School starts in two days at my house and we’ve been running around getting ready for my son to start the third grade. Although it is not much, my son is becoming the age where homework and projects need to get done at home. My dining room table has been the landing zone for everything. After homework was finished, it continued to remain all over my dining room table, making it a mess. This year, I decided to make a fun and organized place for homework and craft projects so I could take my dining room table back!
Materials
The Desk
The most important piece of this project was the desk. I wanted a small child-sized desk the height of his desk at school so his feet could touch the ground while he worked. Here’s what I used:
- A pre-treated board ready for table tops. (in lumber section at your local hardware store, usually by the trim) I paid about $5 more but it was worth not having to sand and plane it down to make it smooth for writing.
- 22-inch table legs. I buy mine here for less than $4 a leg.
- 4 table leg connectors
The rest of the materials I gathered were things I already had around the house. But, I did purchase a rolling cart from IKEA and a cork board to complete the station.
- IKEA Raskog Cart
- XL Bulletin Board – I found a pretty badly painted one at a thrift store for super cheap or you can buy this one at Target.
Step
Assemble the desk and paint or stain.
Step
Recover the bulletin board with fabric.
I decided to cover the badly painted bulletin board with a large fabric scrap. In these moments, I’m so glad I’m a little bit of a fabric hoarder! My bulletin board was so big I needed two yards of fabric to cover it.
To recover the bulletin board I needed:
- Spray adhesive
- Thumbtacks
- duck tape (not pictured)
I ironed the fabric and then simply used spray adhesive on the front and folded the excess around the back.
I suggest using a middle weight to heavy duty spray adhesive for this project. I lined up the top and tacked it down before I used the spray adhesive. After spraying and smoothing the front of the bulletin board, I wrapped the fabric around the sides and tacked it. The duck tape was simply to keep the edges nice and neat. You could also use a staple gun here.
Above is a look at how I folded the corners.
Step
Hang your bulletin board and set up your area. I like how the varying color of stripes blend with my grey wall. This is pretty bland though… it’s time to brighten it up!
Step
Start organizing. I grabbed all the things my son would need for his homework or studying and put it together. I grabbed boxes to store the items. I just simply thought through all the things he normally asks me for and put them right by his desk. He will probably still ask but at least they’re there!
I stored his pencils, pens, and markers in little white containers.
Step
Make it fun. I found these battery operated lights at the Target dollar store section.
I love this Better Homes and Gardens rug from Walmart. The ottoman is an estate sale find. I wanted the homework station to feel different than school where my son has to sit in a chair. He likes to sit on his knees when he works. He can’t at school, but I don’t care at home.
I always put my son’s “to do” list on sticky notes. He takes them off when he’s done and it helps him see all he has to do… or how much he has done. The little monster is my favorite. My son drew it on some tracing paper and I traced it onto some fabric. He learned to sew by stitching the lines.
My house is also a full blown paper aviation factory. My son loves to make paper airplanes so he made a few for his bulletin board. I call it motivation for what you get to do when you’re done with homework.
Now we are ready for school. Well…that depends on who you ask in my family.
Need more organization for school. Check out these cool ways to organize your school stuff.
Thank you! Making homework a little more fun was the goal for my creative kiddo. Thanks for reading.