Decor & More: Part 1

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... my husband has a nickname for me. It's not Sweetheart or Honey Bunny or Hot Wife. It's "The Mad Starter." He has called me this for approximately 25 years, since we were friends in high school. Now what kind of nickname is that, you ask? Apparently an entirely appropriate one, even if I hate to admit it. I seem to have some kind of adult onset ADD which causes me to start one project after another without actually finishing any of them. If you don't believe me, please scroll down to the post about my kitchen cabinets. I have almost the bottom part done now, several weeks later.

Okay, so what's the point of this? Well I'm onto another project. But it's an IMPORTANT one! I have to get my classroom organized and pretty. If you'll recall, I had to move to a new building on the last day of school. Everything had to be stuffed into the closets so they could put in new carpet and paint. So, now my room is a blank slate and this my chance to start from scratch, to make it look just right.  First step is decor...

I (along with my partner teacher) have decided on a black and brights theme. We painted most of our book shelves black and I bought these great bins from Really Good Stuff in the lime green color...

We also have a collection of these baskets from the dollar store which we'll use for our easy readers...

Then I got 30 (that's right, THIRTY) of these awesome stacking baskets on clearance from Really Good Stuff which we will use for our centers and supplies...

I even made some super cute labels to hang on them...

So today I'm making organizers for our chapter books. I've taken the awful, hideous cardboard things that came with our leveled readers and am painting them lime green. Here is what they looked like before...

And this is how they look after a little spray paint...

Much better, right? You can see I didn't quite get all the way back on the inside but I think it will be okay.  They will be full of books anyway. My plan is to put these (I have about 6 of them) inside my long black book shelf and organize our chapter books by series. The lime will look great on the black!

So that's my project for today. Unfortunately, I've run out of paint and will have to get more tomorrow which means my husband will be calling me "The Mad Starter" again tonight.

Summer Planning Giveaway

Thanks for visiting! You've arrived at stop B-6 in the Summer Planning Giveaway. If you're just getting started or want to join in on the fun, head on over to http://imlovinlit.blogspot.com for the first stop. There are tons of awesome goodies for you to collect!!

I'm giving away an awesome set of classroom supply labels to help you get organized...

This set includes 32 different labels to keep your classroom neat, orderly, and lookin' cute! You can find matching book bin labels and math manipulative labels in my store (plus other sets in many different backgrounds...or just email me with your custom request and I'll be happy to make them).

So to get these lovely labels, all you need to do is grab my secret word below and follow my blog and pinterest page.

Thanks again for stopping by and have fun on your scavenger hunt!

Bye Bye Ugly Bathroom

Remember the early to mid-eighties when faux wood laminate was the happenin' thing? It's hard to believe there was a time when people paid top dollar for such hideousness. Yet, I have the evidence to prove that it did indeed happen...

Ok, you can look away now. Don't burn your retinas staring at it for too long. That, my friends, is my kitchen. Bad, isn't it?  Go ahead... look at it again. Just take a gander at the back splash or the lovely wood "valance" or the stunning wood accent stripes adorning each cabinet door. Oh wait, that's not wood. Silly me! I almost fooled myself.

Think that's bad? You should've seen my bathroom. The ENTIRE vanity, doors and all, were that awful faux wood laminate. And to tie it all together were large square wood knobs. Honestly, I wish I would've taken a picture but I was trying to pretend it didn't exist. 

So what does one do when their entire home is covered in the worse laminate on earth? Cabinet Transformations! Without going into all the details, let me tell you that this stuff is the best product on earth. In one weekend, without any sanding, I turned my bathroom into this...

 

The cabinets are a dark espresso with brushed nickel hardware and I painted the walls a very pale gray. It's quite lovely in person and makes me oh-so-happy! I've started on the kitchen which will be an even more dramatic change because it's such a large space. It will probably take me all summer though because I have TWENTY EIGHT cabinets!

Summertime... and the livin' is easy.

I'm two weeks into summer and I've already slipped into planning for fall. What is wrong with me?!! My partner teacher and I got the go-ahead to take down our wall and full co-teach which I am very excited about. We already mix the kids up all day long, so this will really be a bonus for us.  The downside was that we had to move to a new building on the last day of school but even that isn't so bad because.... WE ARE GETTING NEW CARPET!!!  Ok, it's just really sad to be that excited about carpet. But we're also getting new paint. We'll have the best room in the school!

So, it's been kind of irresistible to start a little planning... like floor plans and decor and fun stuff like that. We've decided to do black bulletin boards with bright accents. So, I made these matching labels to put on our hand sanitizer:

(adorable frame graphics provided by Ashley Hughes)

Last year we used little plastic fish as our "bathroom buddies" which the kids placed on their desk when using the bathroom. That way we knew where they were and other students knew the bathroom was occupied. However, I quickly became afraid of touching the fish because I'm positive they were totally infested with billions of germs. So this year, we are putting these labels on bottles of hand sanitizer which students will use as bathroom passes. When they return to their desks, they'll just take a squirt before putting the bottle away. Not my original idea, but brilliant nonetheless!

So besides all this planning, my summer has consisted of making over my bathroom. I will post pictures of the results tomorrow. Be sure to come back and look because it's quite stunning, if  I do say so myself!

Need Some Clip Art?

Yeah, I know... I've been neglecting my blog. I do feel slightly guilty about it. I mean I really intended to keep up better than this! But I have some legitimate reasons. Mostly family drama and I don't mean the entertaining kind that everyone eventually laughs about. Posting the details online isn't really appropriate, so I hope you all will just accept my excuse without further explanation.

Now, the fun stuff! If you sell on TpT or Teachers' Notebook or just like to make your own stuff, you absolutely MUST check out this giveaway. You can win a ton of awesome clip art and fonts!  And I really mean a ton of it, good stuff, no great stuff! (Wow, that was a terribly grammatically incorrect non-sentence.) Honestly, I'm hoping to win myself but you should enter too. I don't mind the competition LOL.

 

I promise to get back to blogging on a more regular basis soon. Today was the last day of school (woo-hoo!!!) and as soon as I recover, I'll be back in business. Happy end of the year!