New | How to design and furnish the perfect college dorm room

Settling into a new environment thousands of miles away from family, first-year university students have dormitory spaces to equip and make their own.

But with the plethora of youth-focused and design-led offerings available, dorm rooms no longer have to look like they were plucked from the pages of an Ikea catalogue.

"Anyone who has gone away to college knows that it can be a daunting prospect moving away and into a bare dorm room that doesn't usually come with a lot of character," said Kate Babington, the managing director of eco-minded Hong Kong furniture store Tree.

Kitting out the space properly means thinking of it as a home away from home, but also keeping in mind that it has to serve multiple functions, and needs to fit in with the way students study and socialise: they are more likely to sit on a beanbag studying on an iPad than they are to be hunched over a desk staring at a book.

There need to be communal areas for them to study (or play video games) together, tonnes of storage, pieces that can serve numerous functions and quirky and fun accessories. Furniture that offers additional electrical outlets are always a plus: for the average gadget-laden student today, there never seem to be enough of those.

"Storage, storage and more storage," said Babington of what the primary considerations should be. "You're likely to have an awful lot of stuff to fit in your dorm room so organising it and making the most of your space is key."

She recommends drawers on castors that can be moved from beneath the desk to next to the bed. Bookshelves should be liberally placed on walls, and labelled boxes can hold kitchen and food items, toiletries and stationery.