Is your child heading off for his first year in college?  Want to make his institutional dorm room feel more like home?  Well, you can't be there to bake cookies, but you can help him decorate, design, and organize his space to give it a little personality.

1.  Decorate with decals:  Dorm room walls are often made of an ugly, uninspiring, puke-yellow plaster.  But you can't paint or paper them without facing some hefty fines.  Enter removable wall decals, which add personality to bare walls.

2.  Recycled furniture:  Not only is repurposed furniture great for the environment, it's got a cool vibe too.  This table is made from old magazines; if you don't want to buy it for your college-bound kid, then with a little ingenuity, you certainly can craft it yourself.

3.  iPod your alarm clock:  Your college student's roomie will thank you when he wakes up to an iPod playlist rather than a droning buzz of an alarm clock.

4.  Grid and bear it storage:  Give the floors a break with the on-the-wall grid storage system from The Container Store.  Shelves and hooks make an easy, out-of-the-way place for storage.

5.  Big, bold bedding:  Graphic and bold bedding adds a punch of intense color to a drab room.  These inexpensive duvets from Target are a welcome sight at the end of a long school day.

6.  Just eat it:  Even if your kid doesn't have a kitchen, he'll need a basic table service for snacks, pizza, and Easy Mac.  French Bull tableware are cheap and cool.

7.  Lie like a rug:  A distinct rug will protect his feet and look pretty sweet.  This rug mimics Japanese papers in a toasty 100% wool.

What cool dorm room finds have you purchased?  Share here!