A universally agreed fact of college is that dorm room lighting is bad. Overhead florescent lighting has been the name of the game for my past two years in on-campus housing, and I avoid touching my light switches like the plague. Overdramatic? Maybe, but for me, a lamp and some fairy lights goes miles in making my dorm room feel like my room at home. 

Lighting is an aspect of dorm decorating we don’t often think about, but can affect us dramatically. Red light has been proven to not disturb our natural clocks, while blue and white lights can help boost energy. An opposite effect, dim illuminating lights can send signals to make us sleepy.

If you live in a rainy place like I do, a warm yellow light, or a vitamin D lamp, gives the effect that the sun is in your dorm, even if it’s not outside. And if you live in a room with no windows (which could be the case in some dorms), then mimicking natural light is important so your room doesn’t feel like a concrete box. 

Need some lighting inspiration to make that desk pop and that dorm lighting less cringy? Here’s a roundup of six stylish and functional desk lamps for every style and necessity. 

Table of Contents

1. Organizer Desk Lamp

Desk space is valuable real estate in dorms. My desk space this year is cramped with the edition of a desktop computer, so a lamp with storage is a great solution. 

This organizer lamp, available at Target for $15, offers places to put pens and pencils, charge your phone, and stash essentials like page markers and post-it notes. Freeing up drawer space for notebooks makes it worth it, and if you want to eventually upgrade, it’s easy to give away at the end of the year to someone else living in a dorm with little desk space.