Over the last 6 years, I’ve been collecting classroom pieces from Craigslist and the Facebook Marketplace in order to transform my classrooms on a budget. I’ve share a little bit about this in a couple other blog posts over the years, including Classroom Transformation and Cafe Style Classroom on a Budget. What made this transformation different than the others though, is that it took place in 7 days.
Keep in mind that I brought some furniture with me and was given furniture with the room, so that made this transformation quicker and less expensive. Here is a run down of the time and budget spent on this space…
If you’d rather see the video version of this transformation with time lapse clips, you can watch this transformation Here on my YouTube Channel.
Day 1: Cleaning & Painting ($100)
The first day can be overwhelming. I spent this day cleaning, moving furniture to the middle of the room, and painting the dark walls. The paint on these walls is called “Semisweet”and I buy it at Lowes. I spent $100 on paint and painting supplies.
Day 2: Wallpaper ($120)
For my accent wall, I decided to use white shiplap wallpaper. This was peel and stick wallpaper that I found Here on Amazon. It is thin like contact paper and is a good temporary use wallpaper that can be removed if needed. I should have put it up in smaller sections though as it tended to wrinkle easily. It took me almost 5 rolls to cover this large front wall.
Day 3: Furniture Assembly ($180)
I didn’t have too many new furniture pieces to put together besides these modern white chairs from Amazon. I also put together my wood and metal stool table and pipe and wood bookshelf. Both of which I brought with me. The rest of the furniture was already in the room or it was solid wood furniture that didn’t need to be assembled.
Day 4: Plants ($24)
I wanted to add a lot of plants to this classroom, not just for decor, but for educational purposes and for cleaner air. I went to Home Depot when they had house plants 3/$12 and added them to this shelving system. I also have fake plants on the tables.
Day 5: Painting Window Frames & Doors ($0)
In every room transformation that I’ve done, there is always one idea of my husband’s that I don’t want to do, out of laziness, but then it ends up being worth it. In this classroom, it was painting the window frames and doors. It really did pull the whole room together though.
Day 6: String Lights -Up & Down- ($0)
In all of my classrooms, I have strung Edison bulb string lights. I assumed I would in this room too. I spent hours going up and down the ladder to get them up, only to take them back down. I decided I liked the look of this room better without them, because of the white brightness without the string lights.
Day 7: Final Touches ($100)
My favorite part of any room transformation is when the big stuff is out of the way and I can focus on the details. I loved this day, as I got to manipulate different decor pieces and add the finishing touches.
Teach Like You Mean It 