Revamping an Old Classroom

I am currently in a classroom that was built in the late 70's. That means there is worn away wood mixed with brick and ageing furniture.

Today I wanted to share some tips with you on how to give your classroom an easy face-lift.

Contact Paper

If you have any flat surfaces that you would love to hide, use contact paper. I get mine from Kmart in marble. I am a little addicted to marble.

I choose contact over paint as it hides what's underneath better and is less work overall.

I started with the skirt above my windows. It was covered in pin holes that had ripped the corkboard it was made from and covered with blu tack stains.

This is the after and I think we can agree it looks a million times better.

After this stayed up without peeling for over a year I finally decided to commit to doing my cupboard. It was the last huge eye sore left in the room.

I cleaned everything off of it, including scraping off crusty old blu tack and left over velcro spots.

I measure out the contact paper and cut to size first before attached to the surface.

I peel off just the first few centimetres of the contact paper and position it as straight as possible. I then use a large, soft sponge to slowly work my way downwards making sure no bubbles get missed peeling off the backing a little bit at a time.

Cut around things like hinges carefully using a Stanley knife. Bend around corners carefully but make a sharp crease to get it to stay. I also found that I needed to use regular sticky tape along the edges of high traffic edges like where the doors meet. 

Here is the finished look!

Distract the Eye

Have statement pieces or a bright colour theme in your classroom to draw the eye away from the older parts of the classroom.

These curtains help cover up the old windows and metal panels.

In the picture above, you don't notice how old the cupboards are because the purple draws your eyes away.