I get a ton of questions on our school room, and so I thought I would do an update on our Ikea setup.
So to answer your questions…
- YES, we still love our desks!
- YES, they’re still white! (They clean very easily with some water, Windex, or for certain marker spots I used Clorox Cleaner)
- YES, my kids have survived the swivel chairs!
I also get a LOT of questions on how our desks are set up so I thought I’d show you more detailed pictures of the setup. I moved the drawers out to the ends this year so there was room for the chairs to push all the way in. In order to do that, I had to get a piece of board to help make the desk tops more steady.
I found a piece of 4×8 peg board at my local home depot ($8) and had the nice man there cut it in half for me. (I’ll show you what I did with the rest of it later ;o)
I put the board on top of the drawer units to help stabilize the desk tops. I think it would work better if I’d had one that was 5’x’ 5’ but you work with what you have.
EDITED: To prevent slipping, I have since purchased a set of 4 flat metal brackets. I used them to screw the two desktops together so they don’t move apart. I also added a rubber rug mat (the kind to keep small area rugs from sliding around) in between the peg board and the desktops. Works like a charm!
My school room is about 11′ x 14′, the total size of the desk is about 5′x5′.
What are the specifics?
- 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, I’ve updated this link the table tops are now called “Linnmon” but they’re the same as mine.)
- 1 Expedit Wall Shelf (I have a 5×5 Expedit/Kallax shelving unit)
- 4 Jules Jr. Swivel Chairs (Update: Swivel chairs are working well, they’ve gotten over the spinning, so it’s all good now.)
- 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 am also thinking of securing the desk tops to the drawer units with screws just to prevent slipping.
EDITED: I also added a rubber rug mat (the kind to keep small area rugs from sliding around) in between the peg board and the desktops. Works like a charm!
Here is the completed unit, the openings are now wide enough for the chair to slide all the way in.
And here it is completely put together:
Beautiful room – I only WISH I had a room dedicated to our school!!! OH and just to add, IF you do get a glass table top…..this is VERY cool because you can use dry erase markers ALL YOU WANT on it. We have glass on our kitchen table top (which also doubles as our school desk, lol) and we love it. We do our school on it, draw pictures, leave messages, etc!!!
Love this! If we had a room dedicated to schooling, I would so do this 🙂
IKEA is just an amazing place!! I think I might be lost without our Expedit shelves and some Swedish meatballs every now and then. 😉
What a marvelous idea for a great multi-person work station! As a temporary solution for slipping, you could put pieces of that rubberized drawer liner between the counter top and the pegboard and even between the pegboard and the drawer top. I have used the rubber stuff to help hold a counter top in place over a couple of desks and also between modular cube type shelves and it really helps keep things in place.
Excellent idea!
I love it! I’d love to see a close up of your shelves, too. Are those from Ikea as well?
Instead of screws, you could use the heavy duty Velcro. That way if you ever need to move it all it will be easy to take apart.
Beautiful room! I love the idea of using IKEA storage in any way possible. Your desk is unique, attractive, and versatile all at the same time.
awesome! i love your desks! 🙂 I really really wish we had an ikea here in nebraska!
I just discovered the workbox system thru your site. Are you still using? Didnt see any boxes in new school rm. Maybe thats what the drawers are for or you camoflaged it.
I’m new to homeschooling and am also just looking at your awesome workboxes..what did you shift to?
Jill is right about using the rubberized drawer liners. We used them between the changing pad and our dresser for our changing table. Works great!