Guess who survived their first two weeks back at work? *Pats self on back* Working at an elementary school with all the covid precautions is a wild ride. We’ve got maps showing us which entrances and exits kids use so that grade levels don’t mix, rotating recess stations, spaced lunch spots, assigned bathrooms… So I tried to decorate my speech therapy office to be extra pleasing, so I would at least have a space to feel centered while I do paperwork. I tried to go with a Parisian cafe bulletin board design and matched the rest of my office to the colors. It’s pretty low tech and not expensive at all, but I ended up liking the final look! *(Btw, this post may contain affiliate links)
Faux Window Box Bulletin Board with Fake Flowers
Did you know you can buy fake awning to put indoors on walls? And that they’re specifically made for classrooms? While they look incredibly cute, they’re also a wee bit spendy for the size of the awning you get. I wanted to cover a rather large wall, so I decided to try and make my own out of construction paper.
Initially I thought I could angle the paper to stick out like a real awning more, but the design started getting too complicated. The walls of my speech office are completely made of push pin material, so I needed something light enough to be held by staples. In the end, I simply used black and white construction paper to make a striped scalloped design. I folded in the edges twice to give it a little dimension and stapled the back flaps to the wall. Voila! I did the same process for the black window boxes and stuck some faux flowers in there.
Decorating a Filing Cabinet with Contact Paper
Speech therapists hold a lot of confidential information, so this giant filing cabinet was a must have in my office. Unfortunately, it was also a giant eyesore. I decided to spruce it up with some contact paper. And look how it turned out! The effect is surprisingly stylish. I measured and cut the contact paper to fit the front of the drawers. Then I simply used a razor to slice out the rectangles where the handles are. Because it’s metal, I didn’t worry about damaging the sides of the cabinet. I liked it so much, I bought more marble contact paper to cover the large kids’ desk in the middle. By the way, I tested this contact paper and it definitely can be removed without damaging either cabinet or table.
The poster above the filing cabinet was designed by yours truly on Canva. If you’re an educator, you can get a free educator’s version of Canva that gives you access to a lot of their pro features. I printed out the poster for less than $4 at Staples.
I’ve got one more giant wall I haven’t covered with anything except a mirror. You know, to take my teacher outfit selfies. I say that as a joke, but I’m not really joking. Anyway, I was planning on using more contact paper as wallpaper but… I may save that as a project for next year. I AM in the process of designing more speech therapy themed posters on Canva, though. Stay tuned!
Have any suggestions for functional and educational speech therapy room decor? Leave me a comment! I’m all ears!