Mid Year School Room Makeover

Call me crazy.  Really, call me crazy.  I don't know why I suddenly got the itch to re-do the school room, but I got it and I couldn't fight it.  Yes, I just re-did the school room in July 2010 with paint and new flooring.  If you look at the "School Room" tag you can see other "before" shots of the room.  I got tired of the yellow and I got tired of the hodge podge of desks, crates, book shelves etc.  I had a bad case of "disorganizeditis" and something had to change. The chaos was weighing on me and causing me to neglect things that needed to be done - but I couldn't get stuff done because my mind was distracted by the clutter, and I couldn't focus. 

The boys and I had started slowly making our way to the kitchen and started to work in there to avoid the mess in the school room.  The mess followed us. Not only was the school room a disaster, now the kitchen was too.  I was spreading my disease.

I blame Pinterest and Confessions of a Homeschooler for my intense desire to be organized and clutter free.  All the organizing pins on Pinterest combined with IKEA part numbers from Confessions of a Homeschooler did me in.  I discovered there was an IKEA an hour from me and then it was really all over with. I made three trips in total.  I didn't get exactly what COH put in her schoolroom, but I was inspired.

Unfortunately, I didn't take "before" pictures of the schoolroom mess, but trust me, stuff was everywhere.  Here are pictures of the mess that spread to my kitchen:

Here are pictures of the stuff that came out of the schoolroom:

Some of the games.

Books- the bins were later filled with items that were not books.

Bear painted the room for me.  Bye bye yellow, Hello Partridge Gray.

More mess.

Assembling IKEA furniture.

I sold all the old bookshelves, Bear's desk and my desk. After starting to put the room back together (and after tossing stuff away and separating stuff for sale etc) I realized I still didn't have enough room.  So, back to IKEA for a third time.  The first time I bought the table tops and "legs" and then I had to go back for the Expedit Shelves.  Third trip was for more Expedit shelves and storage boxes- finally on the third trip they had my Pink Drona boxes!!  Can I just say, I love, love, these boxes and basket thingies.  They HIDE stuff!

Now for the reveal - I am thrilled with the new set up!  I especially love that we all sit around the desk together and I love being surrounded by order.  I can see almost all our books from the "teacher's desk" and I can't wait to start working on my next round of lesson plans.  I have space to spread out and everything within reach.



White board, Bible and Math section.

Language Arts side of the room.

Teacher's Desk.

I found the cute pink, black and white magazine boxes at the Target $1 section.  The hot pink baskets were also in the Target dollar section for $2.50. I am hiding school supplies (of which I shouldn't have to buy for 5 years!), small games, manipulatives etc.  I will be doing another post down the road with pictures of all the hidden stuff, just to show how I am organizing everything.  I love that I am not looking at all the little odds and ends. 

I am using IKEA DVD boxes for small odds and ends.  My laminator is out and plugged in ready to turn on and go whenever I need it.  No more pulling it down and finding a spot for it on the kitchen counter.

The only other thing that will be changing soon in the room is the roman shades my friend is making for me.  We are bartering - babysitting and Mary Kay for the shades. They will be a pink, black, white and lime green stripe. 

That's all folks.  I think it is safe to say I will not be doing any major overhauls again on the school room- it's finally in a dream condition.  Surely, I will be cleaning it and it will get messy, but no more paint and no more furniture! Woot!!!