07 May Teacher Appreciation: Lounge Make Over

What’s a great way to show the teachers at your kids’ school how much you love them? With a PTO sponsored teacher lounge make-over, of course!

What a thrill to be the interior designer in this scenario!   PTO leaders reached out Amy to do a room layout for the teachers lounge and pull together ideas for new furniture and décor.   The time horizon on a project like this is long: school district painters had to be brought in to do the painting, and getting on their schedule takes time.   Then there was approval of the PTO board, and time for all the furniture orders to come in. And finally….staging day.   We unpacked, assembled, and hung all the pictures to get ready for the big reveal.   Teachers were called down to the lounge for coffee and breakfast to find the room totally reconceptualized!

One new feature includes Myers Elementary T-shirts framed as wall art.   Pinning and folding the shirts was a painstaking process, but so worth it to have colorful, personal wall art for our teacher lounge interior design. The “Our Future’s Shining Bright” T-shirt was actually designed by Amy for the graduating fourth graders in 2016. From the colors in these t-shirts, Amy generated a color scheme that was bold and lively, and is reflected in the choice of rug and furniture.

Thanks to the generosity of all the Myers parents who helped raise money at last year’s boosterthon, and other fundraisers, we were able to up the budget a little bit to upgrade the sofa and the chair to commercial grade furniture, so that will hopefully hold up well for many years to come.   Pillows also tie the color scheme together, and the “Oh the places you’ll go pillow” even features a message by Dr. Seuss – the author so synonymous with literacy and education that his birthday has become Read Across America Day. Click here to read our Dr. Seuss Bedroom Blogpost.

Our PTO Treasurer, Leah, made all the items show up in such a seamless way, and even took care of the little touches, like fancy soap and flowers.   It was so exciting to be there to watch the teachers’ reactions. Some said they never use the room, but now they will.   And it was so nice to help the PTO realize their vision of “a beautiful and comfortable space for the teachers to enjoy lunch and their planning time,” to quote my dear friend and PTO mom, Lindsey Rosenberg.

If you want to show your child’s teacher some appreciation this week, click here are some great ideas.