It’s finally happened! After 2 long years of saving and waiting, and saving, and checking online, it finally opened. Ikea. Right here in my backyard! (Well, not MY back yard, but you get the idea…its close…real close…almost too close.)
Anyway, like I was saying I’ve been eyeballing some shelves and desks for a couple years now, and so as soon as it opened, I headed out. I know crazy right? Going to Ikea right when it opens. But I didn’t go on opening day, I went the next day. It was a weekday, so I figured all the fanatics would be back at work after camping out, so I was safe. Good call on my part too, it wasn’t bad at all!
I seriously love everything in that store! I did get a little lost at one point though (I forgot how crazy-mazey it is in there) had to call a BFF to get me out LOL! She directed me to those handy little arrows on the floor and told me “follow the arrows, they’ll lead you out”. She was right. I stayed on the arrows and after just 2.5 hours had made my way all the way through the store.
I did get lost in one of those little apartments they have set up, a super cool closet lured me in. But eventually I found my way back to my trusty arrows. So happy they have those things.
But anyway, I’m sure you all don’t want to hear me ramble on about my trip to Ikea. The best store ever. So I’ll get onto my new schoolroom setup!
I started out by taking most of the things out of our school room to make new for the Ikea bliss.
Next I recruited the help of some able bodied folks to help me assemble.
And assemble…
And assemble. Why I thought swivel chairs that raise and lower would be a good plan is beyond me. I got sucked in to all the goodness by Ikea.
I know some of you will be disappointed that I’ve ditched my little desks for this year, but we’re going to try something new. We did school some in our kitchen last year and I liked having the kids together at one table. It made it a little easier to keep an eye on what everyone was doing, so we’re going to try that again this year with this cool setup.
And don’t worry, I didn’t ditch my workboxes, they’re still in the room. I was planning to use the Ikea drawer units for my workboxes, but couldn’t part with the 10-drawer ones I’ve used for the past 2 years, so for now the Ikea drawers hold their larger books and supplies like pencils, scissors, glue etc. That way people aren’t fighting over those things and they’re readily available in their top drawer.
After re-organizing all of our stuff in the new space, we ended up with this. I LOVE it! Got our big USA Wall map for our Road Trip USA studies.
What’s this whole setup include? I’m not advertising for Ikea here, but I figured some of you may want to know how to put this thing together yourself. They also have table legs you could use instead that are much less expensive, as well as Amon Shelves that are cheaper too. They also have different colors and sizes. What inspired me to go white with four young children and a bunch of enticing markers in the middle of the table is beyond me.
My school room is about 11′ x 14′, the total size of the desk is about 5’x5′.
- 4 – Vika Alex Drawer units
- 2 – Vika Amon Table Tops (I purchased two 2.5′ x 5′ table tops and put them together for a 5×5 table, these are now called Linnmon table tops. But they’re the same as the ones I purchased.)
- 1 Expedit Wall Shelf (The Expidit 5×5 units are no longer available, the largest one they offer now are 4×4 cubes and called Kallax)
- 4 Jules Jr. Swivel Chairs (Another potential mistake, these swivel and raise and lower…I’m sure we’ll get lots done this year)
- 5 DRÖNA Storage boxes
Here’s a close-up of the drawers and chairs for you. I turned them all in a pin-wheel pattern so that one set of drawers is facing each student. I’m strongly considering getting a glass top cut for this to protect all my whiteness, but that’ll have to come later as budget allows.
I used my old cube system from Target for my Teacher’s Manuals, the old bookshelf for games and such, then proceeded to fill my new Ikea Expedit Wall Shelf full of goodies.
And, yes, that is my Letter of the Week curriculum in the binders along the top row. Wow, all that for $10, I must really like you guys ;o). In case you’re wondering, I purchased page protectors, then put all the games inside those in binders. 26 binders. Really. No kidding. Plus a few more for the K4 Curriculum as well!
This cool Making Memories Caddy was one of my old scrapbooking items. I dumped out the supplies and filled it with markers. Yep, you know you’re a homeschooler when you start sacrificing your scrapbooking supplies in the name of school.
Here’s another look at our shelves, calendar area and All About Spelling board below:
On the opposite wall is my whiteboard, Word Jail bulletin board, and a smaller USA map we’ll be using for our Road Trip USA this year.
Now that I had my room all set up, the last thing to do was sort all my curriculum for the year.
Glad I got a big table. Yikes.
Pray for me.
So that’s it, our schoolroom is all set up, curriculum is put away, and all’s ready to go. Too bad the kids aren’t allowed in here anymore or we could start school tomorrow ;o)
Where’d I Get that?
- Making Memories Caddy (I purchased mine at Michael’s Hobby Store)
- Alphabet Palm Tree on wall
- 10 Drawer Workbox Carts (I purchased mine at JoAnn’s Fabric Store)
- Giant Whiteboard (Check your local www.craigslist.org I found mine for $5!)
- Blue Organizer Bins on Expedit Shelving
- Seasons Calendar Poster (This is held onto a cork board with small thumb tacks. Click here to see a closeup of our Calendar Activities)
Have pics to share? I would love to see what all of you have setup, leave a comment below to share!
Oh my gosh, what a beautiful room! Now I need to make a wish-list for Ikea. Loving it!
I’m going to start using workboxes this year, and am torn between carts like yours and the more traditional format with shoeboxes on a shoe shelf…have you been satisfied with the quality of your drawer carts? Do they hold all the items you like, or do you find yourself wishing you had bigger bins for each subject? Just curious. Thanks for your blog – you really inspire me.
Hi Jennifer: I LOVE MY CARTS! They’re a great size, fit most standard sized workbooks. If there’s something larger that won’t fit like a game or something, I put it on top of the cart, or sometimes beside their desk, but usually on top. They know to look there. I really like them, they take up WAY LESS space than the traditional longer ones, and I like that my books aren’t being bent up all the time in the shoe box sized carts. They lay nice and flat in the ones i have.
I was going to order one of these carts from Amazon but the reviews kind of stopped me. Pretty much the consensus was that they were flimsy and that the bins fall off their rails very easily. Do your children have trouble sliding them in and out easily? I am starting my daughter in K this year and my 2 yr old I am sure will think its great fun to pull these out and I don’t want a big mess every day.
No, they’re very easy to slide in and out, we honestly haven’t had any issues with our carts at all. Now, I did have the Teeny Tot climb up one and knock it over, but she only did that once ;o) *wink*…otherwise they worked great, I’m not sure what to say about the reviews, I’ve read them too, but ours were perfect for our school.
Absolutely beautiful! Love the white – so clean and refreshing to look at!! You all are going to ENJOY school so much more with all that organization. God bless your new year!!
Awesome room. I live in Iowa, so there’s no Ikea near me, but I did visit there when I was going to school in the Chicago area. I’m trying to get my home school room set up- it’s going to be in our basement- My little guy is only starting Pre-school, but I want to start him off right by having a classroom for learning. Now to get organized!
Do you just lay the table tops on top of the storage drawers, or is there something keeping them in place? I love the idea!
Takes my breathe away! I keep thinking of the Christian song, “Someday…” Ha!
BTW, so you have a “Before” photo? I am new to your site and others may have seen the room before the glorious transformation! : )
Thanks! donna
Room looks awesome….too bad my little ones would be into all those bins and markers because they arent locked up…lol.
Nice! I am dreaming of an IKEA child care room. IKEA just came here last month. We were saving and then our frig went out. Ug! We still braved the crowds of the massive IKEA just days after it opened. I was salivating, but my husband and I got over and just enjoyed browsing.
Beautiful! While not as fabulous as yours, we have a set aside space we worked hard to have as well. I have a few new things that will be going in this year, but as of now here is our space- http://www.thekelleyeight.com/2011/08/our-classroom.html
Wowie zowie Erika! Looks amazing! I am so stoked to get into our own home in the near future just for the sake of setting up our homeschool room. It is such a shambles right now :0(
where did you get the jars with coloured lids on the expedit shelf?