If you’re the parent of someone who recently collected their exam results, it might be coming up to the time when your ‘not so little one’ flees the nest to go to university. Living away from home can be daunting at first, so here’s how to help your son or daughter turn their university halls into a home from home.

A place for everything

A student bedroom is a multi-purpose area which is used for things like studying, eating and socialising as well as sleeping, and this usually means it can become messy easily. Students aren’t exactly known for being neat and tidy at the best of times, but investing in some storage boxes for things like books and toiletries should help them keep things in order. At the very least, they’ll thank you at the end of the year when they come to move everything out for the summer.

Halls to call their own

The rooms in a student block are usually identical, not to mention pretty dim and drab. It’s more than likely that you won’t be allowed to paint, wallpaper, or even attach things to the walls in stricter halls, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the dorm room personal to your young adult. Go for low-commitment but high-impact statement pieces like rugs and throws, and add pops of colour with cushion. You don’t want to spend a great deal as most students only live in halls during their first year, so try budget-friendly stores like Ikea. You could even make your own accessories – create home-made bunting from scraps of fabric or use wine bottles for vases, and fill the room with personal knick-knacks to add character.

Picture perfect

Photos are a simple, great way to brighten up a boring wall. Not only that, but they provide a link to family and friends back home, as well as giving new friends an insight into your son or daughter’s personality and interests, making for a good conversation starter. Getting photos developed from a camera has become a thing in the past, but most supermarkets have photo printing machines which allow you to transfer photos from your phone or computer and print. Peg polaroid style photos to a line of string and hang, or if you want to show your teen just how on the pulse you are, you could cut into squares and mount on white card to create an Instagram-style display.

Bed times

Your young adult will, no doubt, spend a lot of time hibernating in bed, so it might as well be comfortable. Invest in some luxury sheets and bedding, and it’s a good opportunity for them to upgrade to something a little more ‘grown up’ than their teenage bedroom at home. Bedding is an area where you can splurge as it can come with your young student when they move at the end of the year, try iLiv’s ready-made collections, such as Meadow or Decoupage.

Light it up

Lighting in student digs can be pretty clinical, but desk or reading lamps can help soften things. Fairy lights are always a popular feature in any student bedroom, but for more unusual varieties try notonthehighstreet.com – we especially love the scrabble lights and these colourful butterflies, but you could just as easily make your own by tying colourful bits of fabric into bows on a standard line of tiny bulbs. A stylish lampshade will help make the dorm feel cosier, but a really cool trick is to draw on a lightbulb with a marker or Sharpie – it will decorate the walls with your design.