Turning Your Dorm into a Home: Top Tips and Stores
By Kiwi
I’ve heard a friend say that one can judge a person’s being from the state of their room. Obviously, your room back home has had its share of memories written on the walls and the little trinkets in it. Obviously, you can’t pack up the entire contents of your room and bring it to uni. However, as someone who has relocated twice during my studies in Wageningen, I’ve come up with quite a list of places to buy little trinkets, decor and furniture without breaking the bank. Furthermore, I have a couple of tips as well up my sleeve on how to transport the furniture to your student accommodation. Keep on reading!
Kringloop Wageningen
The local kringloop, Dutch for thrift store, down in Churchillweg 33 has everything from adult diapers to, you guessed it, furniture! They have interesting pieces such as old-school lockers (if you’re into that), or just beds and (new) mattresses.
I personally got an IKEA-looking dresser there for 12 euros somewhere in my second year and some XXL pretty frames for reduced prices. They also sell little antique decors and sometimes even creepy World War II era stuff you can decorate your room with. Furthermore, they will happily land you one of their hand trucks. Otherwise, you can also check the other thrift stores around Wageningen.
Wageningen Student Plaza
Wageningen Student Plaza is the holy grail of student one stop online (thrift) shopping destinations where you can get second hand items. You will mostly find furniture and kitchenware (and bikes and such), from students who are just leaving or spring cleaning.
It’s the mass Facebook group of probably everyone who has been in Wageningen and if you scout the listings early, maybe you can even get furniture that’s already located in your building – zero heavy lifting using shopping carts across the city required.
Furniture Dumpster Diving
I know this sounds gross, but believe me, you’ll find some good stuff if you’re vigilant about when students start to move out and have to get rid of their furniture. Yes, a lot of people end up selling it on Facebook marketplace, but with such high numbers of students moving out, not all of the furniture gets sold in time. Thus, they’ll probably get dumped around the entrance or outside your student buildings.
Again, not that much heavy lifting is required and sofas and chairs or desks dumped there are usually still in quite good condition. I’ve even seen a whole working fridge dumped outside Dijkgraaf. I’ve also gotten a picnic blanket and lampshades from there!
IKEA
Sometimes, people can be quite ‘iffy’ about using a second hand mattress or sheets. Well, you can always buy new furniture from IKEA delivered right to your doorstep as well for a small fee. I’ve gotten most of my sheets there and some app-controlled colour changing lamps as well, which adds a great deal of personality to my room, IMO!
Action
You can also almost find anything at Action. Organizers, sheets, lights, light adaptors, LED strips, mirrors, pretty bedside tables, shoe racks, incense holders, etc. I could go on forever but I’ll let you explore yourself. Most things you get there are usually the smaller furniture pieces, though, so don’t go there expecting a bed. However, you know that it’ll probably be quite a steal price-wise if you get something there.
Transport Matters
This is probably the most annoying part when it comes to moving furniture. If you or a friend have a valid license, you’re lucky! Then, you can rent a car for about 4 euros an hour from MyWheels or rent a minivan from Truck It or Tasman Verhuur. If you’re even luckier, you’d have a friend who has a car.
However, if you’re less lucky you can also try to get a bakfiets (cargo bike) from Idealis, which is free to borrow. However, during peak move-out season, you should probably try to book these a month in advance, as they only have 2.
The last, less efficient, but very popular method is by using the shopping carts from the nearest supermarkets. Yes, this may be highly annoying for the supermarket staff but, hey, we gotta do what we gotta do – it is a student city after all. Some of them might even allow you to borrow one in exchange of holding on your ID or other identification card while you use them. Asking is free!
This concludes my blog for today! I hope you get some inspiration or peace of mind about such stressful matters like getting a literal bed to sleep on. It is daunting, especially for internationals who have to move into an empty room from thousands of miles away. But don’t fret! You can easily adopt furniture from every corner of the city. Happy moving!
Cheers,
Kiwi
