Our New {Home} Schoolroom!!

We’ve officially been in our new schoolroom for 2 weeks now and it has truly been such a blessing to have everything we need in one spot and organized! While we still have a few things that need to be finished {trim work and securing bookcases to the wall}, we’ve been putting it to good use.

Since our room has some odd wall angles, I measured and re-measured and did a lot of online planning to make sure that pieces I was considering would fit in the room. Almost all of the furnishings are thanks to a day-trip to Ikea and the patience of a wonderful friend who helped talk me into {and out of} a few things. I went with a list in hand, but still managed to forget one thing ~ a Trofast shelving unit that is supposed to hold the bins between the kid’s desks. Oops.

Maybe you all remember the disaster of a space when all the books, supplies and what-nots were moved from their various hiding places all over the house and into their permanent learning spots. Yikes! But, it finally came together. I’m not kidding when I tell you I had blisters thanks to the little Allen wrench and a whole lotta screws.

Pictured above: a big, fat mess

I have to tell you that the color of paint in the room {Benjamin Moore Stem Green} scared me to DEATH when I first saw it on the walls ~ before the furniture was in the room. Thankfully, my hubby and good friend were right when they told me it would all be ok {and talked me out of repainting}.

Ready for a little tour of the new schoolroom? Here’s the view from my end of the room {when you come up the stairs from the garage}.  We have a larger table area that all of our chairs fit around when we are working together for some subjects {history, Bible, etc…}. 

The table {Ikea Norden} also folds down so we can slide it to the side of the room if we want a little more space. It also has 6 handy drawers where we keep some of our extra supplies like paintbrushes, some art supplies, card games, etc…}.

The view from the other end of the room where you come in through the upstairs {via the girl’s room}.

There are two desks on each side of the room ~ we split the kids up boy/girl on each side. They are SO excited to have their own workspace {and I am so happy to not hear ~ “Move your stuff out of my spot!” ~ just sayin’}.  Kaleb and McKenna are on one side of the room. There will eventually be a shelving system in between their two desks {the one that I forgot to pick up on the trip}.

Pictured above: Desks - Vika Amon birch tops w/ Curry legs and red Snille chairs. Pencil rack is Bygel rail with blue Bygel containers. Bins from the Trofast system.

Kaleb’s desk area is something I’m just loving. I know it’s a little more busy, but he has all of his ‘stuff’ around him and is so excited about it!His desk area has posters from his All About Reading program, a place to hang the ABC crafts he completes and a space beside his desk for his workbox system.

Pictured above: ABC posters from All About Reading, trofast system from Ikea, Bygel rail with blue Bygel containers and 12” square corkboard tiles.

The boys’ desks are closest to my end of the room so that they can pull up their chairs to the other side of my desk if we need to work together. I got a swivel chair for myself ~ just because. :)

My desk area holds all of the main text books {all the teacher’s guides, etc….} along with all the fun stuff too {a.k.a. the laminator and all the teacher supplies}. Top shelves are all of the books we’ll need for this year, shelf level with the desk holds the day-to-day things, and lower shelves hold all the ‘we use it at sometime’ stuff. We had to rig the top of the shelving system because of the slant of the walls. Instead of the top that comes with the system we screwed a white shelve to the top to hold it in place {shhhhhh!}. That way it can sit flush against the wall and things won’t fall out the back.

 

Pictured above: My desk is Expedit bookcase and the Expedit desk and Snille swivel chair. The file boxes are Lingo boxes along with green Kassat boxes {to hide stuff}.

One of my favorite parts of the room is the bookcase setup around the window at the end of the room. I LOVE the little window seat area that we were able to create with the bookcases. This has been one of Laurianna’s favorite places to sit and work during the day. I also love that the bin under the bench pulls out to store the kid’s coloring books and such.

Pictured above: Bookcase setup includes 2 Expedit tall shelves, 2 Expedit bookshelves, and a Stuva storage bench with red chair cushions.

All of our Calendar and Morning Board things are set up in one of the corners of the room {you can read more about our Calendar setup here}. Our All About Spelling board leans up against the wall so that we can move it around if we want to. :)

The bins on the bottom shelves of the nearby bookcases hold some of our day-to-day things: calendar supplies, our All About Spelling teacher manuals and cards, and also our science curriculum. The  kid’s easel is folded up and between the wall and the bookcase.

Pictured above: Our monthly calendar pocket chart, We Choose Virtues poster, Calendar and Morning Board, US Wall Cling map, and our All About Spelling board.

The shelves on either side of the window hold all the rest of the ‘stuff’ we use during the year: games, history books, Bibles, early readers, chapter books for the girls, puzzles, and just general fun stuff.

 

Pictured above: Bins are Kusiner green/blue and red book bins from Really Good Stuff. Tabletop paper holder from Ikea. Chair is the Guidecraft Nordic rocker.

So…that’s it! We’re in and almost settled. My hubby is working on the trim and hopes to have it finished soon!! Most everything is linked to underneath each of the photos, but here’s the short list:

Where Did it Come From?

• most furniture from Ikea {except for the Guidecraft Nordic rocker}
• All About Spelling program
• All About Reading Pre1 program
• We Choose Virtues poster {we’re using this character program for kids now}
• Calendar pocket chart
• Red book bins from Really Good Stuff

I would love to also see your classrooms too ~ wanna share? The best part of putting our room together was gathering ideas from all over the web! I’ve included a linky below for you all to join in and include a thumbnail image of your room.

 

Visit these great companies!

• All About Learning Press ~ Spelling & reading programs that are easy to teach and easy to learn.
• We Choose Virtues….tools for inspiring character in children!