Throwback! Classroom Seating Edition

Once upon a time, this was my classroom:

Do you see those low white seats? They are the popular IKEA bookcases, turned on their sides. Very sturdy! They lasted for 10+ years!

I made those cushions. Horrible. Did not last 10+ years. They are simply foam covered with fabric. They slid all over and kids pulled at the fabric, which I hot glued together. It did not work.

Fast forward...well, 10 years!

These are the same bookshelves. The EXACT same bookshelves. You can see there is wear at the bottom, where kid feet rested, but overall, still in amazing shape! Sturdy and functional and cute!

The biggest difference is the cushion. I got plywood, foam filler, batting, and covered all of that with the cute indoor/outdoor fabric. Then, I did not use a hot glue gun, my old best friend. Instead, I used a nail gun. Seriously, these things have held together!!!

Currently, they are in my basement at home, being used regularly by two toddlers, a dog, and a cat. But they were in multiple fourth grade classrooms, a third grade room, and a second grade room. They lasted through more classroom moves than I can count. They were the perfect meeting area for every mini lesson and classroom meeting I ever held. When I had to move classrooms, first I would place my benches for our meeting area, then I would figure out where my classroom library would go, and then everything else just fit in where it could because those two elements were top priority in my mind. 

Whether you are homeschooling, teaching in a classroom, or a mom looking for functional seating in the playroom, I highly recommend using the IKEA hack!

IKEA Spice Racks Hack - Make your own BOOKSHELVES!

Can you ever have enough bookshelves? Nope. The answer is NOPE.

We have bookcases, shelves, boxes, baskets, and bins or books in every room of the house. Also stacks of books, but that's not as cool.

Anyway, I bought these $4.99 IKEA spice racks when Violet was a baby. YEARS ago. She's almost 3 now. I painted them, and then we just never got around to hanging them. Over the weekend, I asked my husband to hang them and it took about an hour. He had some screw issues. Just basically searching for the right size. Anyway, once it was finished, VOILA! We had a beautiful display shelf!

I really just wanted a place Violet could see the covers of her books in her bedroom. A place we could change up the books for themes or holidays. She has regular bookshelves in her room, along with, NO JOKE, a WALL of books in her bed. She probably has 50 books piled up behind her pillows in her bed. Nice and neat stacks. Always ready to wake up, reach behind her, and start reading. How can I argue with that? And she's still short enough that she has plenty of room in bed! :)

So, now we are those people who did an IKEA hack and it worked!

And it looks beautiful!

For real, I looked for these type of shelves online and they were a little pricy. I was NOT willing to pay.

My only concern hanging them like this was creating a literal ladder on the wall that Violet might climb. It turns out that she never thought that once. She was so into changing up which books would be displayed first.

But my 9 month old, Braxton? Oh, he's the one I might have to watch.

Happy hacking!