theme I have bought 2 sets of bedding, one from IKEA that cost me £35 and a set from Dunelm that was £28. As you may notice through out this post I have gone for a pale grey and pale pink colour scheme with rose gold/copper and stainless steel accessories, I wanted to keep the bedding fairly understated to keep it simple so I went for two sets of white bedding with varying different grey stripes, the set from IKEA is double sided so has a grey linen underside which gives you more options for the ‘look’ of your room. Both these sets are good because they come with multiple pillow cases meaning you don’t have to buy extras.
I have also bought cushions and a blanket/throw all from IKEA, but these are definitely not essential, they just allow you to add more personality to your room and make it more cosy and comfortable. So to continue my colour scheme I bought one large grey velvet pillow case and 2 smaller linen pale pink pillow cases and then a large, chunky knit pale pink throw. I planning on putting this on the end of my bed and using whenever I get cold or snuggling on the sofa.
Ok thats it for bedding, the next thing I though would be important is plenty of storage! especially as you won’t be fully aware of how much storage is provided within your room and all uni rooms differ! I have just bought several storage boxes from IKEA as they were super inexpensive, around £2.25 for a large plastic storage box with a lid, I have also got an IKEA SKUBB to give me more use out of my wardrobe. I have bought coat hangers and a laundry bag to go in my wardrobe. Also sticking to the laundry theme I got a mini iron which cost £9 from Dunelm, which I’m sure will get the job done.
Ok moving onto my desk area, I have bought a lot of desk organisation and stationary. Wilko is honestly great for this as they have some really lovely designs as well as good quality, well known stationary brands for a lot less than they would be anywhere else. I just bought a new set of basic stationary to get me started and if I need anything else I can buy it when I get there as well as 3 leaver arch files to get me started!
The last thing I bought is a printer for my room so I don’t need to have to worry about printing in the library, again this is definitely not a necessity but may make your life easier. If you are thinking about buying a printer then I would recommend visiting Currys and PC World as they have got some great offers on at the moment, I managed to get a HP printer that does colour and black and white, wireless printing, photocopying and scanning as well as printing double sided automatically for £39 which I thought was a pretty good deal as I was expecting to pay around £100.
I moved into my university accommodation on Sunday and love how it has turned out! I also made sure I printed off photos of my friends and family to make my room more personal and interesting. I hope reading this post has helped and means you can avoid some of the mistakes I made! Also good luck to those of you starting university this year!
Love Holl x
Holly With A Why 