The experience of living in a 300-person residence hall is a far cry from the comforts of home and students ponder what to take and what to leave behind as the packing process begins. Creating your own cinder-block palace with 299 neighbors and a communal bathroom will be a challenge.

However, there is always a way to make a tiny dorm room more like home, sweet home.

Jim Kerr, owner of Wild Card, 346 E. College Ave., said students just need to start out simple; they don't need to decorate every inch of every wall on move-in day. Wild Card carries a variety of options for decorating any college dorm room, including lights, picture frames and other accessories.

"Our paper lanterns are a huge seller," Kerr said. They are small light bulbs inside thick paper that are decorated with bright colors and small cutouts, creating patterns on the walls when illuminated. Lighting can make any room much brighter and anything from Christmas lights and tube lights to strobe and glow in the dark decorations can give a dorm room an instant facelift. "Be creative, and starting off with just the basics will make the decorating process easier," Kerr said. Lava lamps can also be a great way to express yourself and add a little light to a desk or empty corner shelf. The Appletree, 136 E. College Ave., offers a large selection of lava lamps to choose from, manager Larissa Harner said.

"Lava lamps are always something we keep in stock," Harner said. The Appletree also offers tapestries, which can be used in various ways in any dorm room.

"Just the size of [tapestries] really helps decorate almost anything," Harner said.

Tapestries can be found in almost any color, patter and size and that makes them great for decorating an empty wall, ceiling or bed, Harner said. Posters can also do the trick when it comes to covering space and expressing your interests. "You can find posters for just about everything," said Jodi Cook, manager of Gift Adventures, 137 E. Beaver Ave.

For rooms that are bland, a little color any way you can get it makes a difference, Cook said. Gift Adventures sells wall decorations called jelly gems, Cook said. These are colorful sticky shapes and designs that stick onto most walls and windows, which make looking out to a street full of sleet and snow bearable.

Every dorm room needs a little school spirit, and the Penn State Student Bookstore, 330 E. College Ave., provides everything from posters and blankets to computer paraphernalia for the student who can't get enough Penn State memorabilia, manager Norm Brown said. "We try to focus on both the students and the regular passing-by fan," Brown said. "But recently, for students, the life-size Joe Paterno cutout has been a huge seller."