Scroll through TikTok during the weeks leading up to college move-in, and it's hard to miss. Videos of perfectly styled dorm rooms rack up thousands of views as students reveal patterned bedding, custom artwork and spaces that look straight out of a magazine.
For Neely MaKinster, that online fascination became her business. Through her company, Finley Lane, the Memphis-based interior designer helps college students turn small dorm rooms into personalized spaces that reflect their style.
"Social media plays a huge role in a lot of it," the 23-year-old MaKinster said. "The girls want the reveal video and want to post the TikTok of their dorm. It has definitely heavily influenced the entire business of dorm rooms."
MaKinster said she prefers to start working with young women and their parents around May since that is when they finalize their dorm selection and roommate plans for the upcoming school year, though she takes clients long before and throughout the summer.
MaKinster said her design process includes custom art paintings and usually starts with one typically overlooked focal piece.
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"A lot of times I like to base it on their fabrics, specifically their pillow," she said. "Most of my paintings are fun and school based, and I do a lot of girly stuff like butterflies."
Despite the social media popularity, MaKinster said she has noticed a spike in requests to have more personalized dorm decor rather than once popular "cookie-cutter" dorm aesthetic.
"People are tired of the all-white look," MaKinster said. "They're wanting to see more color and patterns and make it really unique. I'm seeing a lot of people truly expressing themselves and what they like."
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MaKinster said decorating the dorm room is the first step college kids take while going into adulthood.
"It's the first place they're able to say what they want," MaKinster said. "What's their style? It's a chance to start branching into that area of their life, and I think that's very special."
While averaging less than 130 square feet, MaKinster said designing the small space is harder than decorating a house.
"When it comes to decorating a dorm room, you're dealing with a very compact space with given furniture," MaKinster said. "You can't technically drill into the wall, so you're hanging everything with command strips and hooks, which can be very challenging."
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For Jackson-based designer Lisa Dyess, decorating dorm rooms is about more than creating an "Insta-worthy" space.
Long before the internet, Dyess first designed her own dorm room when she was a student in the 1980s.
"I realized early on that my dorm room was boring and that I needed to jazz it up," Dyess said.
In 2015, she led a volunteer effort to redesign more than 20 dorm rooms and common areas at the Mississippi School for the Blind and Deaf, creating tactile artwork using bold colors and textured surfaces so students with different levels of vision could experience the art.
"I remembered how homesick I felt in my dorm," Dyess said. "I didn't want these kids to come in and feel homesick, because that's depressing."
Dyess applied that same approach to her daughter's dorm room, transforming the plain cinderblock space with peel-and-stick wallpaper and personalized décor in just a few weeks. After the makeover gained traction on TikTok, other parents began asking her to design rooms for their daughters as well.
"I wanted it to show personality and stand out instead of copying whatever everyone else is doing," Dyess said.
Today, Dyess decorates several dorm rooms each move-in season, working with students throughout the state and beyond. She collaborates with roommates and parents, balancing different styles, personalities and budgets.
Dyess said while the decor may seem frivolous, it's worth the hype.
"The very first thing I say to them is, 'This is the dumbest investment you're going to make," Dyess said. "This is all for bragging rights on a picture and that you're not going to sell it and get your money back."
Dyess said decorating their dorm is a crucial step to becoming an adult.
"Planning their dorms is like a rite of passage; it's like they're planning their first wedding," Dyess said.
Dyess believes social media has accelerated the trend, particularly in the South, where dorm-room reveals have become part of move-in culture. But she hopes students remember that the goal isn't to outdo one another.
"I hope recruitment is not dependent on what their dorm looks like or what shoes they're wearing," Dyess said. "I hope it should just be based on the girls and their personality."
While prices vary from client to client, decorators said their services range from $500 to $25,000.
Mississippi State University student Addison Rose knew going into her freshman year that she wanted her dorm room not to look like anyone else's.
"We just wanted to bring something different to the table, something with a fun design and a bunch of different colors going through the room," Addison said. "I wanted everybody to feel comfortable when they came into my room, so I tried to make it as homey as possible."
Addison said she still uses the furniture for her apartment this year.
"It just made it a lot easier for me," Addison said. "I'm not big on decorating, but I like for things to look nice and having someone help and guide me through that made the process much easier and I feel like she was able to bring our ideas to life."
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Her mother, Candace Rose of Flowood, said the process started in May when Addison got her dorm room assignment.
"My daughter and her roommate knew they wanted to do something different and unique, but we couldn't figure out how to pull it together," Candace said. "That's when we got Lisa involved so we can pull together their unique ideas."
When move-in day came around, Dyess, the Roses and Addison's roommate family came together to assemble the dorm room. Candace said the assembly process lasted hours, starting at 9 a.m. and lasting until 6 p.m.
Dyess said families should embrace the experience. For many students, decorating a dorm is the first opportunity to design a space that is entirely their own.
"Moving into a dorm has so many unknowns," Dyess said. "You're away from home, and it's your first big move. I just want anybody to be able to go back to their dorm and have it feel homey."
— Mary Evans writes for the Clarion Ledger and can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Dorm decor trends bring Pinterest to life in MS colleges, universities