Well now, let's take a look at the schoolroom-in-progress, shall we?

I recently redid our formal living room from well, formal living room, to school room.  We'd always kept our books and computer in there....kinda our family library/reading room.  It was a peaceful place, prolly my favorite in the house.

Last year was my first year in 24 to have the house to myself.  After 12 years of homeschooling, I needed a break and sent everyone off on the big yellow bus.  Sold *all* my curriculum.  Erased any trace of homeschooling from the house.  I felt naked....2 months later I began homeschooling a friend's son who was struggling as a freshman.  Ah, the heady feeling of the hunt for materials to use!

As the year went on, my love and desire to homeschool was rekindled, and decided the youngest two will be coming home again. (Oldest three are now graduated, and the one teen still at home will be a junior at the local public school). Being the armchair decorator that I am, it was the perfect excuse to remake the living room into a school room.  Not that we'll do a ton of school there, but it gives me a place to corral all the books and materials at the end of the day. 

So....here's a few 'before shots':

And here's some 'after' shots....remember I still have some touch-ups to do, such as where I'll put the timeline and MCT posters....and maybe paint the desk.  It never ends, eh?

Mostly I used lots of paint.  Paint covers a multitude of sins, don't cha know.  I also painted the table for the kids to match the couch, and spray painted some lamps and some storage boxes around my desk. See?

This was the original color (got these at Walmart), and I sorta like the combination of deep aqua and happy green.  Not sure I'll actually get around to painting them all to match.  How predictable would *that* be?  I used some cutey-patootey scrapbook paper for labels.

This is my storage shelf for stuff that I can't cram into my desk....like envelopes, earphones, Q-tips, index cards, and art supplies.  That clear bin will be full to the brim with crayons, colored pencils, and markers soon.

We'll be using binders a la Well-Trained Mind....but binders are so, um, I don't know....binder-y.  Unless you want to spend a small fortune on designer binders.  Scrapbook paper to the rescue once again.

So there you have it.  As I tweak the room once we start really using it full force in a few weeks, I'll keep ya posted.  What's your schooling area look like?  Feel free to leave a link in your comments.  I may even have a blog party where you can link up your room/area in the future.  We all like home tours, eh?