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The Best Dorm Lights to Create the Perfect Ambience
One effective way to make the transition from home to college smoother and less overwhelming is by transforming your dorm room into a personalized space that reflects your unique style and preferences. An important aspect of creating the right ambience in a dorm room is choosing the right lighting.
With an endless amount of dorm lights available nowadays, it’s challenging to determine what the best options are that not only suit your needs but also enhance the overall aesthetic of the room. In this blog, you’ll find the top dorm lights that can help you create the ultimate ambience for a homey and relaxing space.
Why Lighting Makes a Difference
Dorm lights play a significant role in setting the mood and feel of your living space. Most dorm rooms feel cramped and uninspiring, but the addition of different lighting can actually make it feel bigger and less bland.
Besides providing essential illumination, they also contribute to the overall dorm decor, creating a cozy and inviting environment. Additionally, lights can have a positive impact on mental health, productivity, and well-being, which is why it’s crucial to choose the right lighting for your dorm room or college apartment.
Which Dorm Lights Should You Choose?
When it comes to finding the right dorm lights, it’s important to consider factors such as functionality, aesthetics, and overall size. From ambient lighting that sets a relaxed atmosphere to task lighting that can help you study more efficiently, there are numerous options available to match your individual preferences and requirements.
Additionally, you’ll want to be mindful of your roommate if you’re living in a single room with them. Some lights might be too distracting for them to study or sleep properly, so be sure to talk to them beforehand about adding different lighting to the shared space.
The 18 Best Dorm Lights for Students
Below, you’ll find various types of dorm lights, including string lights, desk lamps, floor lamps, and lights projectors, along with their unique features and benefits.
Whether you’re looking to add warmth and coziness to your dorm or want to completely transform your college living space, you’ll find an array of unique lighting solutions for any scenario.
Mushroom Table Lamp
This unique mushroom-shaped lamp will bring some much-needed ambient light into your dorm and serve as a cool decorative item that your friends will love. The lamp has the ability to change between 11 different static colors and 17 dynamic changing colors. It’s also available in a larger tree-shaped size.
Custom Neon Sign
This custom neon sign light provides students with a stylish and functional lighting solution that can be tailored to their individual preferences. With a variety of colors, fonts, and sizes to choose from, the light has the ability to showcase any student’s personality while also serving as eye-catching dorm decor.
LED Strip Lights
LED light strips are another popular option amongst college students for a number of reasons — they’re inexpensive, easy to install, and highly customizable. The amount of colors to choose from is practically endless, and they can be used anywhere around your dorm. You can attach them to your walls, under your desk, behind your TV, or around your bed frame.
Charging Table Lamp
Some lighting options only provide illumination, but this multifunctional LED table lamp has the ability to charge your devices. When you’re sitting at your desk or in bed, you can conveniently plug in your phone or laptop into one of the two built-in charging ports (USB-A and USB-C) and a convenient AC outlet.
Additionally, the lamp has a three different brightness levels to match your desired needs, whether that be warm ambient light while reading a book late at night or a brighter setting for study sessions. It even has touch controls so you can easily adjust the lighting.
String Lights
String lights, like the ones seen here, are some of the most popular lighting options for dorms because they can instantly change the look of your dorm, and they provide warm ambient light for a more relaxing environment.
These ones come with clear clips for hanging up pictures, which adds an extra decorative element to them. They also have eight lighting modes that can be adjusted with the remote control.
Lava Lamp
I don’t know about you, but I always wanted a lava lamp for my room growing up. Now that you’re in college, a lava lamp will be the perfect addition to your dorm.
When it’s comes to ambient light that can enhance the feel of a living space, it doesn’t get much better than a lava lamp. It’s a timeless piece that will look really cool as one of your dorm lights.
Modern Desk Lamp
If you’re looking for a high-quality desk lamp to help you work on course assignments and study more efficiently, this is the one for you. The lamp has a sleek, minimalistic design, so it will look great sitting on your desk.
It also comes with multiple functions to increase its practicality, including the 15 different light settings, fully adjustable frame, and frosted shade for softer light that’s better on the eyes.
Steampunk Lamp
Are you looking for dorm lights that have more of an industrial style to them? This steampunk lamp has a unique and rustic design. The cage lampshade, metal pipe lamp body, and sturdy wooden base combine to provide an antique, farmhouse feel to any environment.
LED Floor Lamp
With four color temperatures, a dimmer feature, and a 330-degree adjustable lamp head, this LED floor lamp is packed full of functionality, allowing for a more personalized lighting experience. Along with those features, it has touch controls as well as a magnetic remote control, which can be used up to 25 feet away.
Hatch Restore Smart Light
The Hatch Restore Smart Light is so much more than just a light; it has smart capabilities that help you get a better night’s sleep. Hatch Restore acts as a sound machine, alarm clock, and smart light all in one.
The versatile sleep aid has a soft-glow reading light that that also acts as a sunrise and sunset light to improve your sleep routine. Along with its light features, Restore will emit calming sounds — that you can customize — to help you fall asleep faster.
Hanging Vine Lights
Adding some greenery to your dorm is a good way to make the space look more lively and aesthetically pleasing. Instead of spending time trying to maintain a bunch of real plants, you can hang these artificial ivy vine dorm lights to instantly enhance the atmosphere of your room.
The lights not only serve as a functional light source but also add an element of warmth and comfort. The natural-looking foliage intertwined with soft glowing lights creates a relaxing ambiance, perfect for unwinding after a long day on campus.
Star Projector
This star projector will take your dorm living experience to the next level. With 16 different colors and its ability to project a stunning display of stars and aurora, it can turn any dorm room into a colorful and relaxing environment.
The projector also doubles as a Bluetooth speaker and white noise machine, allowing you to play your favorite music or calming sound effects, including rain, forest, and ocean sounds.
Clip-On Lamp
The nice thing about this clip-on lamp is how versatile it is. It can be used all around your around dorm, whether you want to clip it to your desk, bedside table, or dorm chair. For light modes, it has a warm light, cool light, and natural light.
The flexible gooseneck allows the lamp to bend at any angle, making it perfect to use while studying or reading a book at night without disturbing your roommate.
Curtain Lights
Another excellent way to decorate your dorm and enhance its overall ambiance is with string lights. By hanging up these string lights — which have 11 different light modes — you’ll turn your dorm into a comfortable and inviting space for you to relax in. The lights are easy to install and come with a remote control so you can easily adjust the colors, light modes, and timer.
Light Cube
Thanks to its vibrant, decorative lighting and durable, waterproof design, this LED light cube makes for one awesome dorm light. The cube comes with a remote control that can be used to switch between any of its 16 colors and different lighting effects.
The one seen here is the 8-inch model, but it’s also available in bigger sizes, including a 16-inch cube. They even offer a 16-inch storage cube, which would be perfect for storing your various dorm items.
Flameless Candles
Candles are the perfect lighting solution to create a warm and cozy atmosphere, but real candles aren’t allowed in dorm rooms due to being a potential fire hazard. Luckily, with these flameless LED candles, you can still enjoy all the same benefits of real candles without getting in trouble from your RA.
Touch Table Lamp
Enjoy soft and warm white lighting in your dorm with this touch control table lamp. Just tap the top of the light once to adjust the brightness of the white light. And if you want different mood lighting, you can long press for RGB mode.
From there, you can cycle through all of the vibrant color options. Whether you’re trying to sleep, study, or watch a movie, the smart LED lamp can provide the perfect atmosphere for any situation.
Lighted Vanity Mirror
Doing your makeup in your dorm just became a whole lot easier with this lighted vanity mirror. It’s rechargeable, travel friendly, and has three different lighting modes. The mirror also has a slim, compact design, so it shouldn’t take up much space. You can easily turn the mirror on and off or adjust the brightness with the smart touch sensor button.