Classroom Prep: Part Uno

The time has come for me to start preparing my classroom for the upcoming year. I am very excited to start this school year and can’t wait for my official first day of school. I have spent three days setting up my classroom and I am still not done. I just dropped in to show you, the pictures of some cute milk crate seats that I completed for my classroom library. Peep, the pictures and tutorials below.

Milk Crate Seats

Materials:

Milk Crates

Fabric (1yd = 4 crates)

Plywood

Staple Gun

Ribbon

Foam Mattress Padding 

• Pick out your fabric and purchase the correct amount to complete your seats. Hobby Lobby has great prices on fabric ( shameless plug)
• Purchase milk crates to match your fabric. I purchased the milk crates that are used for filing, from Wal-Mart.
• Purchase your plywood. Make sure to take your milk crate into the hardware store with you. This will allow the wood cutter to cut your wood down to the perfect size. 
• (Keep your wood scraps! They can come in handy for future craft purchases.) 

Directions:

• Trace the outline of your plywood rectangles onto the mattress padding. You want two pieces for each crate
• Cut your fabric into 4 rectangles. The rectangles should be about 3 inches bigger than the plywood rectangles.
• Spread 1 fabric rectangle out and place your two mattress cutouts on top of the fabric. I purchased a mattress pad that had grooves in it, so I just placed the two grooved sides together leaving a smooth surface on top.
• Place the plywood rectangle on top of the mattress padding.
• Pull the fabric over the mattress padding and staple it to the plywood. 
• Pull the fabric as tight as you can. I had to staple around the cushion two times to get the fabric, as tight as I wanted.
• Optional: I made a loop with some ribbon and stapled it to the corner of each cushion, to create a pull tab. The pull tab makes opening the milk crate storage ottoman easier.
• Revel in your success and complete the remainder of your chairs.
• Make sure that you complete each ottoman by placing your fabric the same way, each time.

I love these things and they were super easy to make. I plan to make more and will be sure to post those when I am finished. Stay tuned pictures of my completed classroom; I can’t wait to share it with you!

Until the next time that life has checked me.

-T