It’s no secret that chocolate is one of life’s little guilty pleasures. If you’re here, it’s probably your most treasured comfort food! You could probably use a lot of it if you’re heading to college for the first time (or second, third, fourth…. The separation doesn’t necessarily get easier each time!) this fall. You can be feeling totally overwhelmed at the prospect of the life change ahead of you. You’ll be living in a new place, with new people and you’ll be on your own for (possibly) the first time in your life. That kind of responsibility can be exciting—but scary, too!
That’s why in your new turf, you need a safe place, a "home base," where you can feel warm and fuzzy and calm. Turning your dorm or apartment bedroom into your safe place can help you relax on your down time and boost your confidence during the day when you go out to face the new challenges that await you. Hmm… Doesn’t that sound a bit like the effects of ingesting our most treasured comfort food?
This idea is equally true for those of us not packing up this fall to leave our parents’ homes (because we’re already gone or we’re still too young). Your room is your private temple. You should feel safe and comfortable and above all, free to be yourself in your temple! Your room should be like your favorite comfort food. And what better way for your room to boost your endorphins like chocolate does than to turn your private temple into a chocolate sanctuary?
Did you know that there might be something more that attracts you to chocolate than the feel-good endorphins and the way it sends a rush of happiness up and down your spine? Brown—the color that’s made up of pretty much all of the other colors in the spectrum—is a neutral color, but unlike the other neutral colors (black, white, and grey), it has many psychological associations (of which chocolate is definitely one!) that makes the color a comforting, warm, and earthy tone to our psyches. So decorating in warm brown tones can do more than just serve an ode to your favorite treat. (Hey, if teens have plastered their rooms with posters of the latest music and film celebrity crazes for the past half a century, why can’t we put up some art that reminds us of the chocolate we adore?) It can actually serve to soothe you and turn your home base or your private temple into a psychologically calming safe place!
Luckily, you don’t have to spend a fortune or hire a personal designer to turn your dorm or room into a chocolate haven. (Although if you’re able to, be my guest. The rest of us want to spare some extra money for more of the edible kind of brown.) A lot of nation-wide retail stores have incredible prices and a wider variety of selection than you’d think—including enough chocolate-themed décor to decorate your whole house! (Well, if you were so inclined.)
The easiest way to change the mood of your room is to start with one of the biggest parts of it: the wall! If you’re allowed to paint the wall or put up wallpaper, choose a warm, earthy tone of brown. You’ll likely find a shade of paint or a kind of wallpaper with "chocolate" right in the title—that’s exactly what you want! If you’re not allowed to paint a dorm or apartment wall, look for wall stickers, which are often removable. You can use these to place bold-shaped splashes of brown across your wall and help center your chocolate theme.
The rest of the décor is a matter of your personal preference. All of us like chocolate here, but that doesn’t mean that all of us have the same taste in decoration! Fortunately, we’ve got a lot to choose from!
As a home furnishing store, Bed Bath & Beyond (and other stores like it) probably has the widest variety of chocolate-themed furnishing available in store. (And from now on, when I say "chocolate" before a piece of home décor, I do not mean it’s edible!) That includes chocolate bed ensembles (comforters, quilts, duvets, sheets, etc.); side tables; curtains; window panels; shades; ceramic vases; slipcovers (if you have a chair or couch in your dorm or room); rugs; wall art; magazine racks; and even a chocolate daybed set.
If you want to leak some of that warm, fuzzy chocolate-lovin’ into the other rooms of your house, Bed Bath & Beyond has chocolate shower curtains; chocolate bathroom ensembles (toothbrush holder, soap dispenser, soap dish, etc.); chocolate dinnerware; and chocolate kitchen ensembles (towels, mitts, etc.). If you’re a little crafty, you can buy a Make-Your-Own Pillow kit with chocolate-themed options! Oh, and let’s not forget the chocolate cookbooks, fondue sets, hot beverage makers, and chocolate fountains that you can use to make some actual edible chocolate to enjoy, but that’s beside the point at hand…
If you can’t find this stuff at your local retail location or you’ve yet to get a Bed Bath & Beyond in your neighborhood, you can order your chocolate décor online! Visit Bed Bath & Beyond and type "chocolate" in the search box.
Target (Target) and Wal-Mart (Walmart) also have a wide variety of chocolate décor, but since they sell so much else, make sure you type "chocolate dormitory" or "chocolate décor" into the search box to get the home accents to come up first. (You might get too distracted wading through pages and pages of chocolate candy bars!)
Besides a few other styles of the items mentioned above, you’ll find chocolate recliners, loveseats, loungers, desks, tufted benches, blankets, drawer chests, headboards, wallpaper, wall stickers, coat racks, coffee tables, barstools, and toy caddies (which are great for holding school supplies, too; who knows, though, you might have a few toys!)—to name (quite) a few!
Chocolate is practically a way of life. It brings us comfort and it brings us joy. A chocolate-themed dorm or bedroom can do the same. Once you’ve done a little redecorating, you’ll be able to lay back, kick up your feet, and munch on a little chocolate in your own chocolate paradise!
