Our Homeschool Room Makeover

We have had a few different homeschool spaces in our three homes.  And can I tell you that every single homeschool room makeover makes me giddy.  I love to transform a space that will be a home base for all of our materials and lessons.  We’ve used anywhere from the corner of a child’s bedroom to a section of a finished basement to an entire room.  And in our new home, our homeschool room is more of a nook than a room, but we love it just the same.

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The goal was to maximize the space that we have and make it work for this season of homeschooling.  My personality is one that loves for a space to work for us, but also look good.  I call it: functional beauty.  And that was definitely not how I would describe this space right off our kitchen when we first moved in:

This homeschool room makeover coincided with our recent kitchen makeover {click HERE for that post} as the two rooms flow right into each other with only an arch separating them.  It was also so much easier to have a big mess in the entire space at one time.

OUR HOMESCHOOL ROOM MAKEOVER BEFORE

But, wait!  Let’s take a quick peek at what this nook looked like before we moved in:

The eat-in breakfast bar from the previous owner was removed {read more HERE}, the floors were refinished {read more HERE}, and this space was given a good cleaning.  And then, we just dumped what was needed and lived in survival mode for a few months.

It wasn’t pretty and that was okay.  The frustration every day was that the space was not working for us.  And it took a little time of living and learning here to discover the source of annoyance.  Mainly, we realized that: it is a glorified hallway and barely 5 feet wide.  Those bookshelves definitely had to go.

OUR HOMESCHOOL ROOM MAKEOVER

First up was removing everything from the space.

It was then time for all of the work on the walls to begin.  So much spackle was needed to fill in the torn-up walls and holes after removing that giant counter.

It was exciting to begin applying the primer because I could envision the end result now that the teal paint and splotchy walls were covered…somewhat.

2 coats of primer and 2 coats of my new favorite off-white/cream color {Behr Swiss Coffee} later and our homeschool room makeover was really getting somewhere.

In an effort to keep the costs down for this project, I was determined to use what we already had in this homeschool room makeover.  My husband made three desks for our children when they were younger.  {We had an entire art center in that finished basement I mentioned earlier!}  I decided to use two of those desks, along with a white enamel topped table as their work stations.  {Why only two desks?  Well, one work station would have a computer and the white table offers room for a computer along with space to work on school lessons.  Practicality won out this time.}

A few coats of paint later for the desks/table, baseboard added, and open shelving hung and our homeschool room makeover was moving right along!

BEHIND THE SCENES

OUR HOMESCHOOL ROOM MAKEOVER AFTER:

And yes, these shelves are long..9 feet actually.  Again, we used common boards from The Home Depot and stained them with Minwax Early American.

My three “students” approve!

Using twine and clothespins, I created a simple solution to displaying their artwork.

We have enough room to easily move in and out of our homeschool nook now that the floor space is clear behind their desks.

The bottom shelf holds all of their daily or weekly curriculum and the top shelf has art supplies and extra resources.

After only a few months in our new home, two very important rooms are really coming together.  The kitchen and homeschool nook feel cohesive after using the same paint color on the walls and the same stain on the open shelves {Minwax Early American} throughout the space.

I enjoyed using some creativity to pull together this homeschool room makeover in our home.  It is a home base that serves us well.  Everything that we need has a place…and the goal is everything in it’s place when our “school hours” are complete for the day.

Making our home work FOR us is a big priority.  I want it to always be a place to learn, grow, and bring others easily into.

Not every space {or homeschool} needs an actual room.  A little cozy nook is often the perfect solution.

I hope the re-imagining of this space for our homeschool room makeover has inspired you to make your home work for you!  And if it has…please let me know as I love to hear what you are up to in your home.

♥

Leigh

 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR HOMESCHOOL:

Our 2019-2020 Curriculum: Middle and High School

Our 2018-2019 Curriculum: Elementary, Middle, and High School

A First Day of the Homeschool Year

The Reasons Why We Homeschool

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