Getting There

Before my teaching supplies, books, and furniture were delivered to my new classroom, it looked like this…

 
After 103 things were moved over the second week of the July, my new classroom looked like this…

Even though I spent most of the summer unpacking and setting up, it was awfully nice to have that time to do so.  The last time I moved/unpacked 10 years ago the school was brand new and we weren’t even allowed inside until about 5 days before school started.  Needless to say, my new room will be much more organized and thought out than the previous one due to having this time.

As I’ve mentioned before, my new school is actually the oldest school in my district and in my valley.  It’s been a school since 1876, but it moved around and had been rebuilt numerous times due to growth and fire.  It’s been in it’s current location since 1928.  Of course, there has been some updating and remodeling since then, but compared to my previous school, it’s pretty old.  In order to even start unpacking and setting up, it was necessary to deal with some cosmetic touch ups.
 
This silly computer table was the biggest eyesore in the classroom.  All the other rooms in my wing have this table but it goes completely across the whole wall.  There is a computer server to the left of the table (not pictured) and when whoever installed it did so they hacked away half of the table, leaving the edge seen in the photo rough.  In addition, the table was a mess.  The surface was stained and torn and dirty.  I decided to cover it using contact paper to at least start with a clean looking table. 

Upon further investigation, I found that the damaged surface was actually contact paper…layers and layers of contact paper.
There were SIX layers to be exact…like rings of tree!
After about a half day of work the sticky mess was removed and I was left with this…     
The surface was so much better than it had been, but I still decided to recover it because of the stains, and it looks so much better.
 

There are also about 20 feet of bookshelves (yay) in the room covered in wood-finish contact paper. 
The surface wasn’t as bad as the table, but they were dark and the paper was lifting. 

  It’s amazing what a little light-colored contact paper from the Dollar Tree can do to lighten up the place.

The last of the worst was the cupboard doors.  We have so much useful storage space in these rooms, but the doors are a mess.  Eventually, the cupboards will be refaced, but it may not be until the end of the school year.
Using butcher paper and the borders bought to decorate my bulletin boards, I spruced up the cupboards a bit too.
It’s so nice not to be looking at the scratched and cracked cupboards anymore. 

Slowly but surely the room is coming together, and I am pleased so far.  I’m completely unpacked and now setting up the room and preparing for the new year.  For now, I’m taking a couple of days off from the classroom.  Once I finish at the end of the week, I’ll post photos of the finished product.