Teacher's Lounge Makeover

Now that summer is here, I was reflecting on some of the fun things I was able to do at the school this past school year as a room parent and PTO member. Remember that teacher's lounge makeover idea I brought up during teacher appreciation week? Well, if not, I briefly mentioned something about it in this post.

Making over the teacher's lounge was one of the top events of the school year in my book by far!!

After seeing this room (the teacher's, um, lounge):

Before

and then the inspirational blog by Melanie Ralbusky at School Girl Style (awesome stuff here)! I realized something needed to be done. Something brighter and cheerier! I asked another room parent (the one I've talked about before who thinks crafty like me) and we got to work.

I came up with the main design, but like I said I was extremely inspired by the schoolgirlstyle blog:

After

 This cute little purple desk was hidden in the corner, so...we made it more functional by putting their computer on it.

Before

After

See where the computer used to be -- on a student-sized desk with no room for the mouse or writing:

Before

For pens, I decorated a mason jar with purple and gold (our school colors) letter stickers, a ribbon, and a pen with a yellow flower on it. I bought the purple frames at Hobby Lobby and designed the prints to put in them.

After

 These microwaves were stacked on top of each other and after asking around, I found that the huge bottom one didn't even work and that only one can be used at the one time anyway, 

so bye bye oh-ridiculously-large-one!

Before

I think it looks much better now, don't you?

After

On the tables, I designed tags and placed small details:

I found the caddies at Target in the $1 spot! 

Snacks for the teachers:

My favorite addition; a cozy corner. I bought the director chairs at TJ Maxx and designed an iron-on for the backs. I found the yellow table at Homegoods (another favorite store of mine) and the hanging paper lanterns came from Hobby Lobby. 

I bought the purple pillows at Target. The purple rug was on clearance from Target, too!!! SCORE!! I bought a total of three of them and I think it really helped cozy up the space! 

Not sure if you can tell, but I made "window coverings" out of scrapbook paper. I cut them into banner shapes and attached to the top of the window frames. 

Here's a closer look:

The mailboxes were pretty much a huge mess! I used goof-off and scraped the old labels off! My friend designed the labels, then hot glued the ribbons onto them after attaching to the metal. 

The effort took the look from this:

Before

To this: So cute and completely worth it!

After

We cleaned off the top and covered the bottom with a purple curtain we found at Hobby Lobby. We attached it with velcro. We also added the dry erase bus and cute little magnetic teacher to-do notes on the file cabinet.

So, again, changing an icky space from this...

Before

to this...

After

Ahhh, much better. The file cabinet on the left used to be behind the mailboxes. We moved it here to give more storage area behind for folding chairs that were once in the middle of everything. The storage closet is back there, too, so moving it here seemed to make the most sense. 

To kind of tie it all together, I made these signs to go on the teachers' doors. My room parent friend and I walked around and hung them. 

My husband contributed by finding the small 3M hooks. Thank you Sweet Pea! 

I love how using our school colors really brightened up the space! The teachers seemed to really love it!!! I had the best time planning it and then putting it together! It took an entire day to complete. But, for just two of us, I think that's pretty good! 

Does your teacher's lounge need a makeover? If it does, then you now have an idea for teacher appreciation week for next year!! I know it's summer, but the room mom in me can't help but plan for next year!! Yes, I'm thinking about first day teacher gifts already! hee hee 

Enjoy summer!!